4 Steps to Grow Your Email List

I’m sure that you’ve heard that you don’t really “own” your social media lists.

What if there was a recent social media shut down on your account and you couldn’t get access to your accounts or your communications with possible clients?

If this is where your audience is hanging out then that means you might not have been able to contact them again.

Now i’m not going to be a social media hater….

Social Media and Email Marketing work together!

Social media is amazing. It’s such a great way to direct traffic to your website or email list.

Once you snag your audience on social and really get them engaging, you want to move them to your email list. Your email list is something that you own. You get to self-promote. You get to engage. You get to get to know your audience — without the rules of social hindering you.

But how do we get them to move there in the first place?

These four steps will help you gain traction and grow your list:

Get to know your ideal client
Find the right email service provider for you with the right options you need
Create your lead magnet and opt-ins
Thank them and provide amazing value to them by continuing to show up in their inbox.

Getting to know your ideal client:

Here’s the deal.. you’re not going to grow your email list if you’re not speaking to the right people.

If you’ve been growing your following on social media then you’re more than likely on the right foot.

If not and you’re struggling on what to say or who to talk to… well you might have some work to do. And that’s OKAY! We all start somewhere.

To create a successful lead-generator you must first determine your ideal client’s pain points. Picture your future client. What do they struggle with on a day-to-day basis? What can you or your product do to help them? Need more help here? Check out this download.

Decide what service provider is right for you with the right options:

Now not all email service providers are created equal. I could go on and on about the different ones that might be right for you but i’ll simply break it down into the more popular ones as well as some of the providers I am familiar with:

ConvertKit
- Great for content creators
- Beautiful landing pages, sign up forms, and link pages
- Intuitive email editor
- Powerful sales and email funnels
- Email rules and triggers for automation
- Segment and target customers
- Tons of marketing integrations
Constant Contact
- Easy to set up and use
- Detailed analytics reports to improve conversions
- Audience segmentation to target subscribers
- Other marketing tools for faster growth
- Automated campaigns and drip series
ActiveCampaign
- affordable and well designed
- easy to use
- A/B testing to find the best performing campaign
- Integrations via Zapier
Sendinblue
- Beginner friendly
- Marketing automation tools
- Smart segmentation
- AI-powered system to send emails at the perfect time
- Only pay for the emails you actually send
- A/B testing to find the best performing campaign
Keap
- Designed for start-ups, small and medium businesses
- marketing automation tools
- easy to read reporting of metrics
- Multiple integration options
- duals as a CRM
Flodesk
- easy to use
- beautiful templates
- affiliate and MLM friendly
- simple pricing structure
- lacking advanced features like reporting, integrating, limited customer support.
Drip
- Popular with e-commerce brands
- Visual email builder
- Library of premade workflows and proven strategies
- Customizable lead generation forms
- Automations to nurture post-purchase customers
- A/B testing to optimize results

While there are many other companies, I hope this short list has given you something to start with. Feel free to go to their websites and try a free trial. It might be a little more work at first but nailing down a company you’re comfortable with is important!

Create your lead magnet and opt-ins

Your lead magnet has to be something that your ideal client immediately thinks, “YES. This is something that I need!”.

What makes you and your lead magnet special? What can you offer them that will help them move along in their journey? This might take some brainstorming but you could offer any one of these types of freebies to your audience:

Now that you’ve figured out what your client needs to help move them along, you’ll want to create an opt-in or a landing page to get your audience’s email and name.

In exchange for that information, they get your freebie! It’s a simple and free exchange and everyone wins.

In your email service provider, you can create an opt-in to place in multiple areas of your website.

If you don’t have a website, you can create a stand alone page, called a landing page.

In the settings of your opt-in or landing page, you can edit it so that they receive a confirmation and a way to get your freebie. This could be through downloading your item or through a link.

Thank them and provide amazing value to them by continuing to show up in their inbox

So you’ve made it this far… congrats! You’re doing great. After all this, you definitely don’t want to ghost your audience.

Once they’ve submitted their information and get your freebie, you want to make sure they’re tagged in your welcome sequence to start getting some nurture emails from you!

This is your first impression to your potential client. Your email service provider should have an automations section where you’ll accomplish this step.

The welcome sequence will include these 4-5 emails:

A thank you and a reiteration of the value they get through your freebie and how you will show up for them. Keep this simple yet authentically you!
An introduction. What sets you apart! Don’t be afraid to show some personality.
Send them some valuable tips and position yourself as the authority
Share some testimonials. This is your social proof!
Send a sales email with your service(s) and a solid CTA.

If the idea of doing all of this stresses you out and youre in analysis paralysis…. have no fear.

You’re not alone.

This technical stuff can be hard to feel motivated to do and it isn’t for everyone.

If you’re looking to get your email marketing systems set up and done for you, you can simply click this link to get started and I’ll reach out to help you! I love helping entrepreneurs with their behind the scenes and techie stuff just makes me so happy! Call me weird if you want but it’s just my jam!

Be sure to let me know in the comments if this helped you at all!

Heather