 Getting people to join your email list is an accomplishment, but it is only the beginning. A growing list does not automatically lead to more customers or clients. What matters is what happens after someone subscribes. When people give you their email address, they are essentially saying, “I’m interested enough to hear more.” They may have downloaded one of your resources, signed up for an event, read something helpful on your website, or simply decided they want to stay connected. That does not necessarily mean they are ready to buy. Your job is not to immediately convince them to make a purchase. Your job is to give them reasons to keep opening your emails, learning from you, and seeing your business as a useful resource. That is what nurturing your email list is really about. Your List Is More Than a Number It can be tempting to focus on how many subscribers you have. But a smaller list of people who regularly open your emails, click your links, attend your events, download your resources, and eventually purchase from you can be far more valuable than a large list of people who rarely pay attention. The goal is not simply to collect email addresses. It is to develop a relationship with the people behind those addresses. Every useful email gives your subscribers another opportunity to understand:
Remember Why People Joined Your List Before deciding what to send, think about why someone subscribed in the first place. Many subscribers initially join because they want something specific. Perhaps you offered a checklist, guide, assessment, webinar, challenge, video, or other resource that addressed a problem they were trying to solve. That initial interest gives you an important clue about what they may want to hear from you next. People generally remain subscribed when your emails continue to provide something useful. They may be looking for:
Give People Something Worth Opening You do not have to create a major piece of content every time you send an email. In fact, useful emails can be surprisingly simple. You might share a practical tip, answer a question customers frequently ask, recommend a resource, explain a common mistake, link to a helpful blog post or video, invite subscribers to an upcoming event, or share a short lesson from your own experience. You can also occasionally tell subscribers about your products or services. Selling is not the problem. Sending email after email that does little more than sell is. A healthy email strategy gives people value while also making it easy for them to understand how they can work with you or purchase from you when the time is right. Start With a Good Welcome One of the most important emails you can send is the first one. Your welcome email should do more than deliver the resource someone requested. Use it to briefly introduce your business and help the subscriber understand what they can expect from you. For example, you might tell them:
Stay Consistent Without Filling Their Inbox Consistency matters, but consistency does not mean emailing people constantly. Choose a schedule you can realistically maintain. For one business, that may mean a weekly email. For another, twice a month may be enough. What matters most is that your subscribers do not hear from you once and then wonder where you disappeared to for six months. A simple, sustainable schedule is better than an ambitious email plan you cannot maintain. Pay Attention to What Your Subscribers Do Your email platform can tell you quite a bit about what interests your audience. Look beyond the size of your list and pay attention to patterns. Which subjects generate more opens? Which links get clicked? Which resources attract the most interest? Which emails lead people back to your website? Which topics seem to generate replies or questions? Do not panic over the performance of one email. Look for patterns over time. Those patterns can help you decide what your audience wants more of and what may need to change. Make Your Emails Feel Like They Came From a Person Your subscribers already have crowded inboxes. They do not need another business shouting at them. Write as though you are communicating with an actual person. Be useful. Be clear. Share what you know. Ask questions occasionally. Give people an opportunity to respond. You do not have to manufacture a relationship with your subscribers. You build one by consistently showing up with information that helps them. Keep the Relationship Going Email list nurturing is not a quick marketing tactic. It is a long-term business practice. Some subscribers may become customers quickly. Others may stay on your list for months or even years before purchasing anything. Some may never buy but may refer someone else to you. That is why every email does not need to produce an immediate sale. Instead, ask a simpler question: Am I giving the right people a good reason to keep hearing from me? If the answer is yes, keep going. Your email list gives you something increasingly valuable in a crowded online marketplace: a way to communicate directly with people who have already expressed an interest in what you have to say. Treat that access like the business asset it is. Reflection Question: If someone joined your email list today, what would they receive from you over the next 30 days that would give them a reason to stay connected? Ready to Be More Intentional About Your Email Marketing? If you have an email list but find yourself wondering what to send, when to send it, or how to keep everything organized, the Email Marketing Organization Checklist can help. Use the checklist to review the basic pieces of your email marketing process and identify what you may need to organize, update, or put in place. Download the Email Marketing Organization Checklist and take the next step toward a more consistent email strategy.
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 Are you feeling overwhelmed or frustrated with the thought of growing your email list? Does it seem like an impossible task? Building your email list takes time, patience, and focus on your strategy. The good news? You can avoid feeling frustrated by taking the time to get organized. “For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.” - Benjamin Franklin Staying organized can be tough when you have so many tasks to complete every day - building your list is only one of them. But fear not! By following a well thought-out strategy and utilizing technology, you can get yourself organized painlessly. With great organization, you’ll have a better-performing email list and happy customers. Step 1: Block Out Time to Strategize To grow your email list, you need to stand out to your audience and effectively target them. You can do this by creating a strategy that lays out “who, where, what, and why” of your email marketing. When you take the time to strategize, you are more likely to see positive results, with increased sales and improved relationships with your ideal customers. When you’re strategic with your email marketing, people are less likely to unsubscribe because you’re delivering the thoughtful content they expected when they signed up for your list. To create time to strategize, block out time on your calendar based on when you’re feeling most creative. If you’re an early bird, your mind might feel clearest in the morning. Or maybe you need some time to warm up and you do your best thinking in the afternoon. Or maybe you’re a night owl who is sharpest during the evening hours. Block out time accordingly and make it a priority – think of this time as a meeting with yourself, and don’t skip out. Step 2: Get Your Technology Up and Running It can be overwhelming trying to decide what email marketing platform to use. It’s hard to pick one when they all offer similar features but are also different in their own ways. Don’t spend too much time worrying about which platform to choose, just pick one to start. The best way to get started with technology is to dive right in. Go ahead and explore what your platform has to offer. Try to add yourself to a list you’ve created, play around with an email template, or even make an opt-in form. If you get stuck, most email marketing platforms have tech support and even live chat to help you. You can also spend time watching video tutorials to get comfortable with the technology. Some other tips for getting organized: Create an idea log and keep track of new ideas you have. Make segmented lists of your customers so you can tailor specific messages to each list. Use an editorial calendar to plan when you’re going to send your email campaigns and what topics you’ll cover. Dedicating time to getting organized from the get-go will save you so much time in the long run. When you organize your email marketing efforts, you will grow your list of email subscribers and grow your business. Are you ready to stop feeling overwhelmed by the thought of building your email list? Let’s help you get organized. Download the Email Marketing Organization Checklist A simple system makes email marketing easier. Download this free checklist to organize your email marketing strategy and stay consistent. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Coaching and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Can you really grow your business and your email list without knowing who your ideal customer is? You can in theory, but if you try to attract everyone, you might end up attracting no one. Instead of going out searching for customers, you should be drawing them to you. In order to be effective with email marketing, you need to identify the people you can help best with your product or service. You’ll do this by creating an ideal customer avatar. Attracting Your Target Audience Imagine a world in which your customer comes to you, looking for the exact products or services you provide. This world can be your reality if you take the time to identify your ideal customer. Once you know exactly who they are, you can market to them in a way that entices them to you. Do these three things to attract your target audience:
The best part? By doing this, you’ll also identify people who you want to work with. Why You Need an Ideal Customer The topic of finding your ideal customer comes up over and over again and that’s because most people skip this step. Of course, your ideal client may not be completely clear in the beginning and becomes more refined over time. But you will have some idea of who you want to serve. However, don’t make the mistake of assuming everyone is part of your target audience. There’s no point in building a large email list if you aren’t being specific with who you target. Let’s say you own a high-end clothing line for women - you’d be wasting your marketing efforts if you marketed towards young men. And if you narrowed down your niche, you’d be marketing to women with a specific income. Connecting with your audience is easier when you understand them well enough to relate to their problems and even provide solutions that make their lives easier. Knowing What You Want Matters Don’t forget that this is your ideal customer. That means that you need to consider what type of customer you want to work with. To narrow down your niche, ask yourself these questions: Who do I want to target? Who can I help the most? Where do I think I can bring the biggest transformations in their lives? Your answers will give you an initial perception of who your ideal customer is, but you’ll also need demographics and psychographics to know more about your target audience. Make the time for it Unfortunately, some people put in the effort to identify their ideal customer and fail to do anything with the information. If your goal is to grow your business and your email list, keep your target audience at the front of your mind. Your ideal customer should influence almost every business decision you make. The moral of the story is to find out as much as you possibly can about your ideal customer. By creating a specific avatar, it doesn’t mean you’ll miss out on customers who don’t fit that mold. The opposite is often true and you’ll attract more people because you’re more specialized. The more details you know about your audience, the more your business will grow. Ready to take the next step to identifying your Ideal Client? Download the Ideal Client Profile Worksheet Before you build your email list, make sure you're attracting the right people. Download this free worksheet to identify your ideal client About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Coaching and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  “The quickest way to do many things is to do one thing at a time.” - Christopher Westra You might be thinking that the best way to get things done is to multitask and work on many things at the same time. But by juggling too many tasks, you’re well on your way to feeling overwhelmed and eventually burning out. This doesn’t do your business any good at all. When you focus on working on just one thing at a time, you’re able to think deeper and be more creative, which results in a better finished product. Use Starbucks as an example: they started with just one thing, coffee. They were able to focus on their one thing and they grew an entire empire because of it. If you want an email list full of subscribers, you need to focus on one thing: building your email list. When you invest your energy into your email list, you’re able to convert subscribers into paying customers and build relationships with customers you may not have met any other way. Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize Before you spend your time on trendy marketing tactics, make growing your email subscriber list your top priority. Whether you’re launching a new business or looking to grow your current one, a high-quality, relevant email list will help you achieve your goals. This might feel impossible when you have a huge list of high priority tasks in your business, but with email marketing you’ll put automated systems in place to attract potential clients on a consistent basis. Get the Results You Desire You can’t expect your business to grow if you aren’t taking advantage of email marketing. Think strategically about where you want your business to go and plan for that. Start by identifying who your ideal customer is. Create an enticing free offer, and use that free offer to get people to join your email list. Seize the opportunity to market directly to your potential customers by creating and growing your email list. This is one surefire way to grow your business. The Advantage of Doing One Thing When you focus solely on growing your email list, you are putting processes in place that will bring in huge results for your business over time. Email marketing has been proven to work time and time again, so invest the time needed to build a solid list. It doesn’t take a lot of time to create your first series of emails. The beauty of email marketing is that it takes the same amount of time to create and send one email as it does to send 500 emails. By automating the process, you will save time, reach a larger audience, and build relationships with your subscribers. How Are You Going to Make Growing Your Email List a Priority? Avoid getting caught up in trying to do too many things at once and focus solely on building your email list for now. Email marketing is a great way for you to stand out to your audience when you’re starting a business or trying to grow an existing one. Your subscribers are eager to receive your emails, and over time they will begin to see you as an expert in your field. Put time and energy into growing your list, and it will reap endless benefits for your business. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by trying to do too many things at once, but when you focus on one thing—like building your email list—you set yourself up for long-term success. Just as Starbucks started with one thing and built an empire, you can grow your business by dedicating your efforts to email list building. This single focus will allow you to connect with potential customers, nurture relationships, and turn subscribers into loyal, paying clients. Ready to start building your email list? Download the Email List Planning Worksheet to map out your first lead magnet, ideal subscriber, and email strategy. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Coaching and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  The hunt for new clients never ends. You need to always be out there generating leads, even when you have plenty of work to keep you busy. It takes time to nurture relationships and you never know when you’ll bump into a lucrative business opportunity. Here are 7 unique methods for finding new clients.
Ask for Referrals The best business comes from referrals. A happy client tells others about you and the new person already knows the unique value you offer. We usually wait for referrals to naturally occur, but it’s even better to ask for them proactively. Make it a regular part of your business operations. Whenever you receive positive feedback from a client, ask if there’s anyone they know who could use the help too. Join Social Media Groups Social media is essential for finding new clients, but are you active in groups? There are groups dedicated to every single topic of interest on these platforms. These are places where people get together and discuss common interests. If you’re active there, you’ll raise your visibility. Speak at Industry Events Find offline industry events and trade shows to speak at. Share your expertise with people and you’ll find new clients. Give a presentation on a topic related to the work you do, then encourage participants to follow you online. By teaching them, you’ve already started the relationship by giving them something of value they can use. Hold Webinars Hold your own educational events online through webinars. The great thing about webinars is that you don’t have to attend physically. They are low-cost and people from anywhere in the world can join. While you share your expertise with participants, you can start building a relationship with them. Put out Press Releases Whenever there’s any news related to your business or your industry, put out a press release. There are directories where you can publish press releases online and media outlets will pick them up. You can also use press releases as content on your website or social media. Write Guest Blog Posts Guest blogging helps you reach a new audience with your expertise. Reach out to blogs in your niche with a pitch for a post and see if they’ll publish it. They get a free piece of high-quality content and you get exposure to their audience. Approach guest blogging strategically, writing and publishing on a regular basis to high-traffic blogs. Create Free Information Products Pay it forward by offering free information products. Info products are cheap and easy to produce. They can be published on your website and other places online for potential clients to download and enjoy in exchange for their email address. You can then market to them through email. Create a Strategic Marketing Mix Always be on the lookout for new marketing channels and strategies. Add them to your mix one by one and monitor the results. Gradually, you’ll have a whole arsenal of techniques to help find new clients. Reflection Question Which one of these seven client attraction strategies could you begin implementing this week to expand your reach? Building relationships is one of the most effective ways to grow your business. Download the free Referral Conversation Guide for practical conversation starters and strategies that make asking for referrals feel natural and professional. |
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