Creating great content is only the first half of the battle for a successful email outreach strategy — you also need a list of people to receive and read it.
How do you build your list? Put the tools and marketing channels you’re already using to work for you to successfully build a solid list over time.
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Here are 14 of our favorite ways to keep your email list growing:
On Your Website
- Put your sign-up form in your website template, so it appears on every single page.
- Offer special downloads, like how-to guides. When they sign-up for the download, give them the opportunity to also sign up for your e-newsletter (see how Network for Good does it here).
- Sponsor a fun contest or drawing, and be clear that when people enter, they will also be signed up to receive your e-newsletter.
- Create a sign-up form with multiple topics, then let people segment themselves based on which topics they care about.
In Your Email Messages
- Offer great content! Nothing will build your list faster.
- Encourage supporters to update their email addresses themselves (if your system allows it – Constant Contact does).
- Ask readers to forward your e-newsletter to friends or share with their social networks and be sure to include a link to your sign-up form in each edition so those friends can sign-up directly.
- Respect all opt-outs. It’s better to lose a subscriber than to have that person tag you as a spammer!
- Put a link to your sign-up form in your personal email signature as well.
Face to Face
- Audit all of your paper forms and make sure you are asking for an email address anywhere you would ask for a phone number or mailing address.
- When people register for your events, invite them to receive your e-newsletter, too.
- Include a newsletter sign-up form at your reception desk.
- Collect business cards when you make presentations.
- Get in the habit of regularly entering those hand-collected addresses into your system so you can invite them to receive your e-newsletter.
Kivi Leroux Miller is president of Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com and author of The Nonprofit Email Marketing Guide.
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