Alita’s Interview on Profitable Email Marketing with Digital Marketing Radio

How do you best build an authentic list of email subscribers? Should you buy an email list or is it best to build one for yourself? And does email marketing work just as well for B2B?

At Milk it Digital Business Academy, my aim is to help businesses uncover hidden profits in digital business channels through business development workshops. This is why I feel very honored and happy to answer some burning questions during my recent interview with David Bain at the Digital Marketing Radio. This interview is just the start of many activities I have in line to reach and help as many business owners as possible. We wanted to share the full recording and a summary of the interview with you.

So which is which: to buy a list or not to buy a list?

There’s a number of ways to build an authentic list, and buying one isn’t one of them. Honestly, my rule is quality over quantity. A hundred subscribers who are genuinely interested in your business is ten folds better than five thousand people who haven’t even heard from you, and are most likely going to mark you as spam when you reach their inbox.

So how do you build an authentic list?

Building a large, authentic list for your business isn’t going to be easy… but it’s going to be SO worth it! Here are the best ways to do it:

Integrate Other Channels and have Multiple Sign-Up Points

The first step in building an authentic list is to market yourself to the audience you already have. You can do this by integrating others channels. This is one thing I always remind my clients. If you already have an audience in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+, market your email program to them. It’s an immediate quick win.

Not to mentions multiple sign-up points on your website. When one of our clients who recently started a digital transformation program with us, only had a single email subscription channel on their website. I then asked them to make their subscription channels visible on all pages in their website… and guess what?! Their subscribers rose to 200% in under three weeks!

Give an incentive

When you ask your followers to sign up to your email list, you must answer these questions: Why? What’s in it for them? Remember that your follower’s email address is valuable to them… so what can you give in return for this valuable information? Give them an irresistible offer: eBook, discount, free service, educational series, etc.

Is buying a list ever legal or beneficial in a way?

Spam Legislations differ from country to country. Here in Australia, the legislation are very strict, so a list bought from a third-party may not be very beneficial. If, however, my client already bought a list and spent a lot on it, the only way we could get traction using that list is by doing a “custom audience” ad in Facebook.

What happens is you upload this list on Facebook, and then Facebook will show your ad to these people. Then, it will be up to them if they’d want to officially join your list or not. This is the only authentic/legal way to use a bought list.

Is an Auto-responder advisable?

Of course! Other than sending a confirmation and a thank you email, there’s this thing I like to call “Welcome Series.” A welcome series allows you to send your customers a series of valuable emails over a period. Data shows that by sending them 4-5 emails over a span of 1-12 weeks, the conversion rate will rise to 50%. Your series could follow this format:

1 – Confirmation Email. (Reminder of your offer – free shipping, discount, service, etc.)
2 – Education. (Present FAQ, best sellers, etc)
3 – User-generated content. (What are people asking your business on Facebook, etc.?)
4 – Profiling. (Frequency, types of email, etc.)

Do you find Email Marketing effective on B2B?

Absolutely, yes! Email Marketing is the highest returning form of marketing; SEO only comes 2nd. Milk it Digital, for example, is a B2B business, and we’ve been very successful in our email marketing campaigns. We’ve tested waters with various offers; we’ve had single fire emails earn more than $40,000 in revenue consistently, that’s really the bare minimum.

It’s really all about how you acquired your list, nurture your subscribers with valuable content, so they convert into paying customers, and retain as loyal followers of your business.

In the interview I was also asked the following questions:

• What software could you not live without?
• What did you do so well, what do you wish you did differently when you first marketed a business?
• What is your biggest learning curve?
• Email Or Twitter?
• Audio or Video?
• Affiliates or Display Advertising?
• Facebook or Google+?
• Online PR or 1:1 relation?
• Paid search or SEO?
• Email Contact Form or Telephone #?
• Website or App?
• Social Subscriber or Email Subscriber?
• Local Marketing or Global Marketing?
• What’s the #1 Takeaway in Digital Marketing?

If you’d like to know my answers, you may listen to the full recording or my interview here:

Like I always say, Email Marketing will do wonders in your business when done right. So focus on building an authentic list, nurture them with valuable information, so they convert, and continue to offer unique deals/information to retain them..

Did you enjoy the interview? What were the best lessons you learned or need to know about Email Marketing? Share them in the email below.