For small businesses and solopreneurs, getting your business off the ground usually means marketing on a budget. There are so many resources to build up your email list with little or no money. Your email list is gold, because these individuals want to receive your emails. They will consistently be your best responders and buyers.
Here are 5 cheap ways to begin building or adding to your existing email list:
- Website Sign Up:
Add a simple sign-up form or pop-up on your website to get visitors to sign up for your emails or newsletters. Don’t overload your growing email list by sending too many emails, or they will opt-out. You can begin with a weekly email including services, discounts, special offers, or upcoming events. A monthly e-newsletter will provide even more details about your business, short articles, and promotions. If you include a small offer on your website as an incentive to sign up, it will garner more attention. For example, it can be as simple as a free PDF of “5 Cheap Ways To Build Your Email List.” People love lists and information that are helpful and to the point! Tailor it to your business, your expertise and the needs of your customer.
2. Social Media:
You don’t have to pay a dime on social media to get some attention. Find your audience on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Tik Tok, and LinkedIn.
Get those business accounts active and make them fun and interesting. Post daily, and think more about quality not quantity. Engage with your audience and respond to comments thoughtfully and swiftly.
You can also get viewers to your website with a free incentive. Instagram and Facebook Live offers you a free way to communicate with your audience in the moment via live video streaming directly from your social media business account pages. Putting a face to your company builds trust and rapport. You can use these live video opportunities to generate interest in your programs or products, and then direct them to your website to sign up for the free incentive which captures their email address. Of course, you can also do live streaming to promote your business and direct viewers to your site to sign up for programs, services, or products. This will also result in gaining their email address along with their business.
Social media helps you cultivate relationships, which builds trust, and grows your business!
3. Meetup App:
This site is to host in-person or online events. You have to pay to create a group on Meetup, but it’s not super expensive (Approximately $100 every 6 months) and you can post all of your events on there for your group. This is perfect for businesses that do webinars, in-person courses, classes, and events. Meetup has over 44 million users, but this is most helpful to reach a local audience near your business. Meetup does not release the emails of your group followers, but allows you to in-mail them. You can capture them however when they attend your events with a sign-up form, and as they visit your website that you have listed in your group.
4. Eventbrite:
You can list all of your events on Eventbrite for free. You can either have Eventbrite take a small percentage out of your event fee for their service, or tack it on to the price of the ticket. Put a mention in your event for people to email you after they sign up, so you can officially register them or for you to send them the webinar link, etc. – this will help you capture the emails.
5. Blog:
This is a great way to bring awareness to your company and provide your unique expertise to current and potential customers and clients. You can blog weekly or monthly. Add tags to your blog so new consumers find you online in search. Add links to your blog to direct consumers to your website, contact information, and social media sites. Also add links to provide additional resources and helpful information. The links also help “search” understand the relevance of your posts and increase search engine optimization.
Direct your website and blog visitors to sign up for emails to get access to your latest blog as soon as it hits the internet. Make sure to send a link to your email list when a new blog is posted. Ideally you can create a blog within your website or use Word Press or Blogger with their easy templates to get you started.
Contact Carney Direct today for a free consultation to discuss your business marketing needs: 800-240-3349
For questions, comments, or to sign up for our emails and blog notifications, contact me:
Kerri Mulhern
Carney Direct Marketing
