Combating List Building Frenzy: Take The Time To Promote

It is an accepted fact among the experts now that online marketing succeeds only with a quality, highly targeted permission email list in place. As a result, the multi-level marketers have pounced on this and everywhere you look another "matrix" lead generating system springs up.

There is no doubt that these are powerful techniques offering the advantage of building your subscriber base while basking in profits simply from growing your list. This is a best-of-both worlds sorts where the very thing that you are promoting is one in the same with what you are building -> your list.

For "newbie" marketers, it is easy to get caught up in the frenzy since one is desperately hungry to build a subscriber base and actually see the first profits rolling in. However, with working on an initially limited advertising budget, the monthly charges to stay in the "matrix" can take a substantial bite out of other advertising resources.

What is one to do? Can you build a list with highly targeted subscribers, subscribers who are craving for your information, at relatively low cost? The answer: yes, but it takes time.

For those just starting out this is a double-edged sword. You want profits soon, but also want profits to continue to come in. The problem here is that the two are contradictory. They straddle two opposite sides of the fence so to speak.

*Consider the following scenario:

Suppose you have a large subscriber base that trusts your opinions and judgments. On Friday you send to your list a promotion for which you either own the product or are an affiliate. Now suppose that your list is 3000 subscribers in size, your conversion rate is 5% (pretty good) and your profit per sale is $99. That amounts to $14,850 in sales from one campaign! Not bad, not bad. I could easily live with this kind of return.

Now lets take another scenario. You are just starting out, understand that building a list is of utmost importance, but really want to start making profits quickly. You purchase 600 leads advertised as "quality double opt-in MLM". You then quickly blast away your promotion. Approximately 0.5% (note that this is an order of magnitude less than the first example!) actually make the purchase - 3 out of 600, which is not a very good conversion. But hey, you paid $100 for the leads, made $297 in sales, for a $197 ROI! Just starting out, you become giddy and sort of euphoric at the profits you have just made.

All excited, you blast away another promotion the following week. But this time you only receive a single sale. Uh oh! What's going on? So in a panic you only wait 3 or 4 days and try to re- promote. But, over the next few days, not only do you see no sales, over half of your subscribers cancel their subscription.

*Question: What happened?

Your subscribers don't know you. In all likely hood the sales you made were nothing more than pure luck. Within your list you will undoubtedly have a few people who are really serious, perhaps a bit frivolous with their money, and will buy immediately. But you have absolutely no relationship with your subscribers. They simply looked at your second promotion and said "I don't know who this is, but they keep sending me emails", and cancelled.

What has happened here is the marketing analogue of the biochemical "quick fix" you get when eating a candy bar to curve your hunger. It works great initially, but you crash hard shortly after.

*Solution?* Take your time building your list!

One thing that I cannot stress enough is the time between sign up and first contact. When you buy lists, although sellers usually advertise only a few days old, you get addresses of people who don't even remember what they initially signed up for. I don't know about you but if I receive emails from people that I don't remember, it gets canned immediately. Being that over 150 million people are on the internet today, and are constantly hit with advertisement after advertisement, can you really be surprised that after a few days they really can't remember what they signed up for. The information age has catapulted us from one extreme to the next: information no load to information overload. So, you absolutely must make contact immediately after sign up.

There is another very important reason for the quick follow up after sign up - building credentials. People will be much more likely to stick with you if they think "hey, I signed up and immediately received a response. This person cares." And you should care. If your serious about developing an online business you should care about your contacts and you should supply them with valuable information. To succeed first take the time to promote and build a quality list. Profits will come in due time.

About The Author

Dan J. Fry is an independent researcher and owner of e-Kinetic.com, a site devoted to providing resources for small budget home businesses. He has a PhD in Physics and is married with two daughters and two cats. Subscribe to his free E-Zine on home business resources at mailto:e-kinetic@GetResponse.com or by visiting his site at http://www.e-kinetic.com. He can be reached at mailto:comp@e-kinetic.com.

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


The Power Of Email Marketing

Have You Considered The Power Of Email MarketingOld vs. NewIf... Read More

Choose The Right Business For You In Less Than 15 Minutes

3 Characteristics Of "The Right Business" ModelThe business must service... Read More

The Goose That Lays Golden Eggs

Ever wondered what it would be like to have a... Read More

Essential Rules For Effective Email Marketing

If you want an email campaign to succeed, you don`t... Read More

Email Builds Brands

Email - today's preferred business communication tool - provides you... Read More

Opt-In Email to Increase Website Traffic and Boost Online Sales

Sending messages and information to people who have given you... Read More

To Lead or Not to Lead?

Working with Leads or Opt-In Clients can be very confusing... Read More

Email Marketing Tips for Reaching an International Audience

Targeted, cheap, fast, trackable and with more reporting than traditional... Read More

Build or Buy--Should You Build Your Own Opt-in Email List?

The easiest way to acquire an email list for your... Read More

Real Estate Agents ? What Type of Content Should You Include in Your Newsletter?

One of the biggest concerns for Realtors who publish their... Read More

10 Ways to SCREW-UP Your LIST

Just in case you don't know, your 'LIST' ? is... Read More

Whats on YOUR Subscriber Thank-You Page?

When I coach my clients on how to... Read More

Improve Email Deliverability: 15 Tips for Email Marketing Success

Delivering email newsletters and sales messages to opt-in subscribers and... Read More

The Ultimate Self-Promotion Tool Is Right at Your Fingertips: An E-mail Newsletter

If you're looking for low-cost ways to promote your business... Read More

Use the ?Reply All? Function in Email Judiciously

Type "email etiquette" into the search bar of any popular... Read More

How?s Your E-mail Etiquette

In a fast moving global economy, e-mail offers you the... Read More

Successful Advertising

Most folks starting out on the Internet have tried free... Read More

Six Tips for Nonprofit E-mail Success

An opt-in e-newsletter is one of the most effective marketing... Read More

Newsletters that Work

Offer a newsletter in a time frame that will be... Read More

Personalizing Your Emails? An Amazing Technique That Doubles Your Click Throughs And Profits

Are you publishing an ezine or offering an email course?... Read More

Autoresponders, Which Autoresponder Is Right For Your Business?

An autoresponder is a software program that automatically sends a... Read More

Avoiding Blacklisting: Making Sure Your Email Gets Through

We all know that email is probably today's most popular... Read More

Email Marketing 101 - What You Must Know Before Starting an Email Marketing Campaign

Before you start an e-mail marketing campaign it is important... Read More

Sequential Autoresponders Build Customer Relatonships

A powerful reason for making the switch from using the... Read More

Lesson #2: Different (and Profitable!) Ways to Use Smart Autoresponders

So, autoresponders allow you to automate the process of instantly... Read More

How To Create Gold With Email Promotions - Part 1

First make sure that the people you are sending your... Read More

Writing Newsletters Online: How to Get it Right

A strange thing has been happening to newsletters online. They... Read More

The Most Simple Way to Mask Your Email-address

We all know that spammers are looking for your email-address.... Read More

The Gold Is In Your Mailing List

Let me ask you a question, "What is the most... Read More

Email Marketing 2005?Do?s & Don?ts

Email Marketing 2005?Do's & Don'ts1. Make sure all your email... Read More

One Great Way To Generate A Lot Of Cold Hard Cash From Your Opt-In Email List

I bet you want to know what that one great... Read More

Email Scam Warnings

Most people online are very familiar with the Nigerian Email... Read More

Success Guaranteed With Your Opt In List

Some time ago I was thinking about the best and... Read More