There are many online marketers out there who will tell you that around 80% of the money they make is from their Email List. And of course, you have the saying, ‘the money is in the list!’
In this post I’m going to cover everything you need to know about email marketing. We’ll discuss:
- What exactly is email marketing?
- How to get started in 4 steps
- Autoresponders
- Aweber (the autoresponder I personally use)
- Effective lead capturing techniques
- Creating lead magnets
- Copywriting
- How to benefit from your leads without appearing spammy
- Advantages of growing your email list organically
- Why I don’t recommend buying leads from other email marketers
So What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing simply means following up via emails with your customers, potential customers or to use the standard term, leads.
If you have a website, you can attract leads by having an email signup box saying ‘Subscribe for Updates’ or something like that. You will also probably be familiar with ‘pop-ups’ on websites that tend to come just as you were thinking of leaving the site. Don’t feel judged; we all have a microscopic attention span these days.
This is a common tactic used by marketers to get you on to their email list.
The pop-up usually says something enticing and possibly offers you something for free while asking for your email address so that they can send you the free offer.
If you give it, you will later receive emails from the website owner. The first one will contain the freebie but after that, you remain on someone’s email marketing list. The regularity and content of follow up emails varies with each sender. One day, you might make a purchase after reading one of these emails that directs you back to the site or directly to another offer.
If you think about it, email marketing can become very lucrative. Let’s say a website is getting thousands of visitors per day and gradually the email list grows and grows. Sometimes, after one email to all the people on the email list, an email marketer can make a substantial amount of money in one go.
Getting Started with Email Marketing in 4 Steps
Email marketing may sound complicated but you can get started with it in four fairly simple steps:
- Build a website or start a YouTube channel (or both)
- Choose an autoresponder
- Create sign up forms, opt-in pages and lead magnets to go with your site and/or channel
- Follow up with your leads, providing value and promoting offers.
You will need something that brings you web traffic before you can build your own email list. That’s why a website and/or YouTube channel are a good place to start.
A website is probably a better way to go if you want to get a good email marketing strategy going.
But you will of course need to grow your site by producing content. Once it’s getting traffic, you are ready to start benefiting from email marketing.
An Email Autoresponder is simply a software used to collect emails and send them. You can do various things with the autoresponder tool such as:
- Send automated emails
- Build sign up forms
- Send high volumes of emails
- Send out broadcast emails
- Connect with your customers and build a relationship with them.
It will add a level of professionalism if you use a business email. If you are emailing your leads using Gmail, you simply won’t look professional and your customers can quickly lose trust in you.
So, if you’re going to use an autoresponder, it’s best to start off with a business email. Most people create a personal email but it’s easy enough to select ‘business email’ and to use this email for your online business.
Examples of autoresponders are:
- Aweber
- Mailchimp
- GetResponse
I personally use Aweber but they all have more or less the same features and functions.
A sign-form is simply the element that allows people to enter their email.
A landing page is an entire page with a sign-up form. It is sometimes also referred to as part of a sales funnel.
A lead magnet is an offer that is given for free in exchange for a person’s email. An eBook for example.
The lead magnet is a very effective lead generation strategy. People are offered something for free and all they have to do to get it is leave their email. They are then added to an email marketing mailing list.
Aweber
I personally use Aweber for my autoresponder. I find it easy to use and I also like the customisation settings that provide efficient tools for designing your sign up forms and landing pages.
I also think Aweber has a good pricing system. You don’t need a credit card to benefit from the free version that allows you to have up to 500 subscribers. The next level up is only $12/month and this allows you to have unlimited subscribers and also comes with other benefits.
But I also think the other two popular autoresponders are a good choice as well: GetResponse and Mailchimp.
You can check those out for yourself to see which one will suit you the best.
Effective lead capturing techniques
You can use any platform such as a website, YouTube, Rumble, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok etc. to grow a following and capture leads.
There are three ways to do this with a website:
- Have a sign-up form as a widget on the side of your website
- Have a sign-up form within your articles
- Leave links on your site leading to landing pages with lead magnets and opt-in forms
- Create a pop-up with an offer and sign up form.
Once you learn how to create sign-up forms and landing pages using your autoresponder software, you will be able to use them as you see fit on your website.
With YouTube, you can have a link to a landing page in your video descriptions and direct people to it during your videos. Maybe there’s an ebook you are ready to give away for free or even just a PDF containing something valuable like a checklist for something relative to your niche.
The same type of strategy can apply to social media. Just direct people to a free offer that is relative to the kind of business you are in.
In this way, you can grow your email list and promote your offers to your leads.
Copywriting – The Art of Writing Marketing Emails
Try to put yourself in the position of your readers when you send them your emails.
The Golden Rule – PROVIDE VALUE!
Only then can you expect people to trust you and buy products from your links.
For this reason, you shouldn’t always be promoting something every time you email your subscribers. Sometimes you should just provide some useful information and encourage them on their journey.
The other key here is to remember that your leads are not just potential ‘clicks’ and ‘sales’ but real human beings with problems and needs who are looking for solutions and valuable information.
Building trust will come over time so you want to especially be friendly in the beginning and resist the temptation to throw affiliate links into your emails. Spoil your leads with free things and only later, gradually start promoting offers to them.
If you have received marketing emails from a reputable source, look at these emails and learn from them. What are they saying? How are they laid out? Notice how polite they are and the incentive they give for you to take some form of action.
A good email can really go a long way so you’ll want to practise a lot. And don’t worry, this isn’t a super special skill that only a few can pull off correctly. You’ll develop email copywriting skills as you progress.
Growing your list organically and why I don’t recommend buying leads
Growing your list organically means that your leads are fresh, targeted and loyal. That’s perfect for the long term well being and success of your online business.
To be honest, I’m not a fan of buying emails/leads from other internet marketers and that’s for a few reasons:
- The purchased leads probably haven’t given their consent to be added to someone else’s list
- They are likely to be low quality since they are already receiving emails from another sender
- There’s no reason for leads that have been bought, to trust you
- You can’t be sure what you are buying – you just have to trust the seller
- Overall, it doesn’t seem like a good investment (leads can be expensive to buy)
For email marketing to work well, you really want to generate your own leads and provide them with a LOT of value and not email them too regularly. If someone is being bombarded with too many emails, they’ll soon unsubscribe from your email list.
You also want to avoid coming across as pushy and salesy. Recommendations of products should be done in an honest way that clearly shows the benefits that come with them and highlights the reasons why your leads can benefit from these products as well.
I hope this has provided a comprehensive enough introduction to email marketing for you and that you feel confident using some of the best strategies that I’ve mentioned in the article.
Wishing you the best and remember that comments are always welcome and will be responded to.
Dominic.