email list Archives - High Performance Coach Cindy Donaldson

How to grow your email list

Leave a Comment / Marketing, Must Read Blogs, Small Business, Tips / By Cindy Donaldson / June 22, 2020 / Cindy Donaldson, Drip, email, email list, Gmail, lead magnet, lists, Mailchimp, marketing, newsletter, Outlook, red barn consulting, signups, social media, subscribers

Email is not dead. In fact, email is by far the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to connecting with your tribe – especially email automation! So how do you grow your list? The key is you need to do it consistently and always be adding to your list.

Just the facts:

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)

Where to start to grow your list?

Everyone starts at zero – everyone. So to grow and build a list of thousands will take some time. Here are my tips:

Understand that 90% of your email content is to serve – not sell. This is all about building credibility and gaining trust.
Understand that you need to be consistent and that in fact – more is better. We suggest a weekly email to your list – and more if you are in the middle of a launch.
Choose your email platform – don’t use Outlook, Gmail, etc. – you need to be able to see the metrics. Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Drip, Infusionsoft/Keap – choose what works for you.
ASK people to join. All email platforms offer a sign-up function – so share that URL everywhere on social media – and ask them to sign up. You can incentivize them if you like! When I do public speaking I offer to donate $1 to the local soup kitchen for every new email sign up. It works 🙂
Put a sign-up form on your website – this makes it easy for people to find and sign up for your list.
Use lead magnets such as downloadable checklists, quizzes, e-books, free mini-courses – anything that brings value and someone is willing to give you their email in exchange for it.
Make sure you deliver GREAT content. If your content sucks – your email engagement will too. Not sure what to write – survey people on your list, your customers, etc. I do it often.

Remember you own your list – you don’t own your social media followers. What does that mean? Even if you have 100k followers on social media, you are relying on the platform and their algorithms to market to your people. You can\’t export their contact info and use it elsewhere. Email marketing should be a huge part of your marketing mix!!

Need some help? Grab a spot on my calendar and we can hash out what’s working and what isn’t!

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Size…Really Doesn’t Matter

Leave a Comment / Marketing, Must Read Blogs, Small Business, Tips / By Cindy Donaldson / February 13, 2020 / authentic, blogs, Content, email list, emails, entertaining, length, newsletter, size, white papers, Writing

What size should my content be? How long should a Blog be – what about White Papers?

How long should my email copy be? How often should I send them?

The answer is – there isn’t an answer. Size and quantity IMHO don’t matter – QUALITY does.

My email subscribers get at a minimum of 2 emails per week. Sometimes more depending on what is going on. The length of those emails ranges from 250 words to over 1000 – to be honest I never look at the word count because I don’t care.

What I care about is the content. Is it engaging? Is it relevant? Is it entertaining?

You will NEVER nail this for everyone – because everyone is different. What is engaging to one may be boring as all hell to another. What is relevant to one will be obsolete for another what is entertaining for one will ghastly for another.

My advice to content writers is to be authentic (you can read more on that there), be transparent and know your audience. Write for the majority, write from your soul – write as if you are sitting down and drinking a glass of wine or coffee with someone face to face. Write as you would speak.

How do you know if you are engaging, relevant and entertaining? Look at your metrics. What are your open rates on your emails? Dive into your Google Analytics to see who’s reading your blogs (PS don’t forget to share them on social – that’s where we get our biggest engagement). If your numbers aren’t where you want them to be – review your content. Something is off – chances are you aren’t writing to your audience. Take a step back are dive deep into your Target Client Profile – who are they REALLY? Then regroup. It may take you several iterations to nail it – so don’t give up!

Consistency wins each and every time.

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The power of your LIST

Leave a Comment / Entrepreneur, Featured, Marketing, Tips / By Cindy Donaldson / April 25, 2019 / CAN-SPAM, Cindy Donaldson, email list, email marketing, grow your list, Lead magnets, marketing, red barn consulting, social media, Website

It’s no secret that Team Red Barn is Pro Email Marketing. The bang for your ROI buck is huge compared to other advertising and customer engagement methods. It is all about the POWER of your LIST. The more targeted, the more engaged, the higher that ROI will be.

The biggest question I often get is “But Cindy, how do I get a list to email to?”

You build it – over time.

First let’s talk guidelines.

Email rules here in the US are not as stringent as they are in the EU – as long as you follow the guidelines of the FTC CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business and ONLY email to people in the US you will be fine. Note – GDPR rules and regulations are insanely stringent and carry large fines. So if you work globally – make sure you are GDPR Compliant.

In the US, you CAN add people to your email list without having them OPT IN as long as you give them a clear OPT OUT option and comply with that request within the CAN SPAM guidelines. There are also rules around advertisements, etc.

Note if you add people without them opting in you WILL by default have lower engagement rates, higher spam rates, and higher opt-out rates. We only suggest this if it is a very targeted audience such as an association you belong to or are associated with and you are offering some type of educational content to them. If you get high spam rates your email provider WILL turn you off and even black list you. So beware.

The best way to build your list is organically. Here’s how we do it:

Make is CRAZY EASY – is the rule and have opportunities everywhere for them to subscribe.
ASK. Every time I do a speaking engagement, training, etc – I ask people to sign up for my weekly email – I tell them the value they will get and of course they can opt out if they don’t like it. I entice them as well – by giving them something OR making a donation to a local charity for each sign up. Works every time.
LEAD MAGNETS on your Website – valuable educational and/or entertaining intel that they need to give you their name and email address in order to get your content.
In your EMAIL SIGNATURE – have a hyperlink to your sign up form.
ON YOUR WEBSITE – have sign up forms in a variety of places.
Share lead magnets on SOCIAL MEDIA – capture email addresses that way.

It doesn’t end there – you need to actually use the emails you’ve collected to bring in the ROI. Weekly nurturing emails and email automation based on segmented lists is what we do here at Red Barn and it’s how we help other companies tell their story in a low cost conversational and converting way!

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