A complete email marketing beginners guide for online marketers.
We are in the age of social media, messengers, texting, and videos. You seldom hear about email marketing anymore. Some will go so far as to tell you email marketing is dead.
But it's not dead and in this email marketing beginners guide we'll explain what it is and why it's very much alive.
So if you don't know exactly what email marketing is, don't worry. We are going to explain all that.
Keep reading.
Email marketing, if done correctly, is as powerful as it always was
There's nothing quite like having a list of subscribers that you can get to know and that can get to know you. Consequently, it's far more personal when this occurs.
I know you've heard the saying "the money is in the list". I mean who hasn't? It's said so often that people actually became numb to it. But it's still true.
The money truly is in the list
But how do you get the list? That's the bottom line is it not? We will discuss that as well in today's email marketing beginners guide.
I don't think anything is as powerful as a group of people who have given you their permission to contact them. That's the hottest lead you can have.
I've actually heard networkers say that email marketing doesn't work any longer. They have talked about giving it up. But that's only because they are not building a hot email list.
Some marketers concentrate solely on the social platforms and video. It seems they have forgotten about email marketing. That is a mistake.
An Email Marketing Beginners Guide Is Not Complete Without This
Building a hot list of subscribers is what makes email marketing so worthwhile. As worthwhile as any other marketing method today. Maybe even more so.
Learning the crafts and skills of building a list is an asset that can pay you the rest of your life. It is a valued skillset that should be learned and perfected.
So as we continue through this email marketing for beginners guide, we will go over some tricks of the trade. As a result, you'll develop a far better understanding of the importance of learning this form of marketing online.
Building your list
This has to be addressed first, both in this guide and with your marketing. Without a list there is no email marketing. Therefore it is the core of your success with marketing using email.
In a sense it's no different from any other marketing platform. With social media you have to build up a list of followers. With videos you need to build up your list of viewers and subscribers. Same as blog marketing. You need subscribers and followers.
An email marketing list is a gold mine for anyone promoting anything. As people get to know you, they will open and read your emails. Just continue providing quality content and value. Your subscribers will not only read your stuff but look forward to seeing the next one.
More on that shortly. First we have to build the list.
Content Marketing Is A Big Part Of Email Marketing
An email marketing beginners guide must include a discussion on how to build the list. And building the list is where content marketing comes in.
In order to collect email addresses, you have to provide content. Something worthwhile. Something for free that has value and that is beneficial to others. The more value you offer, the more email addresses you will get.
This content you create, is your product.
On a good note, this is not so difficult to do. Everyone is good at something, and if not you can learn. There are numerous things one can offer that a prospect will trade an email address for.
Your content can be in whatever delivery method you choose. Videos, eBooks, an e-course, pdf files, checklists, webinars, one-on-one training, how-to screen recordings, live recordings ... well, you get the idea.
Learn To Create The Content
No beginner would ever be expected to know how to do all those things right away. Luckily though, the training will always be available.
In fact, you'll most likely come across other marketers offering the training you need. They'll be offering it for free, in exchange for email addresses.
Those marketers are building their lists too. You can learn from them in two ways. What they are teaching, and how they are going about it. Watch them build their lists and deliver their content.
Most of what I've learned has come from watching other networkers. I study those that are doing what I want to do.
So we've established that in order to build our list, we have to create some good content that has value. Then we trade that content to others who want it, in exchange for their email addresses.
This is content marketing, and is why I say content marketing is part of email marketing. You have to create and deliver the content, to get the emails.
Delivering The Content
By now you are asking how we go about doing this, am I right? How do we deliver the content, and how do we collect the email?
You will build a landing page that contains an offer and an opt-in form. This is not hard to do. A WordPress blog and a simple page builder plugin will do the trick.
It will require a hosting account. There are about a gazillion hosting companies out there, but I'll recommend the Baby plan with HostGator. They are perfectly good for a beginner and affordable too. About 10 a month, or thereabouts.
The Baby plan includes unlimited domains so do that one.
And with Thrive Themes Page Builder, Thrive Architect, anyone can build a great landing page. It doesn't matter who you are.
Start Slow And Keep It Simple
Your first pages, and your first free offers, will be very basic and simple. You're not trying to be fancy here you're trying to be practical and functional.
You will build a simple page, with a simple offer, to learn the process.
Your opt-in form connects to an autoresponder. That way your subscriber can get automatic delivery of their digital product. Their ebook or checklist or video or whatever it is that you are offering.
Once a person subscribes, they will receive an email with a link to a welcome page. At the welcome page they can download their product.
There are variances at this stage. An alternative is to send the subscriber immediately to the welcome page.
You could deliver a product like this email marketing beginners guide with a simple link. Better yet, transfer the guide to a pdf file that is downloadable. That is more exclusive to the subscriber.
the framework
So there you have it. The general framework of building an email list. Advertising a landing page that includes your offer. Something free that will benefit someone in exchange for their email address.
That's how you start. As you learn and get better, you will advance. After a while you could be building complete sales funnels and split testing your pages. Additionally, you'll get even more creative with your content and your offerings.
And that's when it starts getting fun. Learning a new trade can be exhilarating. Especially when it's one that can allow you to build a list of subscribers, working from home.
Consequently, this trade can turn into an income for you.
Know Who Your Target Market Is
This goes without saying, but sometimes we overlook the obvious.
We have to know who our audience is. If we are selling a health product for example, we have to promote to people who care about their health.
Knowing who our audience is will help us find them. It saves a great deal of time, effort, and money if we are targeting groups that our ideal audience hangs out in.
Having a subscriber list of people who are curious or that wanted something for free is better than no list at all. But even better is a list of highly targeted hungry prospects.
learn how to find your ideal prospects
Therefore it is important to be well aware of the avatar of your ideal prospect. Now you can work on figuring out where they hang out and direct your advertising there.
Maybe you have a choice of products to promote and you know of a group that is full of single mothers with children. Those mothers could also be juggling a job and need child care. It might help you to know what to promote to that group.
In contrast if you don't know the audience, you may be offering a product that might not benefit them at all.
For an audience of new online marketers, you could offer a tutorial guide like this one for example. Or a guide for video marketing, or social media marketing.
As you can imagine, the options are endless.
give your subscribers what they want
In other words, why did they join your list? Give them what they want. Whatever you do don't lure people in just to offer something completely different. People will be leaving left and right. That's sometimes referred to as a bait and switch.
Keep your offerings and information related and relevant. If your subscribers joined your list to learn more about a certain condition or benefit, then provide that information.
Take this email marketing beginners guide for example. It's quite obvious what a subscriber wants. So that's what we give them.
As you get to know your subscribers, and they get to know you, an element of trust will form. That is when you can experiment a little.
Eventually you'll be able to get away with guiding them into something similar, yet different.
You'll also learn how to segment your list as it continues to grow and become more broad. Based on their feedback and the opens, clicks, and sales you're getting , you'll know how to segment.
Stay Engaged With Your Subscribers
You learned a lot, promoted effectively, and took your time to do it right. As a result you got those subscribers. Now you must follow through, and you must provide the content they wanted.
I mentioned it above. It's worthy to mention again. The importance of sending relevant content of value ... but that's not all. It has to be sent regularly.
Above all, you do not want to leave them hanging after getting them to trust you enough to subscribe to your list.
Unfortunately, that is a mistake that a lot of email marketers make.
work hard at being a good list manager
So work hard at putting together good content and share regularly with your list members. Educate them and provide entertainment and enjoyment. It's worth it in the long run.
For example, a good detailed report such as this email marketing beginners guide. You could chop it up into pieces to send to your list. Or make a short ebook out of it.
Repackaging your content is something that all content marketers and list builders do. Think about videos, checklists, blog posts, screen recordings, case studies, webinars, and more.
Direct Your subscribers To Your Other Internet Properties
Sharing your various internet properties. That is another good option for keeping your list members engaged and fulfilled.
You can send them to your blog, your Youtube channel, your website, or to your Facebook page. It's another great way to provide tutorials, training, and education.
In addition, you can even send them to outside sources. Share exceptional content that you think they will benefit from seeing.
taking care of your list members
There is no worries about outgoing links as long as it's not a competitor of yours. You won't lose your subscribers.
In fact, just the opposite. They will appreciate you providing high quality material that helps them. They will look forward to your ongoing leadership and recommendations.
You are taking care of your list members and providing content that can help them.
Your other networking or blogging friends will appreciate the referrals too! It's just another great networking strategy.
That's a whole different subject though, that is beyond the scope of this particular post. I'll write a separate guide for it too. Just like this email marketing beginners guide!
Conclusion: Email Marketing Beginners Guide Wrap Up
- Contrary to what some might say, email marketing is alive and well.
- In order to make email marketing work, you'll have to build a good list of subscribers.
- Building your list is not overly difficult, but it will require a commitment from you, and some good old fashioned work.
- Learn to create good content of value, to offer people in exchange for their email addresses.
- Then build a landing page, complete with offer and opt-in form, and promote the page.
- Your pages and offers do not have to be fancy or elaborate. Keep it simple now you can get fancy later.
- Once you learn the framework of building an email list, you can apply that in many different ways.
- To be most efficient, you have to know your target market.
- It's important to stay in regular contact with your list.
- Take care of them by providing high quality content of value.
Thanks for tuning in today and for getting this far. I sincerely hope this email marketing beginners guide has provided you with some value. I hope that it will benefit you in some way.
If you think it will .... please leave us a comment below and let us know!
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