Email marketing is still right up there at the top of the list for effective direct marketing methods. Your potential customers are more likely to read and actively respond to an email – as long as you’ve taken care to make sure it doesn’t come across as spam – than they are to react to almost any other method.
Even better, email is one of the most cost-effective methods of direct marketing; you can send out hundreds of thousands of emails quickly and easily, not to mention inexpensively, and see a decent response rate. That’s why you want to make sure to reach as many potential customers as possible with your email campaigns, which means making sure you have a hot email list. These are our top 8 methods for B2B email list building.
1 – Great content + clear CTA
Top of our list of list building strategies is creating great content, coupled with an effective call to action. By making sure you have excellent content on your website and social media, you will organically attract people who are interested in your business. If you then make sure each piece of content has an easy sign-up option CTA, you’re making short work of building an email list fast.
2 – Website sign-ups
Give your potential customers as many opportunities as you can to subscribe. Include a link to your email newsletter, your blog, your social media and more on every page. The easier and more compelling you make it for them to subscribe, the more customers you will have to market to.
3 – Guest post to cement your expert position
This list building technique goes hand-in-hand with creating great content for your own blog, social media and website. By creating expert, attributed content for respected authorities in your industry, you become recognized as an expert – just make sure you direct readers back to your own blog, website, or subscription form.
4 – Social sharing
Encourage your subscribers to share your content by including the option to share on social media. This way, your message gets out there, and will attract more potential customers.
5 – Freebies and contests
Offering freebies, give-aways, special offers or contests is a great way to build an email list for marketing. When you make the offer, all you need to do is ensure potential customers register by including their email address. You can also include a short questionnaire to help with email list segmenting later on.
6 – Social media targeting
Use social media to its best advantage. Make sure that with every LinkedIn or Facebook post, tweet, YouTube video or any other social media post, you are building an email list by encouraging people to subscribe or register.
7 – Develop partnerships
If you have a partnership with another business, you can piggy-back their email marketing by offering specials in conjunction with theirs. This way, you encourage visitors to your website and social media, and can also encourage sign-on once they are there.
8 – Host offline events
Physical events are one of the best email list building strategies you can employ. You can collect email addresses on-site at the event, or you can do it beforehand, by requiring online registration before the event.
9 – Host online events
Positioning yourself as an expert in your field can help grow your email list, especially if you offer online events like webinars, live chats or other virtual interactive events. You can, again, require registration before participation in the free event.
What other B2B email list building techniques have you found effective? Let us know in the comments.
Need help fine-tuning your B2B email marketing? Talk to us – just fill in our contact form or send us an email and we’ll get right back to you.