What are some of the best ways to grow an E-mail Mailing List?
The purpose of growing my e-mail list is to send out a newsletter.
Answers (21)
Garland B
President / CEO at Media Rake, Inc.
Best Answers in: Event Marketing and Promotions (1), Business Development (1), E-Commerce (1), Wireless (1)
Run a promotion giving something away for free. Have entrants sign-up with an email address.
Nigel M
Managing Director, Morgan PR - creating reputations
Best Answers in: Event Marketing and Promotions (1), Business Development (1), Public Relations (1)
Target is ever the king, closely followed by the prince consort of content!
Garland is right - we offer PDF downloads and that has helped us grow our list considerably with existing subscribers forwarding links and the PDFs themselves.
Also, make it easy to sign up - and unsubscribe - we offer the sign up on our blog and on our website, routinely offer sign up sheets at networking events and promote it on twitter.
We also run offers from our clients - these too get forwarded and then that leads to sign ups from people expecting more of the same.
Really, the fastest way to grow your email list is to publish the newsletter and grow it organically. You will get better quality sign ups and they will stay with you for longer.
Finally, use analytics to track behaviour, spot areas that fall down and consistently deliver high quality material.
It is hard work but worth it!
Links:
Sam B
Marketing & Communications Manager at Brandtjen & Kluge, Inc.
Best Answers in: Search Marketing (1)
I agree with Garland as being one method. I recently ran a promo that ended up costing me about $2.50 per email address. Other methods include the following:
- Make a sign up form on your web site as simple as possible, place it prominently on your site so that it is easy to find/see
- Have a sign up box on booth at any trade shows or functions that you exhibit at. Visitors can place their business card in the box to sign up
- Have your receptionist invite callers to sign up, instead of placing them on hold (as needed)
- Make sure your sales team know the importance and ask prospects for their email addresses when they meet face-to-face
- Publish a news release that talks about your newsletter and the value it has to them, offer them the web link to sign up online
- Include a "sign-up" note in your email signature directing recipients to your sign up page
Links:
Adam P
VP Operations at Stirling Capital Management
Best Answers in: Using LinkedIn (15), Starting Up (2), Web Development (2), Customer Service (1), Freelancing and Contracting (1), Staffing and Recruiting (1), Advertising (1), Internet Marketing (1), Business Development (1), Graphic Design (1), Sales Techniques (1), Organizational Development (1), Project Management (1), Career Management (1), Business Plans (1), Incorporation (1), Small Business (1), E-Commerce (1), Enterprise Software (1), Computers and Software (1)
There are a few things that you can do to start building an email list.
1. Start Collecting Data on your Website: many internet users are willing to give an email address if they feel that the emails they will receive are relevant to products and services they are interested. Put up a "data collection" form on your websites to give people the opportunity to give you their address. (You can use Google Forms from Google Docs)
2. Purchase a List: From time to time I like to purchase a list of names from a list broker. It is important to choose the right broker and to make sure that the names given have some relevance to your offerings. My personal suggestions in "Guaranteed Lists". They have always done a great job for me at a reasonable price. (see link below)
3. Special Offerings: As listed in the answer above, you can always do a giveaway and have people give their email address in order to be eligible for the raffle or prize.
4. Association Lists: This can apply to both B2C and B2B lists. If there are associations in the industry your looking to direct mail, they often will sell their list to vendors or make it available to other members. In some cases you may also have to join the association if you are not already a member. For example if your doing a mailing in the skiing industry you may want to be a member of the National Ski Association, and talk with them about a mailing list.
5. Offer your Newsletter via RSS Feed: Many internet users are now adapting to RSS news feeds. This type of news feed will give you the opportunity to transmit to recipients without using email. RSS will automatically deliver new content each time is it written... You can use a Blog (see link) to create your RSS (see link) or you can create one from scratch fairly easily.
Links:
Mike T
Owner, Mike Truese Creations - great websites for great clients: want to be one?
Best Answers in: Web Development (12), Blogging (3), Job Search (1), Internet Marketing (1), Small Business (1), Starting Up (1), E-Commerce (1)
I disagree with a lot of what people have said:
Promotion for free stuff: all you get are the 'i hope i win free stuff' people, who will unsub (or worse, flag you as spam) if they don't win.
- instead: make it relevant to your industry (white paper, resource guide, articles) - and if I misunderstood, sorry.
Any form of email signup that does NOT involve the subscriber actually filling out a signup form will backfire on you badly.
Tradeshows, salespeople, receptionists signing people up - leaves you no audit-ready backtrail of an actual subscription action (like using a signup form with an IP address captured).
This in turn can easily lead to 'report as spam' with no backup (well, they did sign up, see here's the proof).
------
Make your newsletter interesting and compelling, and have a 'forward to friend' option that helps grow the list organically.
It's a slow process, but done carefully, will get you quality prospects.
Those other methods might be faster, so to speak, and get you quantity, but at a huge cost and exposure to your reputation and domain.
Clarification added 7 months ago:
Someone below thought I'd disagree with the idea of building a blog - not so! Go for it, knock yourself out!
Of course, a *professionally* designed and set up blog will do a lot better for you than something home grown, but the basic idea is still a great one.
Deidre M
Contract Marketing Associate at Health Net
Best Answers in: Advertising (1), Direct Marketing (1), Events Marketing (1), Viral Marketing (1), Business Development (1)
Be sure to have a way to sign up for your email list on every page of your Website so matter where the visitor lands, it is there.
Make sure your website has an easy way to grab your visitors Email addresses; the form box can be labeled as Sign up For Email Updates, Free Newsletter, etc.
You can also include a hyperlink banner ad in Email newsletters, as an acquisition technique.
Ensure that you are offering registrants some type of incentive for providing their Email addresses.
Also, be sure to keep in mind the “what’s in it for them?” approach. Sell the benefit of why people should sign up to receive your newsletter, whether it be a chance to receive free samples, valuable & cost saving information, etc.
Be sure to grab business cards at parties, professional and social. However, be also sure not to spam! Qualify and quantify your newsletter recipients. Always ask someone if they would like to receive your newsletter before just adding them to the recipients list.
Add the option of a “Send-to-a-Friend” forward button (a.k.a. “viral marketing”).
You can also publicly notify special interest forums/blogs about your free newsletter!
Good luck!
Rick S
Realtor, e-PRO, Sales Executive, World-class Sales Trainer
Best Answers in: Business Development (1), Small Business (1)
It depends on a couple of things.
1. Where are you in your overall internet presence. Do you have a website? If so do you have analytics? Are you getting hits? Do you have a blog that gets read?
2. Who is your target market?
If you have a base of internet presence, then, as some others have suggested, use those tools to generate sign-ups. Tease people with the newsletter. Let them sign up for it, clearly stating that they it's a "trial" and they can opt out. Let them know it's free. Don't sell the newsletter - use the newsletter to sell other things.
If you don't have any internet presence then you have to use non-electronic means. While e-mail SPAM is wrong and illegal, snail-mail is perfectly fine. Do a bulk mailing of a postcard to people you want to target - offer them some kind of 'prize' for signing up. Tell them you'll be doing a drawing for something 60 days from now for all who sign up. (consult with you attorney for how to phrase this).
Post on blogs that you think your target will be reading. Don't just post garbage, though. Post something meaingful and put a url in your sig which should bring them to a landing page offering your newsletter - have an email link on the page.
Put a SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEWSLETTER in your email link. Outlook lets you create hyperlink that opens the recpients email browser, pre-addressed to you with the subject already filled in "sign me up for he newsletter. I'm sure other email program do that as well.
If you're target is consumer, don't be afraid to ask you friends to be put on the list - you might be surprised after they read it, they might have a friend.
Do your newsletter with an email program like Constant Contact of iContact - they not only help you see who is opening it an clicking through, but they have a "forward to a friend" link which will add to the base.
Jim K
Real Estate Broker, Writer, & Technology Consultant
Best Answers in: Blogging (5), Internet Marketing (3), Writing and Editing (1), E-Commerce (1)
In many ways, I agree with what Mike Truese has said, but he'll likely disagree with my recommendation, since it appears that he builds websites. However, I'll "kind of" answer your question with a completely different approach ... Blogging to a Newsletter
I looked at your profile and didn't see a website or blog link, so this might be a suggestion you'll consider. I write a lot about blogging, lead generation, and WordPress. The problem with email and email lists is the spam we're all getting sick of. It makes the process ever more difficult, and brings great concern, as Mike said, about the opt-in process and your online reputation. Consider a different approach to accomplish the same thing.
Start a WordPress blog (I don't get anything for recommending WordPress). You can do a free one ( I recommend the paid hosting version for several reasons though). Follow good blogging practices and write a lot of informative/entertaining posts on your subject or business. Sign up for Feedblitz once you get going. Feedblitz (link below) will allow you to set up a periodic newsletter on a frequency you choose. It then takes your most recent x# of posts and creates a nice looking email newsletter, sending it out to your list automatically. What you accomplish:
1. You are creating content that will bring site visitors over time. This is lead generation on its own.
2. Your blog begins to build readership, and those who understand RSS news readers will subscribe, negating the need to do email newsletters.
3. For the other 90+% of the population who don't yet understand or use RSS readers, you have a signup form provided by Feedblitz for your periodic newsletter. They handle the entire signup process, with double opt-in confirming email. I do a weekly newsletter that goes out on Tuesdays for my real estate business.
I'm a big proponent of blogging for professionals, and you seem to be involved in some things that would make great copy, as well as possibly video and podcasting, all easily done on a WordPress blog.
Links:
Clarification added 7 months ago:
Sorry, forgot to add the link.
Offer a targeted and incentive based reward in exchange for their e-mail. If your service or product can be backed up with expert knowledge, useful advice, or as-it-happens feeds (of genuine use to your visitors), they'll sign up for more.
The incentives can be anything - from simple monthly email notifications of updates, user account applications giving access to privileged information on a website, same for access to added functionality on a website, or the traditional promotional item / prize draw. Anything of relative value that a non-subscriber might think they need.
Christopher,
create a professional looking newsletter with great content and mail it to the list you have and ask them to forward it to people who my be intererested in the content. If they are they will start to sign-up and your list will grow. The program I use has a sign-up sheet that I can customize.
Links:
I agree with the above answers, Wordpress blogs are great, but you still have to get traffic to them. To do this you can use a 'social media' campagin. Produce a video (as simple as a powerpoint) about your site or site topic, upload it to the video sharing sites (such as youtube) and then link to it with social media such as Digg, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. You can get results on page 1 of Google very quickly doing this.
Then once you have the traffic, you should definitely collect email addresses in exchange for some free information or a newsletter. Then follow up with these leads and build a relationship with them. Provide tons of value and they will stick around.
The training video below goes into more detail on doing this type of campaign.
Links:
A couple of futhere thoughts.
First, don't forget the importance of recommends - encourage existing recipients of your emails to recommend them.
Secondly, be creative in how you collect email addresses (which I agree must be targeted). At MIG our Text for ... solution as POS is one creative solution.
I have successfully grown a mailing list from 4,000 to 7,000 in the last year. This is how I did it:
1) Drawings. At golf tournaments and tradeshow events I always give away a nice prize that has attendees drop a business card in a bowl (I also have drawing slips in case they forgot business cards and email is a section on the drawing slip).
2) Include an option on your website to sign up for an e-newsletter. That's a great way to get interested parties signed up.
3) Get a business card from everyone you meet and sign them up.
4) Peruse trade journals and such and add people you recognize.
Good luck!
Libbie
I think both dave and Mike hit it on the head. First you have to determine what your goal is - if it is collecting mass email lists then you may as well look to a Broker and pay for a lis but I will warn you that you are likely to be very dissappointed and will waste time and money going down that path.
Identify your target market - who are your Buyers? Who are your Customer's Buyers? Offer incentives that will attract them and develop a target-specific list. Our services do not appeal to everyone that has an email address so for us it's not of value to have millions of email addresses - our proprietary lists are very specific groups that we market our Customers.
I wish you luck with your list development.
Regards,
Robert Brantzeg
VP Sales and Marketing
eMax Media, LLC
www.bestmaxmedia.com
(972) 668-2603
John N
Owner, SiteTruth
Best Answers in: Software Development (5), Starting Up (2), Web Development (2), Education and Schools (1), Venture Capital and Private Equity (1), Intellectual Property (1), Internet Marketing (1), Information Security (1), Telecommunications (1)
If you want to send out a "newsletter", use an RSS feed. Works fine, no one will complain, and users can immediately drop your newsletter if it annoys them.
If you want to use email to prevent users from unsubscribing, you're a spammer.
Viral marketing.
Include send to a friend features on all communication and website pages.
1. Someone above mentions sign up sheet at conferences/events etc. If you print out some hard copies of the newsletter with a banner at the top explaining the benefits of receiving it and how to sign up this can also help.
2. Someone mentions give something away for signing up. Some of my clients give away a free fact sheet another gives away a free MP3 download on stress management.
Links:
Bill F
Director, Commercial Marketing - Central Region at Frontier Communications
Actually, I think you're taking the wrong approach. Email should be used to build and enhance relationships, not to start them. The best scenario is current contacts forwarding your newsletter to their friends, who in turn sign up because the content is compelling. As another person pointed out, organic, viral growth will be much more valuable, unless your goal is to simply collect email addresses.
I'm part of a meetup group and they have about 500 small business owners looking for SEO LIST BUILDING Info. & Solutions and they actively bring on speakers and it generates a lot of Buzz for the speaker resulting in a very targeted lead....and many of them. They have weekly Tele-Seminars with attendance in the 100's, a monthly newsletter and local L.A. in person summit's with attendance in the 200-250 person range. all for business owners hungry for SEO solutions.
I know the owner and if you or anyone reading this for that matter would like to get involved let me know!
call me 323-774-1394 and we can discuss an introduction personally with the founder and coordinator of the group.
Gianluigi C
Web Marketing Strategist ★ Consultant @ Traffic4u
Best Answers in: Internet Marketing (23), Business Development (16), Using LinkedIn (14), Advertising (5), Viral Marketing (5), Search Marketing (4), Pricing (2), Career Management (2), Small Business (2), E-Commerce (2), Education and Schools (1), Conference Venues (1), Staffing and Recruiting (1), Mobile Marketing (1), Public Relations (1), Lead Generation (1), Corporate Governance (1), Inventory Management (1), Market Research and Definition (1), Professional Networking (1), Business Plans (1), Starting Up (1), Blogging (1), Computers and Software (1), Web Development (1)
We've been growing mailing lists, just by being visible in places where potential target audience is centralised.
Context is important.
Be relevant -> Subscribers - You - Newsletter
By doing this, and you can 'pitch' target audience, they'll sign up, at least, that is our experience.
Never given away things, make them curious.
Sathish I
Remote Virtual Assistant Services Provider::jasfy.com
Best Answers in: Viral Marketing (2), Guerrilla Marketing (1), Small Business (1)
Hi Christopher,
Besst ways to grow an E-mail Mailing List would be to
1) Networking in Social Media sites.
2) Having a opt in page in your website
