If starting or growing your email list and increasing the number of newsletter subscribers is important to you, and it should be then you’re going to want to stick around because I’m going to give you 5 different marketing strategies to help you do it.
And these are the exact same strategies I’m using today in my business, as well as with my clients and students to help them build big, and wildly profitable email lists and newsletters.
So let me show you how it’s done.
And it all starts with one of the most interesting new features, Instagram’s Link Sticker.
Instagram Link Stickers
For a long time the ability to put links in Instagram stories through the “swipe up” feature was limited only to high-profile creators and those with 10,000 followers or more.
Well, those days are now gone, as Instagram appears to have listened to its creator community by first replacing the “swipe up” feature with a Link Sticker,
and then, in even better news, making the Link sticker option available to all as Instagram publicly announced:
“We made this decision based on feedback we heard from the community about how impactful it would be for creators and businesses of all sizes to benefit from link sharing to grow in the same way larger accounts do”
This is powerful. Because what was once a very severe limitation of the Instagram platform, at least in regards to building your email list, now appears to have been removed.
Now, creators of all sizes can add these Link Stickers to their Instagram Stories which gives you even more opportunities to send your followers off the platform and on to your email list.
And using it is drop dead simple.
First, make a story.
Then, click the sticker button and press link.
Then, just enter your URL and Customize sticker text
Then you can tap on the link to change the color:
And maybe even add another sticker, maybe something like an arrow to draw even more attention to your link.
And that’s it!
OK moving on to tip #2, leveraging other people’s audiences.
OPA (other people’s audiences)
When it comes to growing your email list, a rising tide really does lift all boats, and smart marketers know this.
This is why affiliate launches, joint ventures, and cooperating in general are still such effective strategies to build and grow an audience.
And when it comes to other people’s audiences there really is no shortage of available options. But here are 3 platforms that seem to perform extraordinarily well for growing your newsletter subscribers.
Podcasting
The first option is to be a guest on another persons podcast. Because when you show up, give a ton of value, and connect with people, well, it’s only natural that a certain number of them are going to want to reach out and get in touch with you, and often end up joining your email list.
For example, a good friend of mine Cody Burch has a podcast called Cody Builds a Business that I was first on a couple years ago that not only introduced me to Cody’s audience, but that also continues to drive traffic and subscribers to my email list today.
Blogging
Another option is doing guest blogging, or writing articles for other websites or online publications.
For example, this article I wrote for DigitalMarketer on how to start a career in digital marketing which drives clicks and traffic to my website every single day.
Email List Cross Promotion
My preferred option though is using email list cross promotion where you partner up with a friend, colleague, or sometimes even competitor in order to help build each others email lists.
This can be done by referencing another email list, creating and sharing content, or whatever else you negotiate.
This is a powerful strategy because it’s highly congruent with the audience you’re trying to build and attract. In other words, you already know that these people read and subscribe to email lists which makes them ideal candidates to subscribe to yours as well.
Content Upgrades
The next thing you can do to dramatically increase the number of email newsletter subscribers you’re getting is to incorporate something called a Content Upgrade.
Essentially, a content upgrade is really just a very focused and targeted lead magnet. Something that builds on whatever piece of content you’re creating, and offers your audience additional value.
For example, if you have a blog post on “5 Evergreen Content Marketing Tips”, a content upgrade could be something like:
- Sign up to get 10 more content marketing tips
- Enter your email to get our “Evergreen Marketing Blueprint”
- Or… join our newsletter and get free access to our 5-day content marketing training.
The key here is to find something of value that’s related to the content you’ve just created, and then put it behind the email opt-in form.
This strategy works great, but there is a way to get results even faster using what was once one of the lowest performing advertising tools ever. The Facebook Lead Ad.
So, let me show you what’s changed and why now may just be the time to take these old ad tools off the shelf to give them another chance.
Facebook Lead Ads
First things first. A Facebook Lead Ad, or Lead Ad as they’re sometimes referred to is nothing more than a simple ad, but the entire ad process takes place in-network, meaning, when a user clicks on a lead ad, instead of leaving Facebook and going to your website or landing page, they’re prompted to fill out a form and submit contact information or whatever other questions you ask.
Then all you need to do is integrate your email software with Facebook, or you can use a tool like Leadsbridge to tie everything together.
Now in the past, what we usually found was that leads generated from Facebook Lead Ads were of a lower quality, and while your results may vary, thanks to changes in cookies, pixels, and tracking (…yeah I’m looking at you iOS 14) these once forgotten ad objectives are making a silent come back among those that use them well.
Of course, the thing that ties all of this together is one of the most important understandings in all of email marketing and that is…
Nobody wants to sign up for another email newsletter.
And this is why you’ve got to offer them something in return. Something good.
Sure, you can go the Content Upgrade route like I talked about earlier. But the best plan, by far is to use a dedicated lead magnet.
Lead Magnets
A lead magnet (also sometimes referred to as a freebie, opt-in bribe, freemium, or even content upgrade) is basically just something you give someone in exchange for their email address.
The right one’s act as magnets for the right kind of leads, hence the name, and should be both relevant and valuable to the person you’re trying to attract.
For example, if all you cared about was leads and you didn’t care who they were, where they came from, or what they wanted then you could give away anything and people would sign up. (i.e. a free coffee, an ipad, a car?)
In other words, if you’re targeting marketing professionals, a good lead magnet could be a discount off a marketing CRM software, a marketing funnel blueprint, or a launch checklist. All things a marketer would love, and everybody else would happily pass on.
Now there really is no end to your available options, from how-to guides, to cheatsheets, to blueprints or templates, or even discounts, and pretty much everything in between.
But one lead magnet that seems to be working exceptionally well right now is a quiz. Essentially asking people some questions and giving them unique results based on their answers.
This works great for both B2C (i.e. what kind of cupcake are you?) and B2B (what marketing strategy is best for your business?) and drives off the power of human curiosity, novelty, and personalization.
Not only do quizzes work well as an effective way to grow your email list and increase your newsletter subscribers but the quiz results also give you a ton of information about your market, how they identify themselves, and what their biggest pains, problems, fears, and frustrations are.
Taking the time to invest in building and growing your email list is one of the most valuable and profitable marketing activities you can do.
It may seem like a little extra work at times, but it is well worth the effort in the long run. You’ll grow a list that’s a solid business asset and something that will contribute greatly to your business’s revenue year after year.
