Plenty of aspects of marketing are rapidly changing, but one rule still rings true: your email list is your greatest asset.
Your email list allows you to run campaigns that can seriously boost your ROI and conversions, as well as grow your opened-on-mobile rates.
Email marketing is critical to content marketing success, with over 70% of millennials preferring communications from businesses to come via email than any other platform. These are statistics you simply can’t ignore as a marketer, so let’s get you started with how to get those all-important email leads.
What Are Email Leads?
Email leads are the people who share their contact information with you and your business. Their information is usually communicated through an opt-in form, in exchange for a free trial or subscription, or even an exclusive discount code.
It’s really useful to get these email leads so you can nurture them through the permission marketing process, and eventually into a loyal group of customers. These leads will bulk out the foundation of your email marketing campaigns and if well looked after, may become the core source of revenue for your business.
So, how do I get email leads?
There are loads of ways out there to get email leads, but you need to be focusing on getting email leads the right way.
To do this, there are five key steps to create a list of engaged leads:
- Identify your target audience
- Create a lead magnet
- Leverage your socials
- Create valuable content
- Capitalise on personalisation
Most importantly, these leads should actually want to engage with you.
These steps may seem laborious, but they ensure that you establish a committed list of leads that are actually interested in you and your business. It’s also helpful to note that organically-sourced email leads come without any of the risks that come with buying a ready-made list. Just because you paid for it, doesn’t mean it’ll be good.
Identifying Your Target Audience
This is the very first step in generating leads for your email marketing campaigns. Your target audience is essentially made up of multiple versions of your ideal client that you’re looking to address.
To effectively target them, you’ll need to understand their buyer persona. This provides a succinct description of some of the customers that you may be looking to target. These descriptions can tell you about what your customers are concerned about, what they’re thinking and what they prioritise when making a purchase. By personalising your marketing message to appeal to these groups, you can attract the types of buyers you want.
Creating a Lead Magnet
Once you’ve understood the needs of your target audience, you can then go on to create a lead magnet. A lead magnet is essentially a resource that your audience will find useful, which has been based on their pain points. Your lead magnet has to be relevant to the pain points that you’ve identified, as if no value is offered, your opt-in form will be ignored. Wave bye-bye to those email addresses.
The lead magnet can be anything from an e-book to consultations or trial subscriptions – it’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of deal.
Leverage Your Socials
Now, it’s the fun bit – it’s time to shout about your lead magnet.
This step is two-fold, as it allows you to generate email leads, but also boost your following on various social media platforms at the same time. Promoting your lead magnet on platforms like Instagram and Facebook will appeal to your existing followers, particularly those who haven’t actually bought from you before. Running paid posts will expand your reach too, so users outside your followers can see your offer. This ensures that both your social profile and your lead magnet get some new attention. Everyone’s a winner.
Create Valuable Content
Great, you’ve got the lead!
Someone from your target audience has signed up to receive emails from you, which is exactly what we wanted. Now, you need to keep your lead engaged with valuable content. You need to keep in mind that this is only the beginning of your journey with them, so you need to make the effort to try and nurture them into paying clients. Utilise the information that you gained whilst identifying your target audience and try to refine it during this step.
Capitalise on Personalisation
Now, you need to charm your lead to reel them in. The best way to do this is through personalisation. Email marketing software has improved leaps and bounds in recent years, with tools available that make email personalisation even easier. Campaign Monitor allows you to gather data including buying, travel and eating habits so you can create a campaign that’s fuelled by your customers.
Email leads are a great way to boost engagement and run appealing campaigns that will reach the best of your audience. By following these steps, you’ll be able to turbo-charge your lead generation and reach your full potential.
Remember, your email list is your greatest asset – don’t ignore it.
If you need a hand with any of the steps in this process, get in touch with us!