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By Marissa Kasarov
There is a popular saying in the marketing community that goes something like, “the money is in the list.” For those who are unfamiliar, this statement refers to your list of contacts and their ability to drive revenue for your business. Over time, the concept has evolved just a bit, and now that phrase may be used when speaking of email marketing lists, your list of social media followers, or even your offline sphere of influence.
Essentially, these are people and other businesses who not only welcome your contact, but are happy to hear from you and delight in your expertise. This list is absolutely essential to your automated marketing efforts, and it is one of your most valuable assets as an entrepreneur or website owner, which is why we also stress the importance of maintaining that connection and nurturing leads consistently over time.
This is a great time to bring up the notion of purchased lists. Purchasing a list of email contacts or buying social media followers is about as useful to your business as purchasing artificial web traffic. Sure, you’ll be sending out more emails or seeing more activity on your social feeds, but how many of those are real humans? How many of those contacts are going to click through your products or services and want to know more? The bottom line is that this will not result in more revenue for your business or exposure for your brand. It simply is what it is: a false positive. Do yourself a favor, and invest the time and energy necessary to see an authentic boost in traffic, followers, engagement, and revenue.
The first step to building a profitable list is often referred to as an “opt-in”. This is simply a way of saying that your contacts have joined your list willingly and completely on their own… but how do you convince future clients or customers to hand over their email address?
In the next installment of this series, we’ll discuss what it takes to grow your list of subscribers and followers quickly and effectively.
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