Even if you already have an effective online listbuilding strategy, you’re still missing out on a lot of quality leads if you don’t expand your strategies offline. There are a lot of quality leads that you can get offline, primarily because when people give out their contact details in the real world, they’re more likely keen on actually receiving your newsletters. This is in contrast to online opt-ins, where people usually have a “spam catcher” email account for random sign-ups.
So if you want so supplement your online listbuilding strategy with things that are not part of the digital world, here are a few tactics that you can employ:
Use Print Materials to Promote Your Newsletter
You can go about this two ways – you can either get your ad printed on an established publication such as a magazine or a newspaper, or you can print out flyers and posters and distribute them yourself. The former is significantly more expensive than the latter but they do have a wider reach, so if you want to go that route you should first consider if the ROI is going to be worth it. For the latter, it shouldn’t cost too much to get things printed at Kinko’s or another print shop.
Regardless of which way you go, there are a few things you need to consider when promoting your newsletter through printed materials:
1. First, you need to have an opt-in page developed for the print ads. Remember that these people are coming in blind instead of being driven to your site via a contextual ad or link, so you need to assume that you have to explain why they are at the page and why they should opt in.
2. Next, make it worth their while. It takes a lot more effort to get from the printed material to the actual sign up form than it is with the traditional online links and ads, so you have to make sure that you communicate the value and benefits of signing up. You have to really work to convince them to check out your newsletter. The disadvantage to this is, yes, you’re going to pull out all the stops.
However, the upside more than makes up, as it means the quality of leads that you get are significantly higher. With an offline promotion, you won’t get sign ups from people who just accidentally clicked a link or were visiting your page out of boredom. The leads you get are people who are really interested. This means you’re more likely to see higher conversion rates with this kind of list.
3. Try to make sign ups as easy as possible for the users. As mentioned in the previous item, it takes more effort to go from a printed promo to your actual opt in page so you have to make it as easy as possible for the prospective leads. Make the URL easy to see, remember, and type. Ideally, you should have a QR Code as well so that they can simply scan it on their mobile instead of typing the URL.
Collect Emails at Trade Shows
This is a bit tricky. A lot of email marketers do this by doing contests or giveaways, under which people will drop their business cards or contact infos on the booth in order to qualify. If you’re going to go this route, make sure you’re upfront about what you’re going to do with their email addresses. They have to be aware that they’ll be part of your newsletter mailing list.
Attend Events and Exchange Business Cards with People
This can be really effective if you attend events that are relevant to your newsletter’s niche. The key part in this is that you have to train how to pitch your newsletter to a person in the shortest amount of time. You don’t want to bore people by hounding them and telling them all about your mailing list. You have to learn how to sneak it into conversations and get their interest without boring them with details.
Incorporate Your Newsletter Into Your Direct Mail Campaigns
This applies to companies that still use direct mail. It may be anachronistic, but a lot of businesses still manage to get great results from direct mail campaigns. You can put the URL of your opt-in page at the footer of the letter and state the benefits on going full digital.
There are many other offline ways to boost your e-newsletter subscribers, all they take is a little bit of creativity. An offline campaign will never replace an online one, and will not be anywhere near as effective, but they can be a great boost and help you maximize your returns
