Kerrie Sheehan’s Blog

Is social media at the top of your email marketing strategies? It should be. Almost fifty percent of Twitter users said they made an online purchase because of an email, and seventy-five percent of daily social media users said email is the best way for companies to communicate with them.

Whether you own a small business or a large corporation, designing and implementing an opt-in email list is essential to succeeding in email marketing. Put these five free strategies to work for your business and watch your customers and profits grow.

1. Social Media Postings

Start by establishing Facebook and Twitter accounts for your business. Post messages to offer specials and discounts, and link offers to an email subscription webpage, or opt-in list. Go viral with an online marketing campaign that offers opted-in customers additional incentives for referring others to subscribe via email. Whether you take an informal approach, or launch a formal affiliate program, use social media to rapidly spread word of mouth referrals. Offer benefits to those customers who help build your email list, and the email marketing campaign will pay off with increased sales, better product branding and a solid business reputation.

2. Free Classified Advertisements

Post free classified advertisements online at websites like Backpage, Kijiji, and Craigslist. Link the advertisements to your opt-in webpage with a call to action. The posted advertisement needs to drive the reader to click through and provide their name and contact information. Be sure to include a disclaimer that assures the reader their email address will not be sold or used for any other purpose. With free online classifieds, consider you will need to repost advertisements every 30-90 days. Be aware that most sites monitor and remove duplicate postings and penalize users for violating terms of service. Read requirements and agreements very carefully before posting any advertisement.

3. Provide Fresh Content on the Opt-in Webpage

Write regular blog updates, articles, and upload video clips on the webpage where the opt-in email form is located. Provide a variety of free information about your industry. A steady stream of new content does more for long-term search engine ranking than short-lived pay-per click advertisement campaigns. Fresh content drives more traffic to the website, and converts the casual reader into a potential customer.

4. Write Engaging Autoresponder Messages

Maintaining an email list is just as important as drawing in new subscribers. Regularly split-test email messages to ensure customers are opening emails and track which messages convert to sales. Keep subscribers involved with activities such as a contest where users submit and vote on photos, or hold a contest where the customer with the most referrals earns free products or services. Make at least one message a month into a fun activity, and subscribers will look forward to opening the emails to see what the next contest is.

5. Survey the Industry Competition

Know who your top three competitors are and subscribe to their opt-in lists. Become familiar with the competition’s advertising and design your email marketing campaign with a new niche. Benefit your business by offering more incentives than the competition, or offer complementary products and services.

A well-designed email marketing program can highly effective. Whether your company has an advertising budget or not, free email list building techniques will help increase your online presence. Institute a referral program and advertise it using social media posting and free classified advertisements. Add content to your business webpage with regular blogs, articles and videos to increase the natural rankings in top search engines. Providing fresh content will keep opted-in customers coming back to your site often. Building and maintaining a subscribed list of potential customers increases profits and helps your company build a brand and solid reputation.

I have only covered 5 ways to build your list in this article. To be sure, there are many, many more ways that are very effective means of capturing leads and growing your email marketing list.

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