Businesses of all sizes are looking for an online marketing solution that not only draws an influx of traffic but also converts that traffic to actual sales. With tons of options out there for marketing your business, it can be difficult to nail down the best method for getting traffic and enticing that traffic to buy your products or services. As marketing trends come and go, one tool has consistently offered positive return on investment over the years and that is email marketing.
The best online marketing solution for almost every type of business is an opt-in email list. In the pre-internet days, direct marketers purchased mailing lists in order to directly contact potential customers via snail mail within their geographic service area. These lists were just names and addresses of people pulled from a variety of sources. They were not targeted in a way that email lists can be segmented today. Therefore, business owners would then send a piece of mail to each person on the list without actually knowing whether the recipient fit the requirements of an ideal customer. It was a send and hope strategy which is not very efficient when it comes to spending marketing dollars.
Some companies still send the same message to hundreds or thousands of recipients hoping to get a sale or inquiry, except now it’s called spam and done digitally. Spam emails are highly inefficient way to win new business. Not only can it get your account shut down, it’s likely to alienate you from the people to which you’re trying to sell. However, if you had a list of people who were interested in your products and those people agreed to receive advertising emails from you, you’d be in an ideal position to market your business. That’s where an opt-in email list comes into play.
If you set up your own email list that people must agree to join, you will be in a better position to market your products and services to a group of folks who are truly interested in what you have to offer. This will also increase your sales conversions tremendously. You can use that email list as frequently as you’d like to promote deals, events and other announcements without fear of being flagged as spam because the recipient gave permission to be contacted.
Obviously, you don’t want to email your list multiple times a day every day. However, if you contact them on a weekly or monthly basis you can easily avoid becoming a nuisance to your email list.
There are various strategies to help you grow your email list. The strategy to getting the right people to join your mailing list is to offer something in which your target audience is already interested. Pulling from a list of prior customers is a great place to start. Create a list of customers who have purchased from you in the past six months and invite them to join your email list. You can also go on to explain the future benefits of joining the list such as early access to offers, etc.
Conclusion
When it comes to potential customers, offer them something for joining your mailing list. It can be a discount on products/services or a guide that adds value by explaining a process or project that relates back to your business. After all, the potential customer found their way to your website or social media because they were looking for something. Use a free digital download to add value while also giving you the opportunity to build that connection with a potential customer. Consider what they may have searched for to find your business. Then, offer a free guide to add value and support their need while also showcasing how your business can support them as well.
Cyd N. Mitchell
Business Blogger, Retail Bakers of America
Cydni N. Mitchell (aka Cyd) is a Bakery Consultant and the Sweet Business Coach behind Sweet Fest®. Based in Atlanta, GA, Sweet Fest® is an online company that supports the business needs of the Sweet Community in the areas of professional development, marketing, branding and web design.
By trade, Cyd is an accountant & financial analyst with a Masters from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the Founder of the Sugar Coin Academy, an online business academy for business owners in the baking and sweets industry, and she is also the organizer of The Ultimate Sugar Show, Georgia’s Largest Annual Baking and Sweets Expo in Atlanta. She is also the Business Blogger for the Retail Bakers of America.
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