Email marketing for small businesses is by far the most powerful and least expensive method out there. It is very easy to build a list of potential customers and customers, particularly from your website.
By building a relationship with your customers, they will come to trust and know you and are more likely to buy from you again and again, and email is a great way to do that.
At its most basic and free, start with an Excel spreadsheet, but I recommend using an email database management system like Aweber. I personally use this in my business and it is very cost effective and relatively easy. It also comes with the ability to send newsletters.
The topic of email marketing, list building, and communicating with your lists is huge, but here are some tips to get you started:
Use your list immediately
One of the biggest mistakes people make is to focus on list building and neglect list communication. Make sure you start building that relationship with your subscriber right away. Send them a welcome message. Send them value in the form of links, downloads and information. You may want to have an email template that brands your business, but if not, text is fine. In fact, the text goes through most spam filters.
Create a communication plan
Be sure to communicate with your subscribers regularly. An autoresponder is a wonderful tool because it allows you to create and schedule your messages in advance. Basically, you can set all your emails on autopilot: do it once, and when you add someone to your list, everyone will receive the same messages in the same sequence at intervals you set. Aweber also does this.
Each new subscriber can receive the same messages in the same order, regardless of when they signed up. This gives you control over the relationship building process and it is fully automated. You only need to set it up once. Also remember to offer valuable content, not just promotional messages.
An autoresponder automates the process, including subscription and unsubscribe management. You don’t need to hire someone to handle the task for you. Your time is free to build your business in other ways.
Partner with others to grow your list
Once you’ve smoothed out the process of creating and managing your list, consider partnerships. You can really increase your subscribers by partnering with other relevant business owners. For example, the owner of the website that markets to pet owners might partner with a website that sells pet toys. They can help market your subscription list by including a link to your form in your newsletter and vice versa. They can support each other to succeed. I do it successfully on my travel blog.
Your list can mean the difference between thousands of prospects. You can really launch your business. If you don’t have a list, start creating a plan to build one. You’ll be glad you did.