4 Reasons Not To Ignore Building an Email List

A list of people that gives you permission to contact them and send them information is the most valuable asset any entrepreneur can have. Period. This is going to be a series of posts where I will give you a comprehensive guide on how to build that asset, build an email list of prospects for your products. You will also learn how to create and share valuable information that builds a relationship with them, brands you as the expert and ultimately make them comfortable buying stuff from you.

I set up a technology membership site sometime some months ago where I give advice on SAP.  As you can from the chart above, the list grew from 0 to over 450 subscribers in about 3 months. In this series of posts, I will share the strategies I used to set up the list and how you can implement these strategies in your own list building efforts.

Why is building an email list important?

Here are four reasons why it is absolutely necessary to have an email list and why you should start building one today.

Build a relationship with your audience

In your mind, the products and services you offer are great and they deliver massive value. To the random person off the street, or in this case off the search engines, they have no clue what your product is about.

In traditional models, your website will aim to pitch your product, showcase the benefits and close the sale all in one hit. That is a hard task to do for anyone and you have got to be a pro in copywriting to make that happen all at once. For the rest of us, it is better to build a relationship with our audience, provide stand-alone, valuable information and generate trust.

Who would you prefer to buy stuff from? A friendly, trusted advisor or a pushy salesman that is trying to close a sale. In Part 2 of this series, I will show you how to easily generate content to build a relationship with your audience.

Establish yourself as an authority figure

To be a trusted advisor, you have to be seen as an authority figure and people trust authority figures.

Frank Abagnale, a legendary con-artist was so good at that his story was told in a Hollywood movie “Catch me if you can” starring Leonardo DiCaprio. One day, he was at the airport waiting for to pick up a friend. While waiting he saw a man drop off a bag at the night-safe, which is basically a row of lockers that businesses like United Airlines and Hertz would drop off their daily collections into a drop box.

In the space of 30 minutes, he saw about 5 other people come and do the same set of actions. Put in some coins, open the locker, drop off a bag and then go away with the keys. He then had an idea, he came back weeks later. This time he was dressed in a security guard uniform. He also had a big bag and a sign saying. “Out of service, place deposits with security guard on duty“. He ended up collecting money that way.

The authority figure in this case is the security guard and because of the the uniform, people trusted him enough to leave their money with him. Now I am not advocating that you go and con people into thinking you know your stuff. You have to know your stuff, just don’t be shy to demonstrate it with authority. The internet has made it easy for you to showcase your expertise and by demonstrating it to your prospects, they will trust you as an authority figure.

Get feedback on new products offerings

As entrepreneurs, we get excited when a new product idea pops up in our minds. We start thinking, “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” and then start developing the product. This is the wrong way to go about developing products.

You may understand what the market needs but to really have a successful product out there making sales, you need to know what the market wants. See the difference there? Needs against Wants?

Avoid developing an unwanted product and survey your list. Ask them what their pressing wants are. If these people already see you as the trusted advisor, you can easily get quality information and feedback from them.

Don’t start from scratch everytime

Imagine, one year down the line, you have had successes with your products. Now you have an idea for a new one that will deliver even more value to those initial customers. Without having their contact details, you will have to from scratch all over again, ouch!

As I said in the first paragraph of this post, an email list is the most valuable asset your business can have. What is even more valuable? An email list of customers. People that have already bought from you before are more inclined to buy from you again. This is assuming you haven’t screwed up and delivered a crappy product in the first place.

Do yourself a favour and start building an email list today, it is an investment that will pay off in the long run.

Stay tuned for the next post. In this series of posts, you will learn

• How to easily generate content that helps build a strong relationship with your subscribers
• How to position yourself as the expert and trusted advisor that they come to for inspiration
• How to automate your efforts so your list keeps on growing with little intervention
• Where to promote your email list so your opt-in rates grow daily
• Why you should launch your email list just like any other product you create
• How to turn your subscribers into raving fans that are willing to buy what you offer

If you have any special requests for anything you would like me to include, let me know in the comments.



Tags: email list building, email marketing

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