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The Key to Growing Your Email List

by | Jun 24, 2020 | Newsletter, newsletters

Lead Magnets / Freebies / Irresistible Offers

Lead Magnets / Freebies / Irresistible Offers are the key to growing your email list. Offering something to your website visitors that is so compelling that they will gladly give you their email address in exchange for what you are offering is the method that every internet marketer recommends. I have an entire course about different types of lead magnets and how to build them. There are those who believe that every blog post or podcast episode needs its own lead magnet. Certainly the more lead magnets you have, the more likely you can attract someone onto your list. And, the more irresistible you offer is, the more likely someone will opt-in to your list. But how do you get them to find out about your lead magnet in the first place?

Podcasts

Being a podcast guest is a great way to grow your list. Almost every podcast host will ask their guests at the end of the show how listeners can stay in touch with them. Having a lead magnet that you can offer to the listeners is critical. I wrote a recent post about why be a podcast guest that explains how to do this in detail.

Guest Posts

Like podcasts, guest posting can be a solid way to grow your email list. You write an article that gets published on someone else’s website and you include a link to a free offer that expands upon what you have shared in the article. Not all guest posts allow you to link to a lead magnet, so be judicious in those you choose to work with. Try HARO (Help a Reporter Out) if you are having problems finding blogs for your guest posts as as well as Shane Barker. Writing articles on LinkedIn is another way of getting your offer in front of a lot of new people.

Social Media

You don’t own your social media followers – the platform (ie, Facebook) does. Your goal should be to move people onto an asset you own – your email list. One way to do this (besides advertising your lead magnet), is to ask a question with multiple answers and try to get a discussion going. For example:

I’m doing a quick study. Which do you think is most important when training a dog?
A. Motivation and positive reinforcement such as treats and praise.
B. Structure, such as showing the dog what to do.
C. Consistency, or allowing the dog regular practice.

Depending upon how people answer the question, you reach out through the platforms private messaging app with a personal response such as:

I see you responded to my survey about dog training and that you believe motivation and positive reinforcement is the most important component of an effective dog training program. I have a free ebook that discusses how treats, toys, and praise can be used to motivate your dog. Can I give you a copy? Click here to grab it.

Then, simply provide a different lead magnet for each answer.

How to build your list

Since your lead magnet is designed to get people onto your email list, you should deliver the magnet with email. It really helps if you think of your lead magnet as someone’s first purchase from you. You wouldn’t deliver an order of custom made furniture until you were sure that the payment went through, would you? Then why would you deliver the lead magnet before you were sure that you got a valid email address from the reader?

So here is how you should deliver your freebie. After someone signs up for your lead magnet, send them to a custom thank-you page with instructions on how to get their download. Do not give them the freebie here. Instead, have your email system send them a confirmation message to confirm their email address. They’ll get one more email that has the link to the download. It’s tempting to put your freebie in this email – but don’t do it! ALL you want from them right now is that link to confirm their address.  The only other thing to put in this email is a reminder to add you to their safe sender’s list. After they’ve confirmed their email address, send them another email with the link to their freebie!

What happens after someone downloads?

Now that someone has claimed their freebie from you, what do you do with their information? there are really only 2 choices: Add them to a sales funnel or add them to your newsletter list.

Option 1: Funnel – You can send another series of emails that leads them to a paid purchase. This works best if you have a product that is a direct follow-up for the freebie they downloaded.

Option 2: Newsletter – If you don’t have a paid product that has a direct correlation to your freebie, then you probably just want to move the subscriber onto your newsletter list.

Not an option: Nothing – The worst thing you can do after someone has downloaded your freebie is nothing. You went through the effort to get them on your email list, which is a time-consuming task to grow a truly engaged following. Now make sure that you deliver valuable content to them on a regular basis so that they will get to know, like, and trust you enough to buy from you.

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