Why You Shouldn’t Wait To Build Your Email List

The claim that email marketing is an outdated tactic could not be more false. If your business currently isn’t building an email following, you’re more than likely leaving lots of money on the table.

The numbers don’t lie, either. For example, some of the most shocking email marketing statistics via Entrepreneur.com are absolutely eye-opening:

• Email marketing boasts an ROI percentage in the thousands (think: one dollar spent on email results in a $44 return)
• Customers want relationships: email marketing represents both a most cost-effective means of raising awareness for your products and maintaining an open line of communication with your audience
• Versus social media, email marketing is forty times more effective in terms of acquiring new customers

There are billions of offer messages sent out on a daily basis. It’s crucial to understand how smart marketers harness the power of email and see big returns for their efforts.

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of email marketing is list-building through organic opt-ins. In the face of fierce competition, you simply can’t afford to sleep on building your list. Maybe you’re on the fence about email marketing or simply don’t see the hype in opt-ins. Consider that you should build your email list sooner rather than later if you’re looking to build a great brand.

Opt-In Lists Still Work (Quite Well, Actually)

As noted earlier, email marketing represents a time-tested means of reaching masses of potential customers at once. The alternative to building a list of opt-ins is purchasing or renting an email list, which has a number of potential pitfalls including:

• The challenge of personalizing message to an audience who you’re not truly connected with
• Engaging users who aren’t familiar with your brand, message or product
• The fact that cold email lists naturally have lower open rates, which automatically sets up your blasts for underperformance or failure

Besides, most businesses would rather have the peace of mind that they’re actually reaching out to readers that want to hear from them rather than needlessly spamming potential customers.

Building a List Signals Trust

Allowing users the opportunity to opt-in represents permission marketing 101: that is, readers trust your brand enough to subscribe and are essentially open to whatever it is that you’re offering. Many marketers make the mistake of waiting to build their lists because they lack a physical product or aren’t a traditional business; however, you can still keep potential leads warm through consistent information and communication such as blog posts or a newsletter.

Remember the more interactions a reader has with your brand, the more likely they are to buy from you. Building your email list allows you to instantly break down the trust barrier as approximately 95% of opt-in users are in interested in brands they willingly receive messages from.

Opt-Ins Validate Your Marketing Efforts  

If people are willing to hear from you, chances are that you’re doing something right. Perhaps your product or solution represents something fresh to your audience; likewise, you may have content and a distinct message that resonates with your readership.

Besides, modern marketers make data-driven decisions versus relying on their gut: the ability to measure the growth your opt-in users over time can help you determine the overall effectiveness of your site design, content and calls-to-action. If you aren’t building your list, you may be missing some crucial data points in regard to your on-site performance.

Lists Signal Your Authority

From Neil Patel to Rand Fishkin, the Internet marketing world thrives on the concept of influencer marketing. That is, the more you make your presence known and establish a following, the more pull you have within your industry. Building a list an opt-in list represents a crucial step in amassing a following that’s willing to evangelise your brand.

The more followers you have, the more your stock rises. Neil Patel himself notes that email marketing represents a cornerstone of businesses looking to make one-on-one connections with their audience.

Keep Up with Competitors

While email marketing isn’t necessarily all about keeping up with the neighbours, think about it: if you aren’t building a list within your niche, what’s stopping your competitor taking those users’ email addresses for themselves? After all, there’s only a finite amount of space in terms of our readers’ inboxes and the numbers of brands they follow.

The value of your list goes far beyond the names on it: by consistently keeping in contact with your audience, they’re less likely to jump to a competitor.

Start Sooner Rather Than Later

Building your opt-in list takes time. You can expedite the time it takes by crafting killer calls to actions and incentives for your followers. With a robust email automation solution, you can make the process that much easier. By building a list now, you can ensure more dedicated, hungry followers for your brand down the road.

To that end, Now is the perfect time to start.

Now you know how urgent it is to start building your list today. You need an autoresponder software to with all the necessary tools to keep you up connected to your list. Luckily for you, Sendlane™ is currently offering a free trial of our email marketing software!

Why have you procrastinated building your list in the past? What is helping you to grow your list the fastest now? Feel free to share in the comments below!

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How to Tell if Your Email Marketing is Broken

You have just written a convincing email that you can’t wait to blast out to your email list.

The content that you have within the email is so great that you can hardly wait for the responses you will get from the people who read it. This email is going to generate some good $$$ for you.

After 24 hours you receive no responses. You understand people are busy so you are not worried.

48 hours pass by and still no responses. You’re a little anxious, but you know you can’t rush the process.

After an entire week and no responses, you are devastated. You thought you had created an email that was impossible to resist.

WHAT HAPPENED?!

What happened is your email marketing is broken. Somewhere within your email marketing system, there is a broken process that denies you the ability to convert readers into warm leads, who can easily be converted into customers.

That is your goal right? To create engaging emails that produce revenue for your business?

You set the right goal, but what you are currently doing is not helping you achieve your desired outcome.

Provided are 4 ways to tell if your email marketing is broken, and how to correct them.

1 ) Your Emails are Ignored

Everybody hates their emails being ignored. It basically says that the recipient of the email either didn’t find your email to be worth reading or simply not worth being responded to.

That can be a deflating feeling. Your homework is to find out exactly why people are ignoring your emails.

Here are a few reasons why they could be getting ignored:

• They are not warm emails. If you have bought a random email list or just placed people on your email list from cards you have gathered, chances are that those people are not your target customers. The best way to collect emails is by allowing people to opt into your email subscriptions, via your blog or website. When people subscribe to your email list, it means that they actually want to receive additional information from you via email.
• Your subject line isn’t appealing. Your subject either doesn’t interest people or it sounds like a pushy sales email.
• Here are some examples:

A Boring Subject: Advice About Marketing

A Pushy Sales Subject:You Must Buy this Course to Improve Your Marketing

A Opened Subject: 5 Guaranteed Ways to Turn Your Marketing Campaign into Instant Sales

Do you see the difference? Approach people with a way for them to receive a benefit and they will be more inclined to open your email and read your offer.

2) People are Confused About Your Message

The worst thing for any marketing campaign to do is to be all over the place. These are the campaigns that try to appeal to everyone, instead of having a central target market to focus on. You can’t be a B2B business but your sent emails are talking about consumer issues.

Also, confusing messages don’t make it clear what is the intent of the email. And when people are confused, they disengage.

Are you signing people up for your course?

If not, are you selling a product or service?

Or, are you just communicating to keep people engaged?

Don’t try to do 5 things in one email. Keep it simple so people know what your intentions are. This enables them to easily make a decision. You would rather have a clear decision being made, instead of people just moving along because they are not sure what to do.

3) Your unsubscribe rate is high

When people unsubscribe from your email list, it could be due to a number of factors. The following are 2 big reasons for unsubscribers:

• You email them too much. Don’t send an email every day. It becomes an annoyance and starts to look like spam, rather than useful information. Moderately send out emails, and make sure that they are not all focused on selling. You can also provide people with industry news, company news, and blog updates – mix it up.
• Your emails aren’t valuable. If you aren’t educating people when you send emails, you are wasting your time. The purpose of email marketing is to be seen as an authority, not a nuisance or the same as everyone else. Get to know your subscribers. Ask them questions and dig deep into their answers so that you can provide them with emails that they can’t resist.

4) You aren’t converting opened emails into customers

How dare you send an email with the intent to sell without a call to action!

When implementing a call to action, you must effectively illustrate why the call to action is to be clicked on. This is done by:

• Addressing the problem. Outline the problems people are having. This will help to establish that you have a real understanding of your target market, which leads to a deeper connection being made
• Explaining why the problem occurs. Now you must demonstrate your expertise. Breakdown the cause of the occurring problem.
• Providing a solution. You don’t give away the grand prize when doing this. This is what your call to action is here for – to provide the solution. Instead, you speak about the value of your solution, enticing people to click on the call to action.

Conclusion

Don’t let these type of mistakes ruin your email marketing efforts. Your goal is to produce high conversions, but that goal cannot be realised if you aren’t producing emails that are engaging and effective. But that is why we are here, to help you produce better results with your online marketing. We provide consistently high deliverability. We give you the tools you need to track your results and update tactics accordingly.  If you are ready to start getting results, sign up now for a free 2 week trial of Sendlane. 

Have any questions or feedback? Post a comment below so we can know what you are thinking. We would love to know your experiences with email marketing.

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How to Connect With Your Leads Using Digital Marketing

The world of digital marketing has changed dramatically over the past decade. One example of this is the rise of smartphones. Another example is the proliferation of social media sites like Facebook, Snap Chat, Twitter, and Youtube. Marketers have had to adapt quickly to the changing landscape.

These changes and added importance to digital marketing may be overwhelming for veterans who were present before the days of social media. However, these new marketing avenues create new opportunities. They allow businesses more creativity in how they build their lists and go about their email marketing campaigns.

So how do these changes influence email marketing?

Simple.

• Brands without a strong presence on social media are losing a competitive advantage
• Landing Pages are becoming slightly less important but remain an effective tool
• Brands can use various platforms to directly engage with consumers

New Frontiers

The first point is extremely important: digital marketing is changing. Companies who do not adjust or who create bland social media pages won’t perform as well. They will not generate as many leads as their competitors who fully integrate these platforms into their marketing strategy

Simply having a Twitter account and making boring posts will not help a brand expand their scope. Wendy’s has a global outreach where their brand is well known, often times they use their Twitter to speak about the world of wrestling. This may seem small, but it could definitely sway consumers to visit Wendy’s over another fast food chain.

Developing a gimmick and tone on your social media accounts creates an interesting way to engage with consumers. That way you do not have to rely solely on landing pages and your email marketing campaigns. Brands and businesses can also use these platforms to launch special events to encourage lead generation while giving one of their followers an additional gift.

What works?

The opportunities truly are endless when it comes to using the new social media innovations to your advantage. Some brands can’t resist taking the easy way out by promoting something like the following:

Like and Share this post for a chance to win (insert small prize)!

Those specific campaigns (especially on Facebook) are geared towards helping the brand generate viral attention to their service. Unfortunately, there are several problems with this approach.

• It does nothing to explain to potential customers WHY they should invest in your brand
• It delivers false metrics of engagement, as many encountered will not have interest in the brand
• It’s quite easy to see through

Your marketing techniques on social media need to be slightly more creative than that. They should offer some words about your brand and how it can help each individual customer. Creative ways to use these platforms would include giving a free trial or another incentive to potential consumers to become a lead magnet for your email campaigns.

By using that strategy you are attracting legitimate interest from consumers, while also gaining new leads for your various campaigns. That’s definitely a win-win situation on all fronts, especially with the growing use of platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter on mobile devices—the potential to benefit from digital marketing is endless.

Conclusion

In order to have the most efficient and effective business strategy, your brand will need to find creative ways to engage with users on social media. Every follower should be considered a lead who you are attempting to convert over to you email lists, and eventually into a customer. Various platforms allow brands the ability to connect and make the transition seamless.

Why not have Sendlane™ in your corner when you’re generating more prospects after you have begun seeing the results of a great social media presence? Luckily, you can sign up now for an absolutely free 14-day trail of Sendlane.

Our prices can fit within any businesses budget no matter if you are a startup up or a fortune 500 company. 

What do you think?

We hope you found this article helpful. Please use the buttons at the top of this post to share it across your social media platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.  

We also welcome any of your comments or questions below. 

Get out there and make sure your social media game is on point! It can really support your email marketing business!

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How to Grab Attention in E-mail Subject Lines

How to Grab Attention in an E-mail’s Subject Line

It’s been said time and time again that first impressions count. That’s not just for in-person meetings anymore. In a technologically-inclined world, first impressions via a subject line for emails can mean the difference between being read by a potential client or being deleted immediately.

Numbers Game

The average subject line for emails holds about 90 characters. When reading emails on a computer or tablet about 90 characters appear, this includes the subject line and, depending on the subject line’s length, the first few characters of the e-mail body.

However, if readers check their e-mails on mobile devices, only about 40 characters are displayed, oftentimes this means just the subject line. Those first 40 characters are critical in a first impression. How do you make them increase the effectiveness of your e-mail marketing?

Subject Line for Emails Dos and Don’ts

– DO KEEP IT SHORT AND SWEET.

Studies show shorter subject line for emails (41 characters or less), tend to be opened more often than longer subject lined e-mails. This might be due in part to the aforementioned character limit in the inbox menu, or is representative of busy readers preferring shorter e-mails. Readers may associate a longer subject line with a longer e-mail that they might not have time to read and will simply delete. Stick to shorter to increase your chances of being opened! 

– DO ASK RELEVANT QUESTIONS.

Asking a relevant question in the subject line gets readers thinking of a response. Bonus points for zeroing in on potential problems your customers may have like “What’s slowing down your productivity?”

Getting really relevant may mean breaking down your e-mail list into groups categorized by industry, age, or most purchased services. The categories depend on your business. E-mail software like SendLane can help keep everything organized and send out automated e-mails every time new clients subscribe.

– DO GIVE THE AUDIENCE A TASTE OF SOMETHING DELICIOUS.

Have your ever been offered a bit of something tasty: a perfectly cooked piece of steak, a bite of decadent dessert, or a sip of an expertly made beverage, then wanted more? That’s what your subject line should be: a taste of something interesting and worthwhile that persuades your reader to learn more. In the e-mail body, the persuasion continues into a rich newsletter, to a landing page, or call to action.

How do you make a subject line delicious? Figure out what makes your audience tick. A great way is presenting a problem that your services or goods can solve. For example:

“Five recipes to make sad berries shine” works for a food-centric business that has clients stuck with lots of end-of-summer berries. Readers who don’t want to waste food, or are just interested in learning new recipes will continue reading.

“Dry, brown lawns can be green in no time!” is ideal for a home improvement store or landscaping service pushing lawn care products and services. Busy readers who think green, lush lawns take lots of time will be intrigued by this time-saving promise.

Remember, a good e-mail is benefits rich, so try giving a taste of the benefits in the subject.

– DON’T USE SPAM VOCABULARY.

Avoid using spammy vocabulary such as sale, buy, free, help, etc. A good rule of thumb is verbiage that is repeated constantly on infomercials. You can also test yourself by perusing your e-mail’s spam folder and identifying possible culprits for the spammy categorization (just don’t open anything that looks like it contains a virus.)

– DON’T BE MISLEADING.

There’s nothing more disappointing than seeing a subject line promising one thing, but opening an e-mail to find something entirely different. That’s a sure fire way to lose trust with recipients and possibly end up on their blocked e-mails list.

– DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A VERB.

People, whether they’ll admit it or not, like to be told what to do. That’s why marketing is filled with calls to action and requests to retweet, share, and comment. Just take a look at these two subject lines:

Without a verb: “This Thursday night’s event”

With a verb: “Eat, drink, and be merry this Thursday”

Which Thursday event sounds like more fun?

It also goes without saying the kind of verb matters. If we changed the first example to “Join us this Thursday” there’s a verb, but it’s still not as exciting as the second example.

Try Out a Few Methods

Now that you have an idea of what to write, you will also need tools to keep track of your progress. Luckily for you, Sendlane™ is currently offering a free trial of our email marketing software!

Then you can gauge how your subject lines are working by monitoring e-mail analytics in our “Reports” section. You can track your opens and your clicks. You can easily see what emails and subject lines are being the most effective, thus honing in on the type of verbiage your clients prefer. A free trial gives you a way to use our great email marketing software without any financial risk

Finally, consider your own e-mail habits. What do you immediately delete, what grabs your attention enough to open up? Try to reflect the good marketing practices of the companies that grab your attention e-mail after e-mail.

Do you have an attention grabbing tip that we didn’t list? Feel free to share in the comments below!

We appreciate you checking out our new posts here every Monday and Friday! If you found this post helpful, chances are your friends will too. Please help us spread the word by liking and sharing this post on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and your other Social Networks using the buttons at the top of this post. We appreciate it. 

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Internet Marketing Explained

Definition of Internet Marketing and How to Use It to Build Your Home Business

Definition of Internet Marketing:

The most basic explanation of Internet marketing is any sort of advertising, promotion, or marketing tactic used online. This includes promotional websites, email marketing, and social media. 

The goal of Internet marketing includes:

• Communicate a company's message about itself, its products, or its services.
• Conduct research as to the nature (demographics, preferences, and needs) of existing and potential customers.

• Sell goods, services, or advertising space over the Internet.

Sometimes someone may tell you they have an Internet marketing business, but unless they offer services to help people market online, that's not exactly true. Internet marketing is simply another avenue for promoting your business the same as off-line tactics.

Why Market Online

For a time, the Internet was seen as a novelty and while some innovative businesses used it to promote their products and services, most existing businesses ignored it. Today however, ignoring the Internet in growing your business would be a fatal mistake. Consumers use the Internet to find information and resources, and if you're not there, they won't find you. Even if you have a local business listed in the Yellow Pages, odds are your customers will still go to the Internet before their phone book.

Marketing online has many other benefits including:

• Affordability: Many online marketing strategies are free (i.e. social media marketing) or very low cost.

• Reach: This is especially true if you business doesn't have to be limited to your local area. The Internet reaches around the world.
• Always working: The Internet never sleeps. Night owls can learn about your business and even buy from you even while you're sleeping.
• Focus in on your target market. It's easy to find your target market online so you can save time and money on marketing strategies to speak directly to your most likely buyers.

Internet Marketing Strategies

When it comes to marketing online, you have many choices. Here are just a few options:

• Website/Blog: Every business should have a website or blog. It can be an online storefront, or at the very least a hub that potential clients and customers can find to learn about and contact you.
• Search engine marketing (SEM): While you don't want to rely solely on search engines to deliver potential clients and customers to your website, you don't want to ignore it either. SEO is an easy way to help search engines list you so your market can find you. Or you can pay to have your site highlighted on search engines.
• Email: Every business should have an email list. It's the best way to stay in touch and build a relationship with your prospects and customers.
• Social media: Consumers use social media to learn about your products and services, find great deals, get help and more. Social media marketing is an excellent way to find your market and build a relationship with it.
• Guest writing: Writing articles or guest blog posts is a free way to get in front of someone else's market and show off your expertise. 

• Affiliate programs: Offering compensation to others who promote your products and services on your behalf is not only affordable (you only pay when you have results), but also a great way to exponentially spread the word. Instead of you just you promoting, you'll have a team of sales people.
• Paid advertising: There are many options for getting your ads online including text or banner ads on other websites, advertising through other websites' email lists, and pay-per-click promotions (i.e. Google Adwords or Facebook Ads).

Anytime you can get your message in front of your market is good. One goal many people hope for when marketing online is to create a viral marketing campaign.Great blog content, videos and social media that have visual interests are some of the best options for encouraging sharing. 

Also Known As: online marketing, web marketing, website promotion, online business, Internet business

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