The goal of any business or cause, especially ones with a mission or a message, need to grow their email list. Yes, there is social media and online advertising, but those methods are largely dependent on algorithms, and now the whims of founders and developers who might not agree with the message or the mission of the organization. An email list and a thriving email marketing strategy and campaigns, will always trump the efforts of someone who utilizes social media exclusively. Email marketing is a straight line from the message or mission to the audience or activist. There is no middle man.
How does one start and grow their email list and begin to see the benefits of email marketing? There are really three steps to get started.
- Sign up for an email marketing system service
- Create an opt-in to attract subscribers
- Develop a welcome sequence
- Develop a consistent calendar to engage and keep engaged your list
Sign up for an email marketing system serviceThis is very simple. Go to MailChimp.com and sign up for a free account to get started. You’ll get the tools you need to start growing your email list for free up to 2,000 email addresses.
Create an opt-in to attract subscribersAn email address is an increasingly personal piece of information. We use email addresses every day to sign up for things, get emails from others, and create a conduit for communication. But, it’s the goal of the mission or message to get the address of the website visitor. To do this marketers create opt-ins or a reason for someone to give their email address in exchange for a piece of content.
What makes an opt-in great? It depends. You could create a checklist in pdf form, a white paper for a business case, a chapter of a book if you’re a writer, a series of videos if you’re a speaker, or even a few songs if you’re a singer or musician.
The nitty gritty comes in where you need to place that opt in in a prominent place to advertise on your site and include a pop up form or some form of lead page to your site to get people’s attention.
Develop a welcome sequenceThe next step is to develop a welcome sequence or some sort of an onboarding sequence. This could be a series of emails that are sent over a period of time to further introduce you to your new email subscriber, further develop your message, or ask them to take a series of actions. It’s really up to you what this might look like.
Commit to a regular calendar of emailsAfter you have developed your opt-in and are collecting emails, you now need to create a calendar for emails you will send. These emails could be blog posts you’ve created, products you want to sell, news you want to share, podcast episodes, or anything else you want to promote to them.
The key here is to keep your list engaged and make sure that your list is hearing from you.