No matter how much social media evolves, and how many options Facebook offers you to customize your advertising campaigns, an email will remain the old but a golden tool for promoting a product or service. Emails convert 34% better than other forms of outreach.
A well-targeted emails list can raise some pretty hefty numbers for your Kickstarter campaign. Although numbers are not all that matters. Purchasing email lists with a huge number of emails won’t work. The relationships you establish with your audience before, during, and after the campaign makes the difference. So, today we’re focusing on building an email list the right way, in 7 steps.
Table of Contents
Picking an email marketing platform
Emails are a long-term game that you will keep playing even after your campaign is over. Choosing an email marketing platform instead of a temporary solution ensures you don’t lose the flow in your marketing, and you can manage subscribers easily as well as gather statistics.
There are numerous platforms out there, such as Mailchimp, Drip, Sendinblue, Sender, etc. Research which one of them matches your budget and level of expertise and set it up. Choose a simple platform that is easy to set up, provides numerous sending options, and most importantly is optimized so your emails are less likely to end up in the spam folder.
Building a noticeable and converting landing page
Unlike social media where you get customers by directly leveraging the platform, email marketing is only a tool to be integrated with other tools. Here’s where a landing page comes in handy. A landing page differs from your website which has all the information and details about your project.
Hire skilled designers, copywriters, and developers to craft a compelling landing page rich with testimonials, case studies, and stories. Remember, the purpose of all these is to get your visitor to sign up. Don’t confuse visitors with other CTAs such as visiting your social networks or attending events. Capturing emails is your only purpose.
Give value before you ask for their email
To get a prospect’s email you must win their trust first. And the best way to do this is by providing them an immense amount of value upfront. You can do this using Facebook Ads and Google Ads. Offering your customers a piece of exclusive or free content will intrigue them to join your email list for more.
This doesn’t mean you’ll stop giving value through emails after you get their email. Keep nurturing your email list with advice and engaging content so that when the moment you start talking about your Kickstarter campaign they feel indebted to contribute to it.
Use online and offline events to collect emails
Whenever you step there’s a chance to bring new subscribers to your list. Whenever you step there’s a chance to bring new subscribers to your list and earn income from your email newsletters. Whether it’s a conference, meet-up, workshop, or networking session, you can offer a sign-up sheet for participants to leave their emails. You may even promise to send them something like notes of the event to encourage them to leave their emails.
Find events related to your project and related to your ideal audience. If you are launching a FinTech product, you’d want to check events related to banking or investing. If you’re launching a healthcare-related product, attend one-day conferences, webinars, and so on. Also, consider hosting an event yourself or in cooperation with another partner. Use Facebook Events and Eventbrite to search or create events.
The magic of guest posting
Getting your brand featured in another publication in your industry is a great way to gain exposure and drive more signups for your email list. The simplest ways to find websites that accept guest posts are by searching [Industry name] + “Write for us” on Google, or using a blogger outreach platform. Another way is by working with a PR agency which can get you into more reputable magazines but eventually will cost you more.
A guest post exposes your brand in front of a loyal audience related to your industry. Then, you could choose to either direct the reader to sign up for your email list or click on your landing page. However, it is important that you give authentic and value-packed advice to the reader and avoid promoting yourself too often.
Integrate WordPress plugins
If you’re using WordPress to build your landing page, you must consider using WordPress plugins to make the whole email generation process seamless. Plugins such as OptinMonster let you test different forms to maximize the conversion rate.
Testing different designs, copy lengths, and even button colors are proven to increase conversions and these plugins help you during this process. If you’re using MailChimp, there’s an option named “Evil Mode Pop-Up” that offers similar customization choices.
Send Traffic and Keep Testing
Your email list counts a significant number of emails and your Kickstarter campaign is near. This is the moment when all the claimed theories fall flat because you get to make your own. Start sending as much traffic as you can possibly afford and tweak each element of the landing page and forms until you get a satisfying sign-up rate.
These were a few of the steps and tools to help you on your journey towards growing your list. Use tools such as Bitly, and Google Analytics to measure traffic, and don’t be afraid to experiment with various headlines and freebies, but most importantly keep nurturing your list with valuable content before promoting your Kickstarter campaign.
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