Kim Kelley ThompsonToday’s segment of Q & A day is all about email! Specifically, building an email list. This topic comes in from Tasha, who is having trouble building an email list and getting people to opt in. She has email opt-in forms in all the right places, but is still struggling to build a solid email list.
This is an important topic to discuss as building an email list is crucial to the success of your business. A successful email list brings you prospective clients and is imperative to the growth of your business.
Why Might You Struggle to Create an Email List that Works for You?
In order to find the root of the issue and the solution, we’re going to look at a few things.
First, are you really tapping into your ideal audience? Do you know what that ideal audience looks like and what help they might be searching for online? It’s easy to understand what you can offer a client and how your services can be the answer they need, but without understanding what your ideal client is searching for, you could find yourself in a rut.
To fix this, you first have to look at how clear you are on your niche, what other business owners are in that niche, and what it is that they want. Think in terms of an individual rather than the broad picture of people. Doing this allows you to easily step into their shoes. After you’re able to do this, you can start to figure out what your ideal client might be looking for online, what kind of searches they might be doing, what kind of issues they might be having, and the solutions they could be looking for.
For example, you could be a life coach who helps a wide range of individuals. But, to get to a full email list, you might start to help a specific group, like newly married couples. Doing this allows you to start small in your area of expertise and later grow this into something more. Think in terms of how specific or narrow you can get, not only with your audience, but your messaging as well. This is going to be key in getting people to opt in.
Developing the Right Audience for Your Email List
Secondly, are you actually getting enough eyes on your content, on your website or how about your social media? Part of that is going to rely on your ideal audience and the messaging you have, while the other part is if your messaging is dialed in, are you showing up?
The visibility of your content is crucial to figuring out why you might not be getting the email list you’re looking for. Figuring how visible your business is could mean looking at the platforms you’re using, or looking at how consistent your posts might be, or even trying new networking strategies to get more visible in the spaces your audience is in. You have to find where your audience hangs out in the social media realm. Are they on Instagram or Facebook, or maybe even LinkedIn? Locate your audience and what social media platform they primarily use, and use that one to build more relationships and visibility to further your network in other social media platforms.
Know Your Audience to Make Your Email List Work for You
Lastly, do you truly understand what your ideal audience wants? The simplest way to figure this out is to ask. You could ask in many ways like using forms, social media polls, or even joining different groups either on Facebook or LinkedIn (Yes, there are groups in LinkedIn!) and asking different questions to gauge what they want.
When doing this, it could help to make your content stand out. For example, try using different background colors in Facebook for your posts. Or, you can use a design tool like Canva to create different types of posts for social media.
Now that this is done, how do you get potential responders to your email list? When you start to get responses, reply thanking them first, then you can offer some small advice or a guide. Ultimately, you want to further this conversation through direct messaging. This way, you can then send a link all while building that engagement. Another option is asking for referrals through the people you’re meeting. Maybe someone you’ve talked to may not be experiencing the issue you want to help your prospective clients with themselves, but they have a friend who could use the information more.
All in all, to build a successful email list uses all these techniques. A solid understanding of who your ideal audience is and what they want is crucial.
Have a question you’d like answered? Send to: support@kimkelleythompson.com
