In 2005, I attended Andrea Lee's List Building workshop and during the workshop set myself a goal to get 1000+ subscribers to my newsletter in 30 days.
In line with Andrea's strategy, I developed a free high-value information product for my target market. This took quite a lot of effort but I agree with Andrea that it is essential to have a high quality, as well as a high-value, free information product. My free product was a mini-course: Attract More Clients Naturally: 10 Simple Strategies That Work Even If You Hate Selling!
The next step was to get people to sign up for my mini-course, and along with it, came a complimentary subscription to my newsletter.
I went full steam ahead and in 30 days I had 1055 new subscribers for my mini-course and newsletter. Talk about exciting times!
I would like to share with you some strategies that if you use, I know will get you 1000+ subscribers in 30 days. It sure worked for me!
Write an article aimed at your target market for a high profile newsletter and give the publishers exclusivity for a period of time. I wrote an article called "Don't Sell Coaching: Nobody Buys It!" which was published by CoachVille. This generated a lot of website traffic and newsletter subscribers.
Write articles and distribute them on the web, particularly to sites your target market visits. I have found this to be more of a long-term strategy but it's definitely generating a steady trickle of subscribers.
Approach high profile people you respect who also serve your target market. Ask them to mention your free information product in their newsletter. I simply made my list of people I wanted to approach and then emailed them asking if they would mention my mini-course in their newsletter. The vast majority said no and that was fine. What was great though was that three said yes and did so and subscribers flowed from that.
Join and actively participate in forums where your target market hangs out. Be generous with helping others in the forum.
Mention your free information product in your email signature. This is such a simple and obvious strategy, and I know it works.
When people sign up for your free information product, immediately ask them if they would like to refer some friends, and in exchange for these referrals, offer them another free information product. Mark Silver was kind enough to offer me a report called "Your Right Price" and those who give me referrals receive Mark's report.
Offer your information product as a freebie to someone else who serves your target market. They may be launching a product or looking for a bonus for referrals. I only really thought of this strategy when Mark Silver started sending me emails thanking me for the subscribers he was getting! Thank you, Mark.
Write testimonials for others who serve your target. Just think about how many services and/or products you've received over the past 12 months and how many testimonials you can give. As a matter of principle though, I only give testimonials if I really do believe in the product or service. Integrity is very important to me.
Give free teleclasses and mention your free information product at the halfway point, at the end, and in the after-class notes. It's a good idea to mention your free information product in the class description too. I gave 12 free classes in 4 weeks and had a lot of subscribers as a result.
Advertising is another avenue but it's expensive. I placed some advertisements in newsletters directed at my target market but I found the results disappointing so I will not be doing that again. Ironically, out of all the strategies I used this was the most expensive and the least effective.
More Clients is the Bottom Line
There is no one single strategy for getting subscribers. There is no "silver bullet." What does work though is using multiple strategies and consistently applying them over a period of time...just like all marketing.
