An email list is a list of subscribers who have ‘opted-in’ to receive emails from you. They've signed up because they're interested in the content and offers you can give them. This is a great way for authors and online marketers to reach their audience. Everyone can benefit from keeping a list, and here are ten reasons you need to start one right away.
1. Profits
The old cliché “The money is in the list” is actually quite true. Your list is a captive audience that has actively chosen to receive your offers. This is why lists are so profitable for marketers.
2. An Entrance to Your Sales Funnel
When a person subscribes to your list, they're starting a relationship with you. This is a good way to draw prospects into your sales funnel. From here, you can engage your subscribers with valuable information and offers.
3. Direct Contact
Email is the most direct way to reach your readers because your messages are delivered straight to their email inboxes.
4. Personalize Your Marketing
When someone opts in to your list, they're making a mental commitment. It's not the same as casually dropping in on your blog or website. A list creates a personal connection between you and your readers.
5. Exclusive Offers
The offers you make through your email list are valuable to your subscribers partly because they're exclusive. That is, you can only get them by joining the list. This creates a special “club” for your readers, a kind of loyalty program.
6. Relationship Building
Because email marketing is a more direct and personal approach, it's a great way to build a relationship between you and your readers, which is what all authors need and should want.
7. An Asset to Your Business
A list of subscribers adds value to your brand. Your email list can be calculated as an asset belonging to your business. If you have a large and responsive list, this can help you attract publishers, press coverage, and so much more.
8. Feedback
Email marketing isn't just a one-way interaction. You also get feedback from your subscribers on how you're doing. This feedback comes from your email marketing analytics and also directly when subscribers send you messages or when you ask them questions.
9. Get to Know Your Audience
Interacting with your audience through email and making various offers to them helps you get to know your readers better. When you know your target audience well, you can make better offers to them that increase your profits while meeting their needs more effectively. This would include writing books you know that they would like, or writing your marketing material with their interests in mind.
10. Everybody's Doing It
Everybody is marketing through email, and this most likely includes your competition. This means you need to be doing it also. There's a good chance your competitors aren’t doing it as well as they could, so this gives you an opportunity to get an edge on them.
Before starting your list, decide exactly what you'd like to do with it. Is it going to be an entrance into your sales funnel, a vehicle to build your brand's reputation, or a means of profiting directly? If you define your purpose well, you'll better understand what you need to do in order to profit from your list.
Quote of the Day:
No human investigation can be called real science if it cannot be demonstrated mathematically.
--Leonardo da Vinci
