You’ve read my posts about Alice Seba a/k/a The Internet Marketing Sweetie, right? I really admire her approach to marketing and she’s very good at what she does. Fortunately, she shares her knowledge with others, whether you’re just starting your online business or you’re trying to give your current business a boost.
Alice is now taking registrations for Email Marketing Reform School which is a 4-week program that takes you building a highly-targeted list and profiting from it, without working yourself half to death. Each week includes a detailed lesson and practical assignments, but the best part is the one-on-one guidance Alice provides throughout the coaching.
Now you’ve probably heard that it’s a good idea to offer some kind of freebie to entice your visitors to sign up for your mailing list. That way you’ll get more people on your list that you can turn into subscribers.
This advice can be true, but it’s only telling part of the story.
Do it wrong and you might grow the list, but your responsiveness will go down the tubes.
The Key to List Freebies: Make sure the freebie is something created by your company, represents you and your products…and is very relevant to what you plan to sell to your list.
That may sound simple enough, but I see people scrambling to acquire resell/giveaway rights to products they can put as bribes for subscribers.
Why This is a Problem
This strategy promotes someone else’s business and showcases someone else’s expertise. To have a truly responsive list of your own, you have to knock their socks off with YOUR stuff. You want to start your relationship-building off with a bang and you can’t do that giving away Joe Blow’s Guide to Growing Beautiful Tulips.
Freebie Ideas
* A topic-specific report you created (if you use PLR, take it and make it unique, add your branding and promotions).
* Go the extra mile and create a full-on course (instead of a teeny-weeny report) that will show your readers exactly the kind of great stuff you are famous for.
* Coupons and other special offers for your product – particularly for shopping cart style websites with store update newsletters.
* Useful tools, spreadsheets, software…anything your customers need to help them eventually consume more of your products.
If you currently offer a freebie made and branded by someone else…cut it out. If you don’t offer one, try a highly-targeted free offer and see what it does for your opt-in rates. Take the time to create something that will WOW your readers and they’ll be tuned into what you have to say, week after week.
To help get you started, head over to the Email Marketing Reform School website and download your free audio and transcript of “Selling Confidently to Your List” and sign up for the program. As always, class size is limited, especially since this is one-on-one coaching, so make sure you get registered quickly.
