Today we’re starting a brand new series for the month of January 2025. And this series is going to be on the topic of email list building. Why do you need an email list is what we’re going to cover today. You’ve probably heard me talk about email lists a lot in the past, and that’s because they are so valuable and important. So today we’re going to talk about four reasons that you need to build an email list.
Reasons You Need An Email List
We’re going to start out with what I believe is the most important reason.
Reason #1: You own your list.
Many of us today rely a lot on social media because one, it is free. Two, it is readily available. Three, it’s kind of fun. But to be honest, if you build a list of friends or contacts on a platform such as Facebook, Instagram, or any other of the other platforms, you don’t own the rights to that list.
It could go away at any time and it’s just not something you can count on. With an email list where you’re building an email list using a email service provider such as ActiveCampaign or MailerLite, You are paying for that service and paying to keep that or house that list. then you own that list and the rights to it.
And it’s just more protected than if you’re trying to build connections on social media that could be taken away at any time. The other reasons sort of back this up and go alongside it with it.
Reason #2: When you have an email list, you are talking to and engaging with a warm audience.
These people. opted in to say, yes, I want to receive emails or information or freebies or whatever it is from you as an individual or business, and therefore they are more willing to open your emails to engage with them, so on and so forth. So you are communicating with people who want to be communicated with, rather than when you’re putting it out on social media and you’re relying on the algorithm, you’re relying on whether or not someone sees it, and the chances of them seeing it are much less than if you are emailing someone who has opted into your list, who knows your emails are coming, etc.
Reason #3: You can personalize your marketing when you’re doing email marketing.
There’s the option to have it propagate their name when they put it into your list, like if they sign up for your list, you can collect information about them, such as their name and email address, obviously. and then you can personalize their emails. You can also get to know who’s on your list and personalize the emails to the people who are on your list.
So be more interactive with them and knowing the type of person or people that are on your list and the type of information that they want. This can be done in several ways, including segmenting, which I have a whole podcast episode in the past on segmenting your list. And I will link to that in the show notes.
So if you would like to go and learn more about segmenting your list based on their needs or wants, you can do that. And that is valuable in and of itself.
Reason #4: You can build relationships with your readers.
So just think about your own experience. If you’ve been on someone’s email list for a while, then you know that you’ve gotten to know that person through their email list.
I personally try to make my emails have a personal section or aspect to them. So I try to, you know, with my audience in a way that, you know, sharing about my, not only what I’m offering them as a business owner, but also like some personal details about my life so that they can get to know me, like me and trust me.
So they’ll want to do business with me. And I try to engage them through questions and asking for feedback and things like that. And then you can also use your email list to build those relationships to where you can connect with them in other places, such as if you do have, say like a Facebook group or a podcast like this one, I tried to use my email list as one of the many branches that they can connect with me on so they can choose how much or how little they stay connected to me, whether they just open my emails or they open my emails and then come and listen to the podcast.or they open my emails, listen to the podcast and engage in my social media or in my Facebook group, for example. So you can see how building your email list can help you to build those relationships with your readers to continue to grow in your relationship with them and be able to get them to want to engage with you in other areas.
And also hopefully one day, buy your books, hear you speak, or hire you to speak, or join your coaching program, for example. So here, let’s just recap, if you will, for with me, for your email list, why you need one, you own it, it is an engaged and warm audience that you build, you can personalize the marketing that you do to your email list, and you can build relationships with your readers that will go on much farther reach than if you’re just connecting with them on social media, for example.
So over the next few weeks, we’ll be talking about the benefits of a targeted email list, how to build your first email list, and tools for building your email list. So I hope that you’ll stick around. Also, if you would like to join us in my Facebook group, the Christian Business Advantage.
