Content May be King, But it’s All in the List

My last article talked about how your email marketing list needs to help, not hinder the growth of your Stampin’ Up! business. Your list is the lifeline to your business, keeping your name and products in front of your customers. If you have nobody to communicate with, who will host your workshops or buy your products? Today, I have specific ideas for you to build your list.

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve probably heard it a thousand times. “It’s all in the list.” There’s a reason why this comment is heard so often; because without your contact list you can’t go very far in the world of direct sales marketing. The list is a very important tool that connects your business to your customers either by phone and email.

List building is the one aspect of your Stampin’ Up! business which needs to be worked on first, with the most importance and the most consistency of any direct sales business process. Your list is your means to money, and without money your business can’t proceed. We don’t want that. I’m sure we are all familiar with the 40 New Customers in 4 Minutes list building worksheet. If not, let me know and I’ll send it to you. I’ve used it many times. But for this article I’m going to focus on increasing your contact list so that you can contact potential customers via an email marketing campaign.

An important thing I’ll mention right from the get-go is spamming. The CAN SPAM act of 2003 made it an illegal practice to send bulk marketing emails without the consent of the recipients.

But, you still need somewhere to send those email messages, right? Of course you do. This is why the following information is going to be so important for you. It will list different ways of legally obtaining those names for your list.

1) When you are creating your DBWS or blog, be sure to insert an opt-in box for people to subscribe to your mailing list. This will be a necessary feature for those who find you through the next steps we are going to recommend. If your not sure how to do that, I have a tutorial on my blog. 

2) Setup a process to collect and record email addresses of guests at every workshop. Don’t presume that every guest at the workshop wants to hear from you, ask. If you use a door prize form make sure it identifies how you intend to use the information. My door prize form asks how often they wish to hear from me: Specials Only, New Catalog or Weekly Tips.

3) Joint ventures are a fantastic way to build your list quickly. Common joint ventures are direct selling fairs. This is a great opportunity for getting your name noticed, and having people sign up to receive what you have to offer. I’ve also partnered with other representatives and sent them a project idea to share with their customers. When it comes to free products or services, many visitors don’t think twice about leaving their contact information to receive their goods.

4) Add free tutorial or other incentives for sign-ups directly from your Blog/DBWS website. Keep a specific tutorial especially for those who sign up to your mailing list from your blog/DBWS itself. This will let them know how much you value them right from the start.

5) Get asked what you do? I love that question. I often ask for their business card or email address and then I’ll send them a free tutorial sample and add their email address to my contact list.

Once your list grows, you can keep it running smoothly by providing rich-content via a regular email newsletter which entices free customers to attend your classes and order online. Once your list is strong, your business will be too.

I would love to hear your ideas and comments. Leave me your feedback below.

To your success!