- Digital Brand Builders
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- Make Money From Your Email List
Heyo!
Welcome back to another edition of the Digital Brand Builders newsletter, a newsletter teaching you one actionable lesson you can use each week to build and grow your own brand online.
I want to teach from my own experience, so I’ll be sharing everything I’ve learned about starting and growing my personal brand and online business over the past several months in the hopes that it helps you do the same.
And by the end of each newsletter, I’ll leave you with a few action steps you can take to get one step closer to building your own digital brand this week.
Because I believe the future belongs to the digital brand builders!
Sound like a plan?
Alrighty, let’s dive right into this week’s lesson!
Here’s what we’ll be covering this week:
How to start building your email list today so you can monetize your audience.
This Week’s Blueprint 🗺
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
Your email list is the most important thing you own as a brand.
Now, I’ve covered building your newsletter in the past (you can read more about that here).
But today we’ll be going over how to get started with your email list.
And while similar, I see an email list and newsletter as two separate things.
A newsletter’s usually sent once a week and is typically a bit longer than any other email you’d send (think about this newsletter you’re reading right now).
But an email list is:
Where you actually collect emails
Where your readers hear from you more frequently (sometimes even daily)
And since I’m going to start sending weekly emails aside from this newsletter, I wanted to walk you through the process I’m going through.
So here we gooooo ↓
1. Sign Up for an Email Service Provider 🖥
An email service provider’s just a fancy name for where you’ll collect and send emails from.
There are plenty of platforms you could choose and plenty of opinions all over the internet. But in my honest opinion, I’d only choose one of the below:
• MailerLite (which is what I use and has an insane free plan)
• ConvertKit (I don’t use it but have heard fantastic things)
Don’t overcomplicate it. Spend maybeeee ten minutes comparing the two options and then pick whichever one you want to go with.
2. Create a Lead Magnet to Capture Emails 🧲
Truth is, most people aren’t just willingly going to give you their email address.
So what can you do to incentivize people to share their email with you?
Create a free resource and share it in exchange for emails.
I’ve gone over this in the past (click below to read more), so I won’t go into too much detail.
But essentially, a lead magnet is meant to attract people to your email list (hence the magnet part of the name) and get them interested in your content and offers.
“But Connor, what type of lead magnet can I create?”
Think of what knowledge, experience, or expertise you already have. And then choose one of the following formats to package it up:
eBook
Templates
Case study
Email course
Notion database
I chose a case study as my own lead magnet (more on that in a minute).
Remember, you don’t have to be an expert. You just have to know a little more than the person you’re trying to teach.
3. Think of the Types of Content You Want to Share ✍🏼
Now comes the hardest part in my opinion… deciding on what you’re actually going to write about!
Just like the previous step, think about your:
Skills
Knowledge
Experiences
Personal stories
Got them?
Next, sit down for a few minutes and write out a bunch of different ideas you could talk about in your emails.
I’d recommend choosing three broad buckets, then going from there.
What results have you gotten in the past? What are you learning right now that you could teach others? What skills do you have? What funny or interesting stories would your readers enjoy hearing?
The thing is, we all have knowledge and experience and lessons we can teach others. It’s just a matter of figuring out what those things are… and then sharing them.
As for me, I chose the topics of marketing, writing, and email marketing because I have knowledge and experience in those.
4. Build a Simple Landing Page 🏗
Once you’ve figured out what type of ideas you’re going to write about, it’s time to create a landing page to actually start capturing emails.
Most email service providers have a landing page function built in already.
But I’d recommend using Carrd to build a simple (emphasis on simple) one to capture emails. They’ve got some really great templates to choose from and you can integrate all the major ESP’s. Plus… it’s free!
Start with a value-driven headline. What’s in it for your readers?
Then add a simple subheading explaining what type of emails they’ll get and how frequently you’ll send them.
Finally, end with a call-to-action that encourages your visitors to sign up (this can be a line about your lead magnet).
Here’s what my landing page looks like for reference ↓
And if you want to sign up for my email list and get the free case study, click here.
5. Write a Simple Welcome Email 📧
Your welcome email is the first interaction your reader has with you and your content. So you gotta make it count!
Here are a few things to add:
Thank your reader for signing up
Give them their free resource
Tell them what to expect
Ask for a reply
Pretty simple, huh?
If you want to learn more about how to write a welcome email that will turn readers into customers, you can read more below:
6. Promote Your Landing Page and Start Sending Emails 📣
Alright, you’ve set everything up and are ready to start collecting emails (exciting!).
Now all that’s left to do is promote your email list so people actually know it exists.
There are a few ways you can do that:
Add a link to all your socials.
Promote your lead magnet wherever you can.
Use Auto DM’s to grow your list on auto-pilot.
Tell everybody and their mothers about how great your emails are and why they should join (okay, this one might be a tad over the top).
Some great platforms you can use to promote your email list are…
Reddit
Twitter
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
Truth is, you could send the best emails in the world. But it won’t mean a thing if nobody knows your email list exists.
So get out there and start promoting it to the world!
Then once you have some subscribers, you’re ready to start sending emails.
Think back to all the different ideas you wrote out in step 3. Then pick a few days (or every day if you want to commit to that) to send your emails and get writing!
This Week’s Action Steps 🐾
Annnndddd… there you have it!
6 steps you can take to start building and growing your email list today.
Here are your action steps for this week:
Pick an email service provider
Jot down a list of 10 - 20 ideas you could write about
Create a simple landing page to start capturing emails
Tell at least one person about your email list and get your first subscriber
As always, let me know if you have any questions :)
✌🏼
Connor “build that email list” Flynn
This Week’s Top Quote 🗯
“Everything in life that’s hard is just a series of things that are easy.”
This Week’s Top Hits 🤙🏼
Just Couldn’t Get Enough?
Start and Grow Your Newsletter in 7 Days 📧
An email list is the most valuable asset you own as a creator or brand. If you want to learn how to start, grow, and monetize an email list (all in 7 days), join my free Money Mail email course below:
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Email and SMS strategy
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Community-building outline
Marketing templates and frameworks
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