So, you’ve got a blog, right? And chances are you’ve got some social media stuff going on, too – you’re tweeting, facebooking, circling and pinning with the best of them.
Awesome, truly. If you’ve spent any time round these ‘ere parts, you’ll know I’m a HUGE fan of the power of social media (I include blogging as a form of social media, btw).
All of those things are super-powerful ways to grow your business, reinforce your brand, and bring in new customers.
But they all have one thing in common.
People can ignore them.
Uh huh! They can forget to visit your blog. They can turn off twitter. They can walk away from Facebook (yes, such people DO still exist!).
In short, they can totally miss all of the effort you put in on these sites because they are simply not there.
However.
There is one thing that no-one can ignore: their email.
We all rely on email to keep in touch with friends, family, and to simply run our lives these days. If your customers are doing one thing – and one thing only – when they get online, you can bet it’s checking their email.
In fact – how many of you are now reading this because it’s Friday and you’ve just gotten your weekly round-up email from C&T? If that’s you, I published this on the blog 3 days ago.
This is why a connection to potential customers via email is so incredibly powerful.
Once you have that ‘in’, you can be confident that you’re connected to your customers (and prospective customers) as powerfully as you possibly can be.
Hey, of course they can still ignore your emails. They can even unsubscribe. And that’s okay.
The most important thing is that they chose to be there in the first place.
You gave them a compelling reason to sign up – and it’s up to you to give them a compelling reason to stick around.
My mailing list subscribers are my absolute most special people. You have trusted me with your personal, private email address, and I honour that by giving you what is (I hope) a huge amount in return.
Sharing your email with someone shows a level of trust far above that of any other form of online connection. If you grow that trust with your customers by always respecting them and giving them value, they will reward you by not only sticking around, but becoming your most loyal fans and supporters.
So, if you’ve been hesitating about starting a mailing list, don’t!
Go sign up for one right now, or dive back into that list that has been nothing but crickets for months, and send your Most Awesome People something of value.
If you need some help, you might like to check out my Create & Thrive Guide: How to Run a Rockin’ Mailing List (This site/resource is no longer available).
If you do grab a copy, and you have any questions after you’ve worked your way through the guide, please just leave a comment below, or shoot me an email… AND! If you have any questions or tips in general about running a mailing list – from the perspective of a sender OR a receiver of such emails, please share your thoughts below!
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