Issue #22: Revolutionize Your Email List Growth: A Faster and Smarter Approach

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Fun fact; email is the oldest form of online marketing.

The very first mass email campaign - promoting Digital Equipment Corp - was sent in 1978 to about 400 recipients. That campaign set a high bar for return on investment since it is reported to have produced around $13 million in sales. So if you do the math, that’s over $32k per recipient.

Email has clearly evolved since the 70’s but there’s a reason why it’s still one of the most popular forms of marketing; it works. Of course, how well it works depends on your content, offer and size of your list.

So today we’re going to cover how you can improve all three.

Thought: Why would people want to be on my list?

Tactic: Leverage Social Media to grow your list

Time saver: Collaborate to with other creators

Read time: 5 minutes

But first, a few quick announcements:

On this week’s episode of the Launch Your Business podcast Amy Porterfield shares a step by step guide for how to turn your ideas into revenue.

Have any questions about growing your business? Join me for Solopreneur Office Hours next week. A free Q&A event presented in partnership with Entrepreneur magazine.

Thought: Why would people want to be on my list?

The truth can hurt, but it can also be a catalyst for positive change. That was my experience last year as I was reviewing my newsletter content.

In short, I didn’t like it. I realized my content was unpredictable and largely promotional.

My overall goal is to share the guidance I wish I had when first starting my business, and my previous newsletter fell short of that goal. So, I changed it! And with every issue I’m now committed to delivering content that will help you make money, save time and avoid burnout.

As a result my list has grown but here’s the most important metric of success for me; it's when you let me know that you found value in the content I share. That’s how I know it’s working and I’m delivering on my promises.

So if you’re currently or considering writing a newsletter, keep this thought in mind;

“Why would people want to be on my list?”

What information will you consistently provide so that they not only join your newsletter, but look forward to every issue?

Tactic: Leverage Social Media to grow your list

James Clear has 2,000,000 on his email list. How great would it be to have the ability to connect with that many people with just the push of a button? While this is certainly possible, we all have to start from scratch.

When first starting out your newsletter you may only have a few dozen people on your list. Unfortunately, it still takes effort to write these emails and it’s easy to feel like your time is being wasted.

So here’s what I suggest; post the back issues of your newsletter on your website. You can see an example of mine here.

Why should you do this? There are a few reasons.

As your list grows you can steer new subscribers to your previous content by referencing them in more recent issues.

For example, I could mention how important it is to have a good offer for your business, then encourage readers to review the previous issue, Crafting Your Perfect Offer, to learn more.

Beyond that, you can leverage social media to drive traffic to your back issues. Here’s another example for you.

My post below encourages people to start their own business. As you’ll notice, I also referenced a guide that will help them accomplish this goal.

 
 

The guide I’m referencing? It’s from a previous newsletter that came out three months earlier. (Which you can view here)

Now, notice the spike in social media generated traffic to my website on the day it was posted (September 12th) as well as the following day.

 
 

And as you can see, the specific link I posted received 370 visits.

 
 

That’s almost 400 people who may have never visited my site or read my newsletter if I didn’t post it on my website and promote it on social media!

You can and should do the same thing. So don’t waste your time, energy and talent.

Post your previous newsletters on your website and continue promoting them on social media and your newsletter.

Time saver: Collaborate to with other creators

You already know referrals are one of the fastest and most trusted ways to grow your business. But what if you could grow your email list by having other creators refer your newsletter to their readers?

And, what if you could form stronger relationships with other creators by sharing their newsletter with your subscribers?

You'll soon be able to, thanks to ConvertKit’s Creator Network. Creator Network’s Recommendations feature allow creators like us to cross-promote each other’s newsletter to our audiences and collaboratively increase email list growth.

 
 

The best part? You can handpick who you’d like to recommend, allowing you to make sure the other creators will provide value to your audience as well.

This is exciting for me because in my eight years as an entrepreneur, I haven’t encountered such a clearer path to growing your list and your professional network. It’s still in beta (and I’ll share my experience with you) so I highly recommend joining the waitlist.

And as a heads up, I realize you may already be using an email platform that you enjoy. If that’s the case, I recommend reaching out to other creators directly and asking if they’d be interested in co-promoting your list.

Either way, you can grow much faster by collaborating.

That's it for today.

I hope you found this valuable (please let me know) and if you did please consider sharing it with a friend. They can sign up here.

Have a great weekend!

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Laura Dohm