Here are my 3 tips to stop wasting your time and get more clients from your mailing list.

1. Don’t just build your subscriber count, build trust

Have you spent time creating valuable content and freebies to get more subscribers? And then what happens? Do you follow up with your subscribers regularly with valuable, relatable content?

Do you see yourself in any of these statements?

“I want to get my subscriber numbers up”

or

“I don’t email my subscribers much because I don’t want to bother them or seem spammy. And now it’s been so long it feels weird to reach out”

or

“I don’t have time to sort out my email marketing plan, it’s been on my to-do list since forever!”

The truth is, your subscribers joined your list with the promise of something valuable. They’ve trusted you with their email address, you owe it to them to deliver. Building your email list is not simply about hoarding email addresses and having impressive numbers. Your list, even if it’s small, it is full of human beings who expressed an interest in what you have to say. They want to hear from you!

DO THIS: Send useful, relatable content on a regular basis

Doing this builds trust with your subscribers and they are more likely to open your email campaigns in future. And ultimately they’ll get to know you and trust you and they’ll be more like to buy from you. So set aside the hunger for 10K subscribers, think about how you can nurture the people who already signed up. Give them the value you promised.

2. Pitching has its place

We’ve looked at the importance of nurturing and sending out the good stuff on the regular, but if you want your mailing list to be worthwhile, don’t forget to pitch. Just don’t do it every single time you send a campaign.

Your mailing list should:

• reach out regularly
• offer subscribers valuable, relatable content
• focus on nurturing before pitching
• feed your business with clients

Once your expertise has been established and your subscribers are engaging with your emails (check the open rates in your campaign reports to find out about the engagement rates) you can invite them to consider your offering.

If you feel spammy or salesy when you pitch your services, take a step back. Do you believe in what you’re offering? Do you know the positive impact your service has on people? Start with that and writing those pitch emails will be way easier!

DO THIS: Pitch occasionally and remember that you’re offering something they want

Try to see things from your subscribers perspective. They signed up to get a freebie or advice or insights. They open your emails when they come in because you send out good quality stuff. The content you send resonates with them and they start to recognize you as the go-to expert to solve a certain problem. Then once in a while they get an email that is designed to sell your services. (I usually go for every 10th email or every 3 months. Your pitch schedule will depend on the frequency of your emails and urgency of the problem.) They know and trust you and you’re offering them something that would help them. They click, they contact you, they buy.

If you never send a sales email, you may miss out on potential clients. People WILL unsubscribe after pitch emails, that’s life. But if you write your pitch emails focussing on the value you have already established, you’ll increase the number of clients you get from your list.

3. Recycle, repurpose and reuse

If you think you don’t have time to focus on your email marketing because you’re too busy on social media you can literally repurpose things to save time and strengthen your message.

If you been writing a blog, creating Instagram / Facebook posts or YouTube videos you’ve already got a bunch of content to pull from for your email marketing plan. If you have case studies, testimonials, resources that you can recommend, you have a bunch of content there too. Creating an email marketing plan is easier than you think. Keep it simple. Keep your subscriber front of mind. What would they be interested in? What would be valuable to them?

Let’s do a switcheroo! If a particular email campaign did well, you can repurpose that content for social media! Don’t worry about “repeating yourself”. Repetition re-enforces your point.

DO THIS: Repurpose popular content to save time

Go through your most popular social media posts, blogs, vlogs. See what got the highest number of views. Send out a repurposed version of it or a link to it with a short paragraph of text. This is a quick and dirty way to create an email marketing plan. A really well-thought out email marketing plan is very effective, but if you’re struggling to get time to do it, it’s better to reach out with a quick email and link that total radio silence! You don’t want people to forget who you are!

And hey, if you need help setting up and improving your email marketing, get in touch!