Connecting With More People Increases Your Bottom Line
One question I get over and over again is how I got thousands of subscribers to my email newsletter. The answer is: I got to know my customers and consistently filled my newsletter with information they enjoy reading.
Lots of people ask me this question after they've published a newsletter 2 or 3 times over a 3 month period and are wondering why things aren't "clicking." It's not rocket science, but there is a technique to it, staring with committing to actually publish your newsletter on a regular basis, and not just 2 or 3 times every quarter. Let's examine this in more detail.
1. Ask And Show. This is so obvious, yet so many people don't do the obvious. Make it easy for people to find your subscription link at your website, and tell them what they get if they subscribe. It might be free prizes, interesting articles or whatever. Make it painfully clear so even the most distracted person can subscribe quickly. Tell them what to do step by step.
Also, remember that, you have not because you ask not. Are you on the phone with a customer? Do the obvious — ask her if you can subscribe her to your newsletter. Most people will say "yes," especially since they know they can opt out at any time. If she allows you to subscribe her, be sure to let her know that in order to activate the subscription, she has to respond to the verification email.
2. Get To Know Your Customers. Once they give you permission to subscribe them, get to know them. Show them that you care about them. If they like a particular article, write similar articles in the future. Demonstrate that you care about what matters to them and they will respond favorably to you. Appreciate them and they will appreciate you.
3. Give Something Away. It can be a periodic drawing for one of your products, a trivia contest or just a free "little something" to everyone who orders this month. Is this bribery? Yes. And it's a good idea.
4. Deliver Consistent, Focused Publications. It doesn't have to be fancy, but it does have to exist in a consistent format that lets readers clearly see what you have to offer so they can quickly click on what is of most interest to them.
5. Network. Network in places where your customers hang out. If you are a perfumer, it's fun to connect with other perfumers in forums that discuss perfume. But most of them won't buy your perfume because they know how to make their own. For newsletter purposes, connect with people in other places. Perhaps you sell perfume, but you are also an avid aerobics dancer. Hang out in exercise forums and share a little about yourself. Create a signature line for that particular forum that makes what you do appealing to exercisers. Make sure they know you have a newsletter.
Let's say you write an article about scents that appeal to health conscious people. Archive it at your website and link to it in the signature line you use at the fitness forum. This gets you potential new subscribers plus people who are interested will come to your website to read the article. While they are there, chances are, they'll find other things that interest them. Your quest for a new subscriber or for people to read your article will eventually translate into sales as those people visit more often and tell their friends.
6. Write An Article For Someone Else. Contributing content to someone else’s newsletter is a great way to gain exposure for your newsletter and build your subscribership. Ask the newsletter publisher to include your byline at the end of the article, your photograph and a link to your newsletter subscription page.
7. Use A Newsletter Landing Page. Most people put a link to subscribe to their newsletter on their website home page and nowhere else. This means that if I come to your site and look at 10 pages, I only get a chance to subscribe to your newsletter once. Create a page at your site exclusively for obtaining newsletter subscribers and link there from every page. Remember to tell me what I get if I subscribe.
8. Involve Your Readers. Interview people who like your products. Ask them to send you pictures for inclusion in your publication. Everyone likes to see their picture, and it makes your publication fun when it it used to join like-mined people together. When people see others enjoying your products, they'll see that they can have the same experience with the click of a mouse. Cha-ching.
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