Building an email list can seem like an impossible task, especially when you’re already feeling overwhelmed. However, an email list is an essential asset all businesses need. An email list is a group of people who are excited to work with you. It is a way to nurture leads in a more personal way compared to an IG story that is gone in 24 hours.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through actionable steps to create an email list overnight. All you need to do is read this blog & dedicate 1-2 hours of your time to implement all that you’ve learned.
With the right strategy, tools, and efforts, you can have a list of ideal clients that keeps your business growing. Ready to dive in and make this happen? Let’s get started.
P.S. Don’t have the time to set-up and be consistent with your email marketing? We’re here to help! Book a consultation today, and let’s set-up & implement an email marketing system that aligns with your business goals & support the way you want to work!
Would you like a SparkNotes version of this blog post? Click here to read a quick summary!
Identify a Problem Your Audience Has
The first step in building an email list is to pinpoint a specific problem your audience is facing. Understanding your ideal client’s fear, pains, and goals will help you create valuable content for your audience. For Katie, business partner, and I, our audience’s common problems are being disorganized, struggling to grow their business, having an income plateau, time management issues, or lack of structure.
Once you have a list of pains your audience is facing, you can start digging into deeper research. By going to groups, forums, blogs, or YouTube comments you can validate your list of problems. Make notice of recurring complaints or questions as you will want to save that for later.
Another avenue you can take is polling your audience. You can use the story feature on Facebook or Instagram & ask “What is your biggest struggle regarding XYZ?” This can help you see what your audience is struggling with the most. By zeroing in on a real and pressing problem, you lay a solid foundation for the rest of your email list-building strategy.
You might like this too: 4 Effective Email Techniques to Boost Your Online Business Growth
Create a Simple Lead Magnet That Solves Their Problem
Remember how I told you to save that list of problems? This is where you are going to use it! Now that you have a core problem, you can solve it by creating a lead magnet. A lead magnet (or opt-in) is a free resource that provides value in exchange for an email address.
Some examples of lead magnets include checklists, templates, eBooks, mini-courses, or webinars. You can create the lead magnet however you like! For example, our lead magnet is How to Free Up 5 Hours a Week: Even If You’re an Entrepreneur Juggling All The Tasks. The problem we are solving is the “Not having enough time” dilemma.
You want to keep your lead magnet short & sweet. By the end of the guide, ebook, video, etc they will have a quick solution to a problem they’re facing. This builds trust and puts you in a position of authority in your industry.
Start by brain dumping a bunch of ideas that you think could be beneficial to your audience. You can even wrap ChatGPT to help you brain dump & finalize the lead magnet you want to create.
By offering a simple and effective lead magnet, you increase the chances of your audience taking action and providing their email address, thus growing your email list efficiently.
Select an Email Marketing Tool
There are so many email marketing tools out there. We have Kit (formerly known as Convert Kit), MailChimp, Active Campaign, and so on. Each tool does the same thing, but may offer special features that the other doesn’t.
I recommend picking your email marketing tool based on your budget & level of tech savviness. This will help you narrow down what tools are worth looking into. Plus they usually have a free trial for you to see how the tools works & if it is something you feel confident using.
We personally use the Streamline Success System as it is a system we created in conjunction with GoHighLevel. Not only does it provide everything we need for successful email marketing, but it also includes support for sales funnels, CRMs, tasks management of our team, and much more.
Create Your Landing Page & Nurture Sequence
Once you have your opt-in created, the next step is building an email sequence to deliver your freebie. An email sequence includes a landing page & 3-5 emails. The landing page is the place for your audience to put their name & email. You want your landing page to be simple with a clear headline, the benefits of the opt-in, and a short form.
You can look at our opt-in here for inspiration for your landing page. Something to also keep in mind is whatever email marketing tool you select will come with a landing page template. All you’d need to figure out is images & copy.
As for the email sequence, this is how you will deliver your opt-in to your audience. The goal of your email sequence is to send them to a specific offer. Each email will nurture your audience to feeling confident in taking the next step in booking a call or applying to your offer.
Plus by consistently sending emails out, you can train your audience to expect emails in their inbox from you. What we did for our email sequence is dive deeper into each aspect of our freebie. It gives us the chance to provide more solutions to their daily problems & naturally lead them to our core offer.
A way to quickly start your email sequence is to throw your lead magnet into ChatGPT and ask it to extract topics that you can expand upon in an email sequence.
Build Out the Email Automation and Test for Any Errors
The key to ensuring your opt-in is delivered ASAP is by using automation. This ensures that once someone puts their info in, an email is automatically sent with the opt-in inside.
Start by creating a workflow that outlines the sequence in which your emails will be sent. What ours looks like is:
- Trigger: Someone filling out the form.
- Tag: That person is tagged so we know they downloaded our opt-in.
- Email 1 is sent immediately after signing up.
- Wait 3 days
- Email 2 is sent
- Wait 3 days
- Email 3 is sent and so on.
Not only does this automation take care of delivering the opt-in, but it also handles organizing your subscribers with tags and nurturing them for you by sending out each email consistently. Once the sequence is done, it is important to have a system in the backend to ensure you are sending an email out at least once a week or every other week.
Before clicking publish, you want to ensure this automation works. Go through the process as if you were a new subscriber. What we like to do is use our personal email to test the process. That way we have a record of the experience and can note any mistakes that need fixing.
This will ensure the process is seamless for your audience!
You might like this too: Set It and Forget It: Easy Email Automation Setups to Save You Time
Click Publish and Promote Your Lead Magnet to Your Audience
Now that your email automation is ready, the final step is to publish and promote your lead magnet. Make sure your opt-in page is live and your automation is turned on.
Below are a handful of ways to promote your lead magnet:
- Social Media: You can make a post & story about your lead magnet. I would recommend making a graphic and/or video that you can easily post again & again. You can also add the link to your bio or set up an automation to automatically send your opt-in based on a keyword they use in the comments or DMs. This is something you can do with ManyChat or our system!
- Website: Add a pop-up or alert bar to highlight your lead magnet when people go to your website. You can also add to your menu “Free Resources” or something similar to that links out to your landing page.
- Ads: I would recommend doing this later on, however you can set up FB ads that can be used to promote your freebie. This is a great option especially if you’re already doing ads/retargeting.
Consistently marketing your free opt-in is key to ensuring your email list grows!
Final Thoughts
Building an email list quickly doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By understanding your audience’s problems, creating valuable lead magnets, and promoting consistently, you can see growth. These steps not only offer immediate results but also set the stage for long-term nurturing & conversions.
By taking the time to set up your email marketing you are taking a much needed step to ensuring your growth consistently. If you’re ready to have a business that works for you, beyond just your email marketing, book a consultation to learn how we can optimize your business operations for success & peace of mind.
P.S. If this blog was too long to read, here is the gist:
- Identify a problem that your audience has.
- Build a lead magnet (opt-in) that solves the above problem.
- Create the lead magnet (i.e. guide, checklist, ebook, masterclass)
- Select an email marketing tool you feel confident using.
- Create the landing page to capture your audience’s name & email.
- Create an email sequence to deliver & nurture your audience.
- Create an automation to automatically tag, deliver your opt-in, and nurture your audience.
- Test your audience to fix any errors.
- Click publish and start marketing it to your audience on a consistent basis.
Don’t have time for all of the above? Book a free consultation to learn how we can create a system for your email marketing that suits your lifestyle & ensures your business’s success.
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