5 Ways to Build Your List Using Your Existing One
Take a look at the history of technological innovation and it quickly becomes clear that nothing truly starts from scratch. While there have certainly been great geniuses through the years, they all stood on the shoulders of those who came before. The automobile wouldn’t have been possible without the advances in automation and metallurgy that preceded it. The digital age would still be a science fiction writer’s dream without the groundwork in electronics and transistors.
Like those geniuses from the history books, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to create your email list. In fact, if you have an existing email list, you already have a tremendous advantage over someone who’s just starting out. You just need to leverage that advantage. Here are 5 ways to do that:
- Build confidence and trust. Like any worthwhile undertaking, building a list can be challenging. There will be setbacks and rejections that can shake your confidence. Using an existing list helps you build that confidence back up. You already have a relationship with the people on your existing list, so they’ll be inclined to support you. In other words, start with friends and family first and then work your way up to strangers.
- Get feedback. Nothing is more useful than feedback. Your existing contacts can provide you valuable insight and let you know what you’re doing right. You might even be able to send a preview offer out to select clients to see what they think before you reach out to the general public. You can also ask them what offers and products they’d like to see in the future. After all, everybody loves to put their two cents in.
- Everybody knows someone. Your existing contacts can do some of the work for you. Get your best contacts excited about what you’re doing. You know them, so you know exactly how to motivate them. Once they get excited, they’ll get their friends and family excited, giving your list-building efforts a strong launching pad.
- Use your existing profiles to get marketing information. What products should you offer? Is it time for some new offerings? What’s a good price point? Like any business owner, you probably have those questions and more. Your existing email contacts can provide a veritable gold mine of answers. They’re your best customers. When did they buy from you? What did they buy? Which one of your emails did they read? What did they respond to? You already have that information. Use it to construct a profile of your ideal customer and focus your marketing efforts on that niche.
- Birds of a feather flock together. It should come as no surprise that people tend to gravitate to those who are like them or those who share their interests. These people will also tend to go to the same places and get their information from the same sources. Once you know that information for your best customers, you can use it to find others like them. Instead of guessing about where to start expanding your email list, you already have a clue about where to go and what steps to take.
According to Thomas Edison, genius is more about perspiration than inspiration. Whether that’s true or not, there’s no denying it’s a lot easier when you don’t have to start from scratch. Your existing email list provides you a great springboard, so use it do more inspiring and less sweating.