SMBs often overlook the use of e-mail newsletters. Learn how to easily get subscribers on your newsletter, your most powerful business-building tool.
Your e-mail newsletter truly is the “secret weapon” in your marketing arsenal.
Getting high search rankings is a great start for growing your business. That gets you regular visitors, who you can then work on signing up to your newsletter.
In a previous post, I explained why you need to grow your e-mail newsletter list. I’ll summarize some of the main reasons here:
- People who sign up for your e-mail newsletter are your best, most dedicated customers. They only sign up because they already know, like, and trust you a lot.
- It’s cheap (in terms of both time and money) to send out a monthly newsletter to remind your subscribers of what you do.
- People on your newsletter list will buy from you again and again.
- Your newsletter list is immune to those nasty changes Google unexpectedly makes from time to time.
But you have to get people on your list in the first place. To make that happen, you bait them into signing up by offering a tantalizing free incentive.
Here’s what to do:
- You Should Just Offer Content
Don’t offer a big coupon or discount on your services. You’ll get mostly people only interested in getting the big discount. They’ll unsubscribe from your list as soon as they get it.
When you offer content, it means they like you, your company, what you do, and how you can help them. That makes them highly likely to be high-paying customers for a long, long time.
- What Content Should You Offer?
Remember, the golden rule of content is to:
“Offer something that’s more useful than anything like it on the internet.”
So let’s say you’re a siding contractor. Your free content could show customers how to care for their siding after you install it.
So you’d research other blogs and watch YouTube videos to see what other people say. You’d notice some things they miss, or that aren’t quite right.
You talk about that stuff, in addition to all the basics. You could talk about types of pressure washers to use, brands you like the most, whether to rent or buy one, where to rent or buy one, what to do, what mistakes to avoid – every last detail you can think of.
You can write a guide and include detailed images. If you’re not a writer, you can shoot a series of videos with your smartphone.
But Won’t That Cost You Business? After All, Now Your Customers Can Do It Themselves
Some will, no doubt.
But most don’t have the time. Or they realize it’s a better use of their time to hire an seo to do it.
In most people’s minds, they’ll think of how helpful you were to them. And then your name pops up when they need your services, or when one of their friends or family members do.
So, you get word-of-mouth referrals on top of more subscribers to your newsletter.
Your free content doesn’t have to be pretty. Be as professional in your presentation as you can, but don’t obsess over it.
Simply be useful, make it easy, and people will sign up in droves to your newsletter list.
And you’ll have more stable and consistent revenues for years to come.