Believe me when I say this—building a list is the most important thing you can do for your business. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your business is, it’s so important to have a way to connect with and contact your audience directly.
There’s a lot of talk and interest in building up Twitter followers and Facebook likes these days. Sometimes, it’s easy to lose sight of your true goals and believe that these are the be-all, end-all in business.
Really, those things should be a means to an end. You should have Twitter followers as a way of connecting with others in your audience and funneling people to your email list. You should work to get Facebook likes as a way of being seen in your niche, building relationships, and… funneling people to your email list.
You should be building your list with everything you do online. When you sell products, build your list. When you write articles, build your list. When you blog, build your list.
Build your list through opt-in forms on blog posts, sign ups to get freebie offers on squeeze pages, and through automated (double opt-in) customer lists.
If I haven’t stressed it enough yet—build a list with absolutely everything you do in your business.
Why List Building Is Really So Important
At this point I’ve mentioned over and over that you should be building a list with just about every action you take in your business. But, why is it so important?
There are several reasons-- some include:
· Frequent, easy contact with customers, readers, and those interested in what you have to offer
· Relationship building
· Future-proofing
· Scalability
· Passive income
· Multiple points of income
Let’s go over each of these points in turn.
Frequent, Easy Contact with List Members
It’s really exciting when someone, anyone reads your content, comments on your blog, sees your sales page, checks you out on social media, or buys a product of yours.
It’s great… but what if they forget about you and never take another action again?
What if they only ever buy that ONE product from you because you fall off their radar?
What if they love your blog post but forget about you because they have a million other great blog posts they love?
What if Facebook changes their algorithm so that person who “liked” your page never sees another one of your posts again?
Then, it’s not quite so rosy. It’s as if your readers and customers are slipping through your fingers. You need a way to connect with them and keep up with them. You need a way to stay at the top of their mind.
Getting them on an email list is the best way to do that. Get that Facebook liker on your email list and who cares if Facebook changes their algorithms? Get that blog reader on your email list and let them know when you have new posts… and new promotions. Get that customer on your list and gain a customer for life.
People are more likely to buy from those they know, like, and trust. People are more likely to buy when they’ve been reminded to do so more than once.
Relationship Building
If someone trusts you and already likes what you have to say, they’ll be a lot more likely to buy from you. That sort of thing happens over time… once you have a relationship.
How do you get that relationship? It’s hard to build it if you only every have fleeting contact with a reader or customer.
Get them on your list and it’s a whole new ballgame. When you have someone on your email list, you can send them helpful information. You can answer their questions one on one. You can share things that are going on in your life.
Email is simply more intimate and primed for relationship building. You have to use your list in the right way to make this happen, of course, but it can pay off big time when you do.
Future Proofing
None of us know if Facebook will always be the powerhouse it is today. The same goes for other social media sites. None of us know if Google will rank our sites and blogs well tomorrow or if they’ll fall away to oblivion.
How do you future-proof your business? That’s easy… you build an email list.
Your list is yours. As long as you comply with email marketing rules, you’re free to do what you want with your list. You can email them when you want, port your list to a new autoresponder company, promote what you want, when you want, and so on.
Put your business in your own hands by building an email list and making that a main focus, if not the main focus, of your business.
Scalability
It’s important to have an email list if you want to scale your business up. You’re so busy that it’s more essential than ever before to automate where you can (in the form of a list building funnel and autoresponders, in this case) and pay attention to what really works in your business.
Build a targeted email list of thousands of those desperate for answers and willing to spend money in your niche and I can all but guarantee your success. Having an email list allows you to scale up because you can focus on what’s important and always get your offers and promotions in front of extremely targeted eyeballs.
Passive Income
Having an email list can also help you achieve the dream of passive income. You can set up a squeeze page and make use of traffic methods that will work for you day and night. You can pay for this traffic, write articles, create video, or whatever works for you.
You can then create a freebie offer that you give away on your squeeze page. It doesn’t matter if it’s 2 am, people will get that freebie automatically if they sign up for your list.
You can write a series of autoresponder emails that inform and delight your audience. You can write emails that promote products of yours and products you’re promoting as an affiliate.
Sure, you’ll have to check in and maintain your list, but much of your list building and income generation can happen on autopilot if you set yourself up the right way. This is great for product creators, affiliates, etc.
Multiple Points of Income
Having an email list helps you develop multiple points or streams of income. You can earn as an affiliate or product creator. You can strike up great Joint venture deals… people are a lot more likely to work with you if you have a great, responsive email list.
It doesn’t matter what your main form of income is right now, having a list gives you options. And in a business where things are constantly changing and you have to keep up, adapt, and make sure your eggs aren’t all in one basket, email marketing is key.
Build Your List!
Build your list and you’ll build your freedom. And I mean that sincerely. Make list building a main focus of your business and you can succeed in business beyond your wildest dreams.