Why You Need An Email List In Your Business?

Three years ago, at the time of writing, I knew nothing about why a business needs an email list. I did not even know what the term “email list” meant.

If you are now, like I was then, and you are looking for the answer as to why your business needs an email list and you are yet to get started with your own email list, then I strongly recommend that you check out my blog post How To Start An Email List From Scratch.

I knew about the power of a large network on social media. I saw many network marketers building their businesses quickly because they had the support of their “tribe” that followed them.

I knew that in order to be successful, it was important that I build my own fan base, but I did not know that having an email list was as important as having a social media following.

You Have Control

I had few friends although at the time, I was building my audience. My engagement was low because of the algorithm changes from those social sites. They prevented the people that mattered the most, to see my content.

That now takes me to an important quote that I saw from an entrepreneur that goes like this “… you can’t build your content on rented land. So many brands and companies build their audiences on Facebook and Google+, which is fine, but we don’t own those names – Facebook and Google do.” – Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute.

It is important to understand that social media sites are not ours. We have no control over them and they can be taken away from us at any time.

A particular case in point is Facebook’s sudden change of their algorithm. This meant that companies who had over one million engaged fans suddenly had their engagement reduced to a pea size and were forced to pay Facebook to show their posts to their followers.

Now should we be mad at that? Not really. We do not own Facebook.

Now whilst building an audience on these sites is just another way to drive traffic to an offer that you have, you do not want to rely solely on this source.

You want to build an asset that will belong solely to you and that is in the form of an email list. This is the reason why you need an email list as a business.

An email list serves the same purpose as any audience that you create on social media. A place where we can build a relationship with the readers and share valuable information with them that is likely to lead to a sale.

It also serves as the best traffic you can get at no cost to you. People on that email list already know you and subscribe to you. It is an important business asset for any brand to own and it is important that you focus on email list building very early on in your business.

Monetise Your List

Subscribers are one of the most passionate people for your brand. The more passionate they are, the more likely they are to become your customers. This is why you read stories about marketers “sending one email and making over $100,000” in revenue.

These stories seem to be hyped up stories but when you have built an email list and you take care of it, nurture it and give your subscribers value, it can be profitable for you and your business. Ever heard that “the money is in the list”?

To reach these type of figures you must always be adding to your email list and providing real value that resonates with the people on that list.

Email Is Still Alive

Finally more people are using emails to keep in touch with brands than social media. According to Optin Monster, over 90% of people still use emails compared to just over 70% of people using social media sites.

Email activity is still alive and it is not just the older crowd who are opting for emails. 74% of teenagers use emails despite the availability of social messenger sites.

In conclusion, a lot more people are reading emails and that number is set to grow every year. This is why you want to start building your brand and asset by investing in something that will be your own and which you have sole rights to.

Remember no one can take away your email list. You have the right to store your audience’s emails and back them up in the event your email marketing provider closes your account.

The good thing is that you can always take your email list with you wherever you go. You, however cannot take your Twitter, Instagram or Facebook followers.

How To Build An Email List?

To build my email list I use a tool called Aweber. It is an email subscription service that allows you to collect people’s email addresses and send them relevant emails when they opt into your capture page.

So if your business is in the weight loss niche, you can create a lead capture page related to weight loss, collect prospect’s email addresses and send to them relevant content on losing weight.

If you are ready to build your own email list the following resources will be helpful to you:

• How To Build An Email List From Scratch
• How To Build A Profitable Email List Step-By-Step
• The Ultimate Email Strategy Guide For Marketers

Now go ahead and create your first email list!

To your success,

P.S If you enjoyed this article on Why You Need An Email List In Your Business, please leave me a comment or any questions below.

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