[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Over 59% of B2B marketers say email is the most effective method in generating revenue and client engagement.
And of those companies, the marketers inside these businesses plan to spend even more money in 2015 on email marketing.
And more importantly, here’s what the data tells us: consistent focus of growing a quality subscriber list is key to marketing success.
Here are a few more annoying, yet factual stats, as to why growing your IT firms email list needs to be of utmost importance in your overall strategic and tactical marketing efforts:
- 50% more sales: the result companies generate when using email marketing to nurture leads.
- 4,300% return-on-investment: the overall result businesses experience from email marketing. (Direct Marketing Association)
- 33% lower customer acquisition cost: results from warm leads that come from drip campaigns.
- 20% increase in sales opportunities: result from nurtured leads of email drip campaigns when compared to non-nurtured leads. (Hubspot)
- 64% of decision makers read emails via mobile device. (EmailExpert)
We’d argue that e-mail is one of the most powerful, yet most abused and incorrectly used, means to deliver your content to prospects and existing customers or clients.
E-mail allows you to tell your story and ultimately highlight what it is that you can do for your potential buyers.
So…how do you do it? How does a company grow their email list and what’s the best way to utilize your email lists for sales purposes and communication?
Here are 5 ways your business can grow your email list, best utilize this list and ultimately create leads and sales from it.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”3583″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Be awesome by building valuable, yet relevant, content
Understanding your buyer allows you to create strategic, targeted content which should always address your consumer throughout the sales-lifecycle process.
There is nothing worse than when a company produces content that is all about them, day after day, month after month.
The last thing you want to aspire to is to create content that highlights your latest United Way award, or how your CEO won the company’s annual hot dog eating contest. (nothing against the United Way, by the way; they are a seriously great organization)
Your buyers want content that talks about them. Content that proves, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that you will solve a business frustration for them that no one else has been able to quell.
This type of content should be content that moves your ideal prospect from the top of your sales funnel, through the pipeline, so eventually your sales team can swoop in and save the day, by closing them from a potential client to a paying customer.
And in order to do all this, consider creating a persona and once you have your persona identified, you need to share as much awesome content as you can.
Consider unique and special premium types of content called premium content, like an E-book or case study, which will ultimately guide your potential buyer down a path of building trust and credibility, so they download this good stuff in exchange for an email address, thus making them a lead.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”3574″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]To recap how to build valuable, purposeful content:
- Create your buyer persona.
- Learn what’s relevant to them.
- Develop content, like premium content, and freely share.
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Use a call-to-action on your social media accounts (and for the love of God, please use just one)
More than likely, your company has some sort of social media account, i.e. LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. (If you don’t, you should)
These social media mediums allow you to communicate with your IT clients and prospects, as well as indirectly touch them on a regular basis.
And it’s with this method of communication that you can capture email addresses, thus increasing the girth of your email list.
Facebook now has a nifty feature that allows you to direct your prospects in multiple directions, as part of their CTA button. You can ask your prospects to ‘Contact Us’, ‘Sign Up’ and ‘Other.’
Don’t forget to take advantage of these calls-to-action (CTA) in order to grow your lists.
Your MSP or business needs to leverage this CTA on your Facebook page, and by doing this, it will allow interested potential buyers, and subscribers, to sign up for your email newsletter or subscribe to your weekly blog.
Another example of using social media to collect the particulars of your prospects is LinkedIn Publishing. LinkedIn Publishing is nothing more than a way for you to share articles, blog posts, case studies and E-Books with your prospects that are on LinkedIn. (Think a WordPress blog, but on LinkedIn)
And when you do share your content on LinkedIn, you need to have a pre-determined CTA to close out every piece you upload.
Something like, ‘Leave a comment below,’ or ‘Contact Us for a free demo,’ or ‘Download this guide to gain instant wisdom.’
But have just one CTA that wraps-up each piece you share. Try and avoid more than one, as too many choices will ultimately confuse your prospect and they won’t take action. One call to action limits them to one action and increases your chances of having them “do” something.
As a side note, using LinkedIn Publishing is free. If you have a LinkedIn personal account or LinkedIn business page, it’s part of your membership.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Even though it can be expensive, use video
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The old adage a picture tells a thousand words is true.
Video and images can capture the attention of your prospects, and if done well should hold their attention.
The ultimate goal with video is a quick way to communicate a specific point, around a topic your prospect is demanding to know more about. Then these videos should encourage your potential prospect to watch your explainer video in its entirety, only to be invited to have your prospective buyer leave their email address.
YouTube is great at this: buttons embedded into their videos with a call-to-action.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Here’s an example below or a quick explainer video, which addresses a specific point:
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Influencer and co-branded partnerships
There is amazing value and incredible benefits in co-marketing partnerships and influence campaigns.
Your partnerships with other companies, re-sellers and influencers, who have a larger following than you do, will help you grow your brand.
It also positions your business as a thought leader, with the end result of increasing email sign-ups and subscribers.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Guest blogging to drive engagement
Writing blog articles, for example, on other influencers’ blogs will enable you to drive traffic to your website, thus capturing more email addresses.
There are some items that you will need to cover, as a part of your foray into guest blogging, like a strong CTA, with a potential link that gives away a piece of free, downloadable content.
This piece of content, like a case study, E-Book or white paper, needs to be relevant to the topic you are covering in your guest blog, of course.
If you’re an IT company, for example, consider blogging or sharing content with one of the software’s that you re-sell. Consider blogging for Microsoft about their reseller program, or write about HIPPA compliance for a healthcare client.
Even consider a guest webinar, where you do a webinar with one of your best partners or resellers, where you talk about the trust and expertise your businesses offer to make their wildest dreams come true.
Minus the wildest dreams part, but you get the point.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Do not give up
Email marketing and capturing prospect’s email addresses is hard, just like other types of content marketing efforts. So don’t give up. Keep at it, but start with one step.
Then be sure your website has forms to capture data from prospects and subscribers. These forms should be strategically placed and placed often.
Remember: if you don’t ask for an email with some sort of subscription form your prospects won’t fill anything out. If you don’t ask, they won’t give an answer. So ask for their info through forms.
Adding forms and a CTA on your social sites isn’t hard.
From there, follow the above wisdom and you’ll be set to start taking in email addresses, collecting lead generation info, and well on your way to increasing your sales through email and the web.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Free assessment now
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]For a free web and marketing assessment, where we give you, the small-business Samurai, free education that is sure to help you gauge your existing marketing efforts, fill out this form below.
And if you don’t want a free web-marketing assessment, but want continued free advice, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our blog.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_cta_button2 style=”square” txt_align=”center” accent_color=”#19bae6″]
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