Today we are talking all about one of the most important pieces in building your business: growing an email list. Before we dive in, make sure you download the guide that goes right along with everything we will talk about in this episode.
IE 224: Growing an Email List to Double Revenue
The reason that we need to talk about growing your email list is that we have seen a dip in ad revenue recently. I know that many bloggers and influencers rely on their ad revenue as a part of their income each month.
When a dip occurs unexpectedly, because of something like a global pandemic, it affects our income. This is why diversification is so important. If you have products or services that you are making available, the dip in your income will not affect you as much.
Building Your Business In Your Own Space
Not only did we see a dip in ad revenue recently, but we also saw platform algorithms changing.
Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook all saw changes that caused the traffic going to our websites to go down as well. This change directly affects our ad revenue. This is exactly why you don’t want to build your business on rented space. That is what you are doing when you put all of your content into social media and only focus on growing your platform there.
You have your social media profiles, but at any time that platform could decide to shut down. We saw this happen with Vine and Google+.
You need to build an audience in a place that belongs to you, and that is your email list.
Two Main Reasons to Grow An Email List
There are two reasons why you need to be focusing on growing your email list:
- Email list subscribers are 3x more likely to share your content via social media than visitors from other sources.
- You are 6x more likely to get a click from an email that you sent to your list than you are from something shared on social media.
Think about how you can grow your email list so that it is easier for your people to engage with your content. You want to be growing your email list with the right people; the people whose questions you are providing answers to.
Choosing The Right Email Software
One of the biggest things to consider when it comes to growing your list is making sure you are using high-quality email software. This could be anything from MailChimp, ConvertKit, FloDesk, etc.
I personally love and prefer ConvertKit. It provides me the ability to create funnels and email sequences that are automatic. This allows me to make money while I sleep. That is what you are looking to accomplish with your email list.
Creating an Opt-In
Following are some of the questions that are covered in the workbook that goes right along with this episode. The answers to these questions will push you towards creating an opt-in/freebie/lead magnet.
- Know your ICA (ideal customer avatar).
Knowing your ideal avatar and what problem you are solving for them will not only make content creation much easier but make it easier to create an opt-in for that person. It will also make that person want to sign up for your email list to get the answers and solutions you provide.
- Think about what can easily connect with your content.
Look at your most popular posts and find a way to create an opt-in for that topic. List all of your popular posts and find the connection between them. You want your guide to coordinate with your popular posts.
- Focus on what product or service you are offering.
If your product or service has nothing to do with your opt-in it will be confusing for your ICA. You want to make sure that the two are aligned so that you are continually solving the problem of that avatar.
This is why knowing your ICA is so important. If you don’t know who you are trying to capture, you won’t know what to create for a product or service.
How To Promote An Opt-in
So, you have worked through those thoughts and know what opt-in you need to be creating.
Now, how do you promote that opt-in?
- Start with a squeeze page. This is where you have an opt-in header and footer that squeezes your page together. It provides your person two opportunities to dive into your opt-in directly on your home page.
This is also why it is important to have a link directly to your home page on your social media. You don’t want them to click a link and have to go down a rabbit hole of posts and never find their way to your home page.
- Promote your opt-in within your content. Use an image inside of your content that is a photo of your guide and what you are promoting that leads directly to your opt-in.
Use a flat-lay image that will allow them to see what they can expect from the opt-in.
- Promote your opt-in through your social media. You all know that I think one of the best ways to do this is through Instagram Stories, using the Poll feature.
Share about your opt-in and then say “Would you like me to send it to you” and provide the options “Heck yes,” or “Already have it!” You can also provide a swipe-up to the opt-in if you have the swipe-up feature.
When someone responds “heck yes,” make sure that you send them a DM responding to their request and then send a separate message with the opt-in link so that the link will be live.
With Instagram Stories, you can promote your opt-in 2-3 times a week.
What Should I Send To My Email List?
Once you have built your email list, you want to create a welcome sequence that goes out that explains what your person can expect from you in the future. It should explain what you will be sending them, how often they can expect to hear from you, etc.
You want to make sure your welcome sequence introduces you to your new audience and also includes a call to action, encouraging them to reply, follow you on social media, or check out your most recent post.
Email your people when you post new content to encourage them to check out your new post. Make sure you are not using too many pictures or giving away too much of the content. You want them to want to click on the actual post.
Selling To Your Email List
You also need to sell something to your email list. If you are just focusing on ad revenue, you will see a hit on your income. Remember what we talked about at the beginning of this episode; algorithms and pandemics can wreak havoc on ad revenue.
It is important that you have a product or service that will allow you to diversify your income. You can find ways to repurpose your content to create a guide or ebook that you can sell to your email list.
Even if everything in your ebook can already be found somewhere on your site, your person is paying for the ability to have everything in one, easily accessible, place. People pay for convenience every day, so make your information convenient and sell it.
When your people love you and know your goal is to make their life easier, they will continue to buy from you.
Make sure you download that workbook and start to think about what steps you need to take to grow your email list and diversify your income.
Action Steps:
- If you liked this episode of Influencer Entrepreneurs, please subscribe and leave a fabulous review!
- Join the conversation on Instagram by tagging Jenny when you’re listening to the podcast. She’ll send you a personal message whenever you tag her.
