The answer to that question is YES. Without a doubt you should start an email list. Contrary to popular belief, email lists aren’t an exclusive form of marketing, every business owner can benefit from compiling an email list. The other social marketing platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ may make an email list sound “old school,” but sometimes the old fashioned way is the best way. Here are three reasons why you should start an email list TODAY.
It’s All Yours
Being able to post on social media sites like Facebook might be simple and easy, but there’s a catch. Ask yourself this question: do I own Facebook? Unless you’re Mark Zuckerberg himself each and everyone one of you reading this should be saying “no” right now. You can post all you want on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. but at the end of the day, you don’t own those social platforms and you can’t make the rules. At the drop of a hat the conditions could change on sites like that which could hurt how far you can reach and who you can reach. Not having a say puts limitations on your marketing. With email lists, you’re the boss and you’re in control. Not only is the message you’re expressing yours, but the way you’re getting it in front of people is your game plan with no third party manipulations.
It’ll Increase Your Traffic
If you post something on Twitter, chances are it’ll get buried by the algorithm no matter how many hashtags you use. Same with Facebook, unless you’re willing to consistently throw money at your posts, you can forget about the post reaching more than 2% of your followers. With email, without fail it has be clicked on to “go away.” It’s beneficially annoying! Email lists are a foolproof system to reaching your target audience. We’re kidding about the annoying part because the emails you collect are given to you by potential customers who are interested in your brand. They want to receive your emails, and instead of missing a Facebook ad because you didn’t pay to boost the post, they are getting your updates right in their inbox and in return, making a beeline for your site.
It’ll Help Your Following
We know the whole point of social media is to get followers who like what your posting. However, what happens if any of those social platforms ever crash? What happens if their company tanks and they can’t afford to keep it running? That following that you built suddenly disappears because they can’t be reached anymore. Email on the other hand is like the carrier pigeon of the tech world, the Pony Express of the wild, wild web, it’s always relevant, always being used. You can get by in your professional adult life without using Facebook, but you can’t without an email address. So gain a following on a platform that will never go away, you will always have access to your fans through email.
Our Favorite Places to Make an Email List
Are you convinced yet? If so compiling and email list isn’t so old school that you are writing down emails and entering them into your recipients list. There are a mass amount of email marketing programs out there for you to choose from. These programs will streamline your automation and make it much easier to get your emails out faster. Here are three softwares we suggest.
This is one of the most popular email marketing service providers out there. aWeber is easy to get started with and connects with many platforms including WordPress. You get access to ready-to-use email and list managements, autoresponders and email tracking with awesome insights. aWeber offers a 30 day free trail and if they have you hooked after that, it’s $19/month. Check them out!
This is quite an intelligent email marketing service provider. ConvertKit allows you to do more with your marketing such as content upgrades and incentives with email sign up forms. With their easy to use autoresponders, you can even send drip emails. One of the coolest things about ConvertKit is it’s ability to separate your emails into people who are interested in your product and people who have already purchased. If you’re interested in ConvertKit their plans start at $29/month with a 30 day refund policy. Check them out!
This is our favorite email marketing service provider, this is even what we use for Spark Sites! We love MailChimp for it’s ability to seamlessly integrate with so many other platforms like WordPress, Shopify and Magneto. If you are new to email marketing MailChimp is a fantastic place to start. They have easy to use email layouts, autoresponders, merge tags, and even allow you to segment your contacts into different groups. One super cool thing about MailChimp is it’s geolocation abilities. You can control when emails deliver based on a customers time zone location. Perhaps the best thing about MailChimp is they have a FREE starter option. You can compile a list of 2,000 subscribers for free. Need more than that? No problem, their paid plans start as low as $10/month. Check them out!
If you’re looking for ways to improve your marketing and don’t have an email list, this is the first place you should start. Hop on over to MailChimp and get started, we promise more clicks and more revenue will come your way!
