If there was one marketing channel in my business that I could keep no matter what else happened, I would keep my email list! Does that surprise you? My email list is so valuable to me in many ways! Today, I wanted to share my favorite tips to start and build an email list for your business. Let’s jump right into it! 

STEP 1: CHOOSE AN EMAIL MARKETING PLATFORM

I absolutely love Flodesk – and it’s very easy to integrate Flodesk with Showit, which is who I use for my website. I have another whole post about how to do just that HERE, but I seriously can’t recommend Flodesk enough. They’re super user-friendly and pretty intuitive, which is really nice if you’re new to email marketing. I’ve been using Flodesk for almost 2 years now, and I continue to use it because of how easy it is to use. It’s super affordable (and you can get 50% off your first year by using THIS LINK!). In fact, one of the things I love is that no matter how big your list gets, you’ll always pay their base amount. 

There is another free option you can use for your email list and that’s MailChimp. Personally, I don’t have a ton of experience with this platform. I’ve found it to be more confusing and less user-friendly, but they do have a free trial as well. Of course, there’s other platforms out there (ConvertKit, Active Campaign, etc.) that you could research and use, but Flodesk is SO easy. I wouldn’t use anything else! 

STEP 2: CREATE A FREEBIE

Once you’ve decided on your email marketing platform and got an account setup, the next thing you need to do to build your email list is create a freebie. You may also hear this referred to as a lead magnet or opt-in. A freebie could be anything from a free download, template, class, quiz, waitlist or something else. This freebie needs to be very valuable and something that your ideal audience wants! Unfortunately, just having a signup form that says “join my newsletter” isn’t going to grow your list super fast. People hold on tightly to their emails these days because they know they’re going to be sold to. We need to give them a good incentive to join our list! 

Once you’ve created your opt-in, make sure that you’re sharing that opt-in EVERYWHERE. I mean it: on your website, your social media, your blog, anywhere you create content. By doing this and delivering this high quality freebie, you’re going to build trust with your email list and audience. If it feels like you’re sharing about it too much, you’re probably sharing it just the right amount! 

One of the things I love about Flodesk is that if you’re really new and are still building your website, you can still create an opt-in page THROUGH Flodesk, instead of on your website. That means you can literally start building your email list today. You can link to that page on your content, social media, blog, and so on until your site is ready. Once your website is ready, it’s really easy to embed your sign up forms. I have a tutorial about that HERE. 

STEP 3: CONSISTENTLY SEND EMAILS

The next step to build and utilize your email list is to email your audience regularly. I know it sounds simple, but it really can get complicated. We want to show up consistently for our email list because they took the time to sign up and be on that list with us. In some ways, we want to show up with even more value and more consistency than we would for any other part of our audience. To me, my email list is almost like an insider community for my brand! 

I recommend trying to email your list once a week. You can share about new content, a roundup of what’s going on, or something else like an Instagram caption that’s reworked slightly. Keep it simple, but make sure that you’re treating them well. Once you’ve got a library of emails, you can turn them into an automated nurture sequence so they’ll go out automatically to your audience upon sign up. This can be an easy way to take this task off your plate each week but still show up for your audience. For us, we actually send out one nurture email a week and then one related to content. One is automated and one is not. 

When you think of your email as your VIP group or insider club, it becomes a little easier to create content. You could share specific tips for just that group or something a bit more heartfelt. Really lean into this group of people who have joined your list to support you, learn from you, and buy from you! 

BONUS TIP: DON’T BE AFRAID TO SELL

Email was created to sell while social media was created to be social. When people sign up for your email list, they expect to be sent promotional content on your list. But, the key here is to make sure that you’re doing a good job nurturing your email list prior to selling to them! That’s the magic of email marketing – you can reach your warmest audience regularly and eventually make sales as long as you’re treating them well!