An Introduction to Mailing Lists (pt. 2 - Building Your List)
Now that we’ve looked at the various options you have when it comes to selecting your platform, the next step is growing the list on your chosen platform.
Method 1
create
opt-ins
You want to give people a reason to subscribe to your list and the best way to do that is to offer them value right from the get go. Create a free resource (or 7) that people can download as soon as they sign up to be on your list. This can be a single page worksheet, an entire recipe, a workbook on a topic relevant to what you do, a guide that walks people through how to do something you’re an expert at, anything that you feel would be beneficial to your subscriber and that showcases what you do. Not only is this to get them on your list, it’s an opportunity to build trust with them.
A Few Opt-In Ideas
Your Resource Library
Put together some of your favourite resources within your niche. If you’re a nutritionist that could be favourite food blogs, recipe books, local grocery stores, cupboard essentials... This kind of opt in works best for people who already use a lot of resources within their business and have a plethora of things to share with their audience.
A Preview of an Upcoming (or past) Offering
Maybe you have a recipe book coming out and could offer up a recipe from there; perhaps you have a how-to guide that gives people posing ideas for upcoming photo shoots and could package up 2 or 3 of your 10 ideas... you can be as creative as you want with this one! This is also a great opportunity to refresh and recycle old content - you don’t have to reinvent the wheel!
A Discount Code
People love discounts and will go to great lengths to ensure they’re getting the best deal. Package that deal into a cute little email and you’ve got yourself a surefire way of reeling people in.
A Challenge
Challenges are a great way to inspire people to try new things, establish yourself as an expert, and offer people an opportunity to really get to know you and themselves. You can keep it simple with a PDF outlining the whole challenge and send it in a single email OR you can get a bit extra and create a scheduled 5 day drip campaign that sends out a new challenge each day.
Method 2
talk
about it
People need to see and/or hear a message more than once in order to take action. So you’re serious about growing your list you’ll need more than one Instagram Story with a sticker. Make sure they know your list exists and give them ample opportunities to sign up for it.
How often should you talk about it?
Well, that depends on how frequently you’re sending emails.
If you’re sending weekly emails, remind people on your social channels the day before the email goes out. Give a little preview of what’s to come, maybe do a cute Boomerang of you typing away, and include an opportunity for people to leave their emails.
If you decide to send campaigns once a month it’s a good idea to start building up the hype around each blast in the three-ish days leading up to the drop. In that time give behind the scenes looks at the content you’re putting together, give previews of the graphics you’re creating, talk about the content your subscribers can expect and every time you do, and again be sure to include a CTA (call to action) that tells them to sign up.
Which leads us to…
Method 3
create sign up
opportunities
Make it simply unmissable that you have a mailing list. You don’t need to be talking about it every single day or even every week if it doesn’t feel good, but you do want it to be something that you bring up on a regular basis.
Here are a few ideas for simple, noninvasive ways of creating sign up opportunities:
Use the questions sticker on Instagram, direct people to the “reply” bar in your stories, make a post and have the CTA at the bottom ask people to leave their addresses,
Create sign up forms on your website pages
Include a popup sign up form that visitors see every time they land on your site
Bring paper and pens to your events.
