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By Kathy
Burns-Millyard (c) 2003
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How
many times do you hear it?
Build your opt-in list!
Have you fallen for the hype too? Well, let me clue you in on a
few things about lists.
First of all... building, maintaining, and mailing to lists is
time consuming. They'll give you a headache. They'll feel like a
ball and chain eventually. And whether they'll ever return the
investment is questionable at best. |
So, why do we constantly hear advice about building a mailing list?
Well, it goes back a few years. Several actually. Once upon a time, in
the new beginnings of commerce on the 'Net, mailing lists were a source of
great income. Mainly because they sold advertising. And advertisers were
so enthralled with the immediate delivery, and potential for immediate
response, that they bought ads in newsletters and ezines.
So, the bigger the Publisher's list... the more they could charge for
advertising.
And people made money. Publishers and advertisers alike. But that was
1997. '98 & '99 were ok too, and for some people, 2000 was even a great
year for mailing lists. There are even a few lists out and about today
that make money. I hear rumors that a rare handful actually make a profit.
So what about the hundreds of thousands of other lists out there? Well,
they're probably going through something like this:
1. They're told by "experts" to build a large mailing list... so
they put in countless hours, weeks, and months to do so. Most are lucky to
reach 1000 subscribers in a year.
2. They're then told to send regular mailings to these
subscribers... so they put in more endless hours finding or writing
content to send out to their subscribers. Content is king right? If you
give enough away, people will eventually be grateful enough to buy
something... right?
Hmmm... in my experience -- and I've been marketing online for a good 7
years now -- people who get free expect free. They're not likely to start
paying for something they've gotten for free in the past. And if they were
looking for free to begin with, they aren't likely to start paying now.
3. Once you've gotten at least 1000 subscribers, you can start
selling ads! Hate to break your bubble... but there are plenty of
publications with over 100,000 subscribers that can't fill their ad space.
4.
You can advertise your affiliate programs! Ok, if the affiliate program
offers something useful... and your subscribers haven't seen the ads in
dozens of other places... you *might* get a trickle of income by doing
this. But the average affiliate is lucky to make $20 a month now-a-days.
Does that cover the time and energy you've spent for the list so far?
5. You can advertise your own products! This one is true too. If
you have products to sell... and you have an interested, targeted mailing
list... you can make plenty of profits this way -- if you do it right.
What I've seen over the years though, is unfortunate. Publishers with a
great list and great products to sell tend to blast their list with
advertisements -- Effectively alienating their prospects and customers,
and getting their messages trashed instead of increasing sales.
On the other end of the spectrum are the really good publishers. They
have great content but it makes them no money. They have no products to
sell, and tend to spend way too much time building the list and creating
the content... so they don't make much (if any) money.
Now you've probably caught on to a theme here. If you have products and
services to sell, a list can be a goldmine. But you need to work it. Don't
just blast ad sheets, send some tips and info. Create a conversation... a
relationship. Make your prospects feel special. Make them happy to be on
your list, and anxious to read every message you send.
If you don't have products or services to sell... building a large list
is a waste of your time and resources. Get products or services first.
Now if you're like me, you're in a group I haven't really discussed
here. Services. Select services that are limited in some way. I, for
instance, work with just a few clients at a time. Sometimes a project
lasts for 2-3 weeks and sometimes it lasts for months. If I were to try
and build, maintain, and regularly mail a list of thousands... it would be
a wasted effort. I can't service hundreds -- or even 20 -- at once.
Instead, I do select, targeted mailings to existing contacts. If I want
or need extra work... about 10 emails does the trick. I don't have to
constantly search for content, waste hours tweaking my list subscriptions,
or put together elaborate news and information. I simply send a quick
note. And usually within a week or less... I've gotten several thousand
dollars worth of projects booked.
And most of the time I don't even have to do that. I simply collect
prospects from my website. I'm not collecting "opt-in" names and addresses
though. My Website does most of my selling for me. When a prospective
customer wants time or cost estimates, or wants to discuss their project
needs in detail, they fill out an online form. And I respond to that. And
if they don't want the project right away, I contact them later. The
relationship... the conversation... is already established.
Instead of me constantly sending email to request sales... targeted
prospects are sending me email to request my services.
So think about lists carefully. If you already have one, do you
honestly need it? Would you love to shake off the shackles associated with
it so you can get on with making some actual money?
Treat your list like an expensive advertisement: If it's not making you
money, and won't be in the near future... get rid of it.
About The Author
"The Home-Based Reality Check" is a FREE, syndicated opinion/ commentary
column written for established home business professionals. Visit:
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