TeamAn email list is the most important marketing tool that you can count on to grow your online presence or business. And it is definitely the most important feature that you should have from day one.
Social media and ads are all the rage now, but back then, if you wanted to grow an online business, you had to rely on emails and phone numbers. Not too long ago, companies would try left and right to grab your phone numbers so that they could then sell that data to other businesses and, consequently, you would keep getting calls from random services/product companies.
Now people are more protective of their emails and phone numbers, but that does not mean they are not willing to give it to you, especially if they like your or your business’ content. But since social media is now the big thing to invest in, email marketing has been left collecting dust by newcomers. It is important to note that big companies have not forgotten about the power of email marketing, they do use it immensely, but they also invest in influencers, social media and targeted ads.
Email list from Day 1
This is huge. When people start their blogs, channels, sites or businesses, they love to see the analytics ramp up in views, retention, clicks and all that. However, if you have no way to keep people subscribed or up to date, they do not know when you are releasing new content. That is one of the powers of an email list, the people that find your content and loves it will keep coming back when they get notified via email.
The biggest problem of not starting an email list on day 1 is the potential followers that your blog/business might lose. If you are working on your stuff organically, that is, relying on SEO and Google for clients, it can take a while before you get some traction. But when you do, you need to be ready to let potential clients know that there is more content coming. Many new content creators forget how essential this tool is, and only realize it when they are months in and they have already lost hundreds or thousands of potential subscribers/consumers.
Think about the last time you searched Google for some info, and you actually liked it. Do you remember the name of the site? Probably not. This happens to everyone and if people don’t have an option to follow you, they will lose you in this sea of information.
A sale is better than no sales
Creating a platform for your content costs money obviously. And, if you are starting out, the hard truth is that it will take you some time before you are able to properly monetize your work. However, with an early email list, you can easily start laying the groundwork for your sales channel. Every single sale counts, especially when starting out with no funding.
And the best part about clients or consumers that actually give you their email is they are interested in what you have to offer, meaning you can easily score some sales. And to all of us who lack motivation or are in a tight spot, this early success can make or break our business.
Easier to convert early rather than later
Imagine your platform already has some viewership or consumer base and they visit your site regularly. Great, right? Of course, it is. However, it will be really hard to convince them to subscribe now since they are already returning clients. The problem? You are not extracting maximum value from their engagement, which is essential to growing.
A newsletter allows you to target specific audiences and lead them to products that interest them the most. You can use them to hype future projects, create an early buzz and, more importantly for beginners, create and grow a tightknit following/community.
If you already have a following, you can always try to do a giveaway or a free digital product where only people who give their email addresses can join. It’s a nice way to draw new people to your platform and make previous followers provide their emails to you.
Final thoughts
Before you get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work and hassle it will take to create a profile on all social media platforms, take a few minutes and create your email list. There are several tools available, but MailChimp has a great free service to start out your journey. It is better to start slow and strong, rather than spending months playing catch-up.
