Simple Tactics to Increasing Your Small Business Email List

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay Are you leveraging email effectively to market your small business or non-profit? As a small business owner, I know firsthand the challenges of deciding where to spend your limited time and resources. Y ou can’t afford to exert energy on something that isn’t going to deliver the results you expect. A cultivated email list is worth your investment. In fact, Constant Contact recently shared that email marketing has the highest ROI (return on investment) of all forms of marketing, averaging about $42 in return for every $1 spent. As a former executive, I like data-driven reasons. Constant Contact shared some additional data-driven reasons to use email for your small business including: 91 percent of US adults like to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with (MarketingSherpa) Email is almost 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined in helping your business acquire new customers. (McKinsey) According to 80 percent of professionals, email marketing drives customer acquisition and retention. (eMarketer) Email marketing is more likely to drive sales than social media marketing. (Optinmonster) Getting started with email marketing is pretty simple these days with many free tools available such as Hubspot, MailChimp, Sender and more. Having a good cultivated list, especially when you are starting out, can be the challenging part. Here are a few tactics to start building your email list today. 1. Email Sign-Up Boxes on Your Website. Place a clear and conspicuous form on your website to help facilitate email sign-ups. This is not only effective, but it is also very easy to implement. Couple your sign-up boxes with a clear description of "why". Let customers know exactly what to expect when signing up, and sell the benefits of being on your email list. 2. Account Registrations and Online Ecommerce Forms. Incorporate Email Sign-Up into all your forms and e-commerce transactions. Site registration is the most common and effective means of acquisition for marketers. 3. Host Webinars. Host free or low-cost webinars to share your expertise or provide a platform for others to share their expertise. The topic should be of value to your target audience. Require participants pre-register with their full name and email. 4. Word of Mouth. For subscribers on your list, a small incentive or discount will often get them talking. Marketers should capitalize on word-of-mouth marketing by incorporating email sign-up on viral components, such as features that allow site visitors to forward products, services, wish lists, information online, notifications, and more to their friends. 5. Free Downloadable Content. Provide Email sign-up opportunities for your website visitors to receive valuable downloadable content such as a how-to video, template, white paper, etc. The value of the information you offer is directly proportional to the amount of personal data your customers are willing to provide, so make sure the tradeoff is fair. A highly anticipated white paper or report can garner a high number of new email subscribers who are openly expressing interest in your brand, so don’t leave this opportunity unaddressed. Hopefully, these tactics will help you grow your email list faster. As a small business or non-profit leader, a cultivated email list is worth your investment! Are you looking for a sample marketing calendar template? I created a free-to-download simple one on our services page to get you started. Think about your target audience, what message you want to promote to them, and then get started. The Key is to be consistent and keep in mind it typically takes 8 to 10 touches to get to the point of purchase. At It's All About the How Marketing Consulting we offer expert marketing support and practical tools to help improve your brand awareness and results. We can help with all aspects of your small business marketing needs from developing strategic marketing plans to weekly blog content. You can reach us at itsallaboutthehow@gmail.com or check out our website at www.itsallaboutthehow.com .