Getting Started with a Mailing List
Getting Started with a Mailing List
There is no guarantee that any external marketing platform will say the same forever. If you actively build your email list, you will always have a way of communicating with your clients. Here are 7 simple tips to get you started.
1. Choose a Provider
There are many mailing list providers out there, but by far the most popular for beginners, due to the ease of setting it up and because it’s free to use up to your first 2000 subscribers, is MailChimp.
2. Create Your List
To begin with, you can just create one master list that everyone goes on. You can start segmenting your list, or creating multiple ones, once you get more confident or your business grows to need it.
3. Create a Sign up Form
Create a new page on your website, which tells your customers about the benefits of being on your list. There are many plugins that will let you integrate with MailChimp and other mailing list providers
4. Make it Easy for People to Sign up
Along with your dedicated page, you should have other sign-up forms around your website. The sidebar of your blog is a good place for one, and you can even get a plugin that adds to simple tick box to your blog comment area. A free service such as SumoMe, allows you create ‘scroll boxes’, which pop up as your visitor scrolls down your website or blog. The easier it is for your visitors to sign up, the more like they are to do so.
5. Great Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is a little bit of extra incentive that you can offer people in return for signing up to your list, it should be something that either adds value or is somehow relevant and irresistible for your target clients. To begin with, you can just have one lead magnet, which you can set MailChimp to send automatically in the final ‘welcome’ email
Ideas for Lead Magnets
- A digital Resource
Design a resource, such as a checklist PDF of interest. For example: ‘What to wear to a photo shoot’ - A Discount Code
If you sell physical products a special discount code for subscribers is effective. - Free Artwork
You could give away a printable file of your artwork. or a desktop wallpaper with your photography
6. Create a Welcome Email
Your welcome email should make your customers feel well, welcome! Let them know what they can expect from you in the future, and don’t forget to upload your lead magnet if you are sending it in this way.
7. Communicate with your List
Once you have people on your list, think of ways to give value to them. Things you could do, exclusive glimpses of work in progress, behind the scenes videos, and advice that solves specific problems for your customers. Also, encourage them to send replies to your emails to show you listen.
