5 Tips for Organic List Building
No matter what your walk of life, you’ve seen natural talent in action. It could have been a sports phenom who made the extraordinary look easy. Maybe it was that girl who shredded advanced calculus without breaking a sweat. Whatever their field, these folks just seem to glide through challenges, leaving rest of us mere mortals to grind it out. You can’t help but be a little jealous sometimes.
When it comes to building your email list you don’t always have to shed blood, sweat and tears. There are ways to grow your list organically, so you just for once can feel like one of those gifted naturals. In the last of our five-part series on list building we’ll take a look at some of them.
1ST. Offer great quality content and promote it. It may sound obvious, but before you can sell anything, you’ve not only got to have something someone else wants, but you have to let them know you have it. Create the best content you absolutely can and advertise it as aggressively as you can. While great content won’t always sell itself, having great content is a powerful start.
2ND. Make it easy. Have you ever tried to go online or into a store to pay a bill and run into hassles? It sounds insane, right? There you are trying to give them money and they’re making it hard for you. Don’t be that company. If you want someone to do something for you (like sign up for your email list), make it easy for them. Don’t make them submit a 20-page questionnaire about every aspect of their life. Instead put your link in an obvious place and work hard to make sure they can navigate it with as few button taps/ mouse clicks as possible.
3RD. Offer discounts or special content. Don’t just ask someone to do something for you out of the goodness of their heart. Bribe them. If you’re offering a good quality product, people will naturally want to tell their friends about it. Offering incentives can take that desire to a whole new level. Better yet, if you have a great incentive, new customers who receive that incentive will in turn tell their friends about it. Your list could practically build itself.
4TH. Hold a contest. If there’s something people like almost as much as discounts, it’s a contest—especially if there’s a cool prize involved! Have a drawing for the person who sends you the most new people to add to your list. They say competition brings out the best in people. Create a contest and put that theory to work.
5TH. Just ask (for referrals). Yes, it’s as simple as that. Many people hesitate to ask for referrals. Perhaps they think it’s rude, or that if their product or service is good enough that customers will refer them without being prompted. Research has shown again and again that this is a false narrative. If you want referrals (and who doesn’t?) the best way is to ask. It’s not rude or pushy. It’s just good business.
When it comes to your email list, you don’t want to take shortcuts. Growing your list organically is the best way to create a valuable database of potential clients that will serve you well for years. The beauty is that growing it organically means much of the work takes care of itself once you set up the proper conditions. Great results with less work? It doesn’t get more natural than that.