How to Start Your Email List Today
I know you already know this but…
YOU SHOULD TOTALLY HAVE AN EMAIL LIST. BUT GETTING STARTED? UGH. TOO OVERWHELMING.
Let me guess: you listen to a lot of podcasts / take free webinars (btw it's okay if you half-ass those because I do too. I totally watch Queer Eye while learning really hard in a webinar) and you hear it: you need to have a list.
But there's a big ol' gap between knowing we need to do something and actually doing it.
And the biggest prob I hear from entrepreneurs is they don't know what to say.
Welp, your friend PB is here with tough love: you can have results or you can have excuses but you can't have both.
So today let's knock out the "don't know what to say" excuse for not having an email list in one stupidly simple step...
But first! A quick & dirty recap on why you absolutely should have an email list. Bullet points, activate!
think social media is where it's at? pffff. fact: only 6% of what you post is seen by your followers
whereas your emails typically have closer to a 30% open rate. bonus fact: businesses that nurture their audience via email make an average of 40x more revenue than businesses that don't
when you only spend your time on social, you're building on borrowed land. You don't own your followers, your pal Big Brother (ahem, sorry, Mark Zuckerberg) does. Build a list and YOU own those contacts. fyi - even a tiny list (I'm talking less than 100 peeps) can make a real impact on your biz
Okay. Back to the program...
Now you're convinced on the list thing. But where to start?
First: go slow! If you're starting a list from scratch or you have one but it's "stale" (ie: you haven't emailed since Breaking Bad was a thing) commit to just once monthly. As you get in a rhythm of emailing your list, you can always increase frequency
Think you don't have anything to say? Think again.
If you post to social media, you already have content for emails.
Yes. You read that right. Go back and read it again. I'll wait...
A big mistake is thinking you need to create original content to share with your email list. But why reinvent the wheel?
Do this instead:
look back at your social media posts (or blog posts if you're into that) and find your best stuff. Which ones had the most engagement? Which captions or posts did you straight-up enjoy writing the most?
...take 12 of those and voila! You now have 12 emails (a whole year's worth!) for your list. You might need to do some minor editing or elaborating but that's super easy now that you have your blueprint, right?
What do you think? Does this seem doable to you?
P.S. since we're friends I need to say this: for the love of god, on your website (and wherever else you're encouraging people to join your list) please don't say "join my newsletter." I love you but nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, wants a newsletter. It can be your "best tips & tricks" it can be your "monthly roundup" just please not a newsletter.