How to Build an Email List | Business Direct Marketing Blog

Hands down, email marketing is one of the most effective and efficient marketing tools a company can use. Many email marketing programs now offer such detailed analytics tools that you can typically find out almost immediately after you hit the Send button if someone has opened the message, forwarded it, clicked on a link or shared it with their networks.

One of the biggest challenges many email marketers and business owners who use email marketing often have is growing their email list. Buying an expensive mailing list is so 1999 and you can potentially annoy your leads by spamming them with unsolicited messages. (The federal CAN-SPAM Act strictly prohibits businesses from sending spam.)

So what to do if your list has but a mere handful of email addresses?

• First, don?t panic. Even if your list has only 5 addresses in it, but each of those addresses represents a contact or client who actually gave you permission to email her, that?s worth more than a list with 50,000 contacts on it, none of whom has ever heard of you or even wants your email. Every email list, even the big, high-converting ones, began with one single address.
• Promote your list everywhere. Put a prominent sign-up/subscription form on your website. Mention it on your social media posts, or even better ? if you can, integrate the sign-up form with your social media accounts. Many email marketing programs make this very easy to install.
• Offer incentives for subscription. No, it ?doesn?t have to be an iPad but it should be something that your audience might find interesting. This is a good way to gauge how well you know your email list. If you?ve been sending emails out for years and have seen only single-digit growth or conversions, it might be time to reevaluate how well you know your audience?s needs. Consider free white papers, gift card drawings, webinar registrations or even free ebooks any of which can be offered in exchange for an email address.
• Use social media. Invite your Facebook, Google+ and/or Twitter followers and fans to join your email list. Publish invitations no more than once or twice a week per social network, and make sure you include a link to the signup form.
• Join forces with like-minded partners. Don?t think of this as an invitation to spam someone else?s email list but rather to find another company whose audience complements yours but who isn?t a competitor. If you?re an HVAC dealer, talk to an electrician or even an exterminator and see how you can cross-promote in each other?s newsletters and emails.
• Run a contest. Many companies use Facebook promotions and contests as a way to not only increase Likes but to collect email addresses which are often required in order to enter a drawing or sweepstakes on that social network.

If you have a strong, hefty email list, what are some of the things you did that helped get it to where it is today? Did you buy a list, or did your list grow organically, over time? ?Please share your thoughts with us.

Source: http://bdmtyler.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/how-to-build-an-email-list/

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