Email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to market your business and the more people you can market to through email, the better your chances for increasing sales for your business. While many people websites have a place to register for updates where people use their email, that method is not nearly as successful as giving away a free product that it emailed to them. When you create a valuable eBook, email course or video presentation that you can email to an interested potential customer you break the ice because they will look forward to your email showing up in their inbox.
Finding JV partners that have email lists that you can trade ads in is another great way to get subscribers for your email list. Make sure to choose JV partners who have a related product that is similar to yours but not in competition. For example if you sell cookware, a baking business that sends a newsletter with recipes might be the perfect choice.
While giving away something free in return of an email address will help gain new subscribers for your business and working with JV partners will enhance those efforts, much of your success will be in what you end up emailing to your list. If you email advertisements to them, they will quickly lose interest and unsubscribe. On the other hand if you put together great emails that contain valuable information and keep them involved in a particular story line, they will become loyal subscribers. Also, sending information and asking people to share it with others by forwarding it can help them stay involved and also help gain additional people for your mailing list.
How you use your mailing list will depend on what goals you have in mind. If you are launching a product, you might use the mailing list for your prelaunch activities and if you are working to increase your brand image, you might send surveys or ask them questions about what they would like to see you offer them as products. Of course announcing special promotional events is always a good way to keep you email list active, but mix this in with other timely and valuable information so they will be sure to stay engaged.
Growing your email list and sending them information that they are sure to appreciate will help you create a relationship with them. That relationship is more important than ever to develop now days because people are buying more from who they are comfortable with and trust than just some website business that promises cheap prices.
