Grow Your Client List by Building a Solid Email Subscriber List

Business Building TipsClient Acquisition
Written By

Building a strong email subscriber list remains one of the most productive marketing tactics you can use to grow your client list. The most popular approach to accomplishing this involves giving things away, or, the use of opt-in gifts.

The most important thing to remember when you are working on list-building opt-in gifts is this: there are no one-size-fits-all solutions to the pain points of your clients.

Now, we know you tell your design clients the same thing, and we know that you offer customized, real-world solutions for their home remodeling needs. And yet, we also know that, being human, you are hoping we will tell you that there IS a single solution to your email marketing and list-building questions. Unfortunately, we can’t.

What we can tell you is this… You will need a variety of opt-in gifts to generate interest, based on two things:

  1. The varied needs of your target audience.

  2. The range of services you provide.

After all, it will benefit no one to create an opt-in gift about high-end rugs if a visitor to your business website is searching for information on designer wallcoverings. Then too, offering advice on a service you do not offer, or a line you do not represent, will do you no good.

Therefore, you will need to tailor your list-building gifts specifically to the needs of your target audience and let them know that you can help them find solutions beyond your high-value opt-in.

Creating Effective Opt-in Offers

Let’s define some terms here, first:

  • An optin offer is the presentation of a gift (usually digital) in exchange for the email address of a visitor to your website; perhaps the most valuable thing they have to offer in the age of online relationships.

  • Typically, the optin offer is a bit of high-value information designed to resolve a particular issue important to a member of your target audience.

  • The most common form of opt-in gift is an article or “whitepaper” that can be downloaded in document form, though a mini eBook (a 3–5-page PDF) is a very popular choice. Free video or audio training are also very popular optin gifts.

  • Critical to the success of such an offer is that the information you share must be targeted to a particular portion of your audience and that your solution be laser-focused on a specific issue. Do NOT try to be all things to all people. Instead, provide a REAL solution to ONE problem.

  • Finally, the most successful optins offer huge value in exchange for something of equal value – your visitor’s email address. In other words, the solution you share in your optin MUST be something that a client would be otherwise willing to pay you for.

Now that they’ve given you their email address in exchange for a valuable piece of information, you have an audience with whom you can engage. You can do this through the use of newsletters, nurture email campaigns, “check-in” emails, event notices, and promotional materials. This is how you begin building relationships in our digital world; relationships that show your expertise, create trust, and have the potential to generate conversions.

Well, this is some pretty heavy marketing info so, we’ll stop here and give you a chance to absorb it. But soon, we’ll follow up with some types of opt-in giveaways you can use to grow your client list by building your subscriber list.

And remember, Ted remains available for marketing and business consulting to the trade. Simply… Get in touch with TD Fall today.