Why content creators need an email list
Contrary to what you might think, email marketing is not just for big e-commerce fashion brands. Anyone who has a business should be collecting email addresses and sending regular emails - especially content creators! Content creators are often sitting on years worth of valuable content that could be easily shared via email.
If you are a blogger, influencer, podcast host, or sharing any type of engaging, or educational content on the internet an email list can be very beneficial to growing your reach and influence. It can also be quite lucrative. While most content creators are focused on social media statistics and blog analytics, I truly believe that creating an email marketing strategy is the smartest thing a creator can do, and here’s why!
7 Reasons Content Creators need an email list
Your blog readers, podcast listeners, and social media followers already know and trust you. If they love what you do and already enjoy your content it’s pretty likely that they wouldn’t mind getting more of it! When someone gives you their email address, it also means that they actually want to hear from you. And psssst, if you have plans for writing a book, creating your own products or hosting a conference or workshop, guess who will be some of the people that might be supportive or interested?
Cultivate stronger relationships - Sending out emails consistently builds trust, authority and loyalty. Emails allow you to get a bit more personal and share more in-depth stories or special projects. Emails can feel like a personal note from you. The more you talk to your audience and share valuable content that they enjoy or need, the greater the connection between you and your audience will be.
You have their attention (sort of) - We’re all consuming so much information and things move so quickly on so many social platforms but in an email, you may have just a little more time to actually grab your audience’s attention. An email is an opportunity to get them to stop for a minute and engage with your content whether that’s reading a blog post, listening to a podcast, registering for a course, or even buying something!
Email has the highest ROI, more than any other platform, there is no algorithm to fight with and you own the list. As long as you are giving your list what they signed up for and they enjoy or benefit from what you are sending them, the return can be very high in traffic to your website, latest podcast, youtube video or other landing pages that you want them to visit. Email is just another extension of your brand, and maybe you aren’t selling anything yet, but when you do, you’ll have a community of people that are already opening and enjoying your emails, which can lead to them being clients or customers.
Email helps you to repurpose your content. There are many times when you write a great piece of evergreen content but then after a few months, it gets buried in a sea of other content. With email, you can highlight it again or include it in an email where it fits in with other related stories or content. You can also create guides, package content that is seasonal or create a special series with all content that fits into a certain category or theme.
Affiliate Sales, Partnerships, and Products oh my! One of the best ways to start earning income as a publisher or creator is with affiliate sales and partnerships. Affiliate sales from retail brands or any company whereby promoting their product you earn a commission. There are also creative ways to work with brands on sponsored content, and if you have an email list that can be an attractive value add to them! Newsletters can also sell ad spots, or be sponsored by brands as well. Many bloggers and influencers have also started shops, selling products, including their own products.
Selling your Business - What if you created an online community and publishing machine that you want to eventually sell!? Yes, you can sell an online business, and one sure-fire way to make it more valuable is a substantial email list. The more pieces of your business that you actually own makes it more attractive and valuable.
Email marketing might seem like a lot of work or too complicated, but it’s really not. It’s just creatively marketing your content in a more highly targeted way. I admit, it is a longer game, but if you are serious about growing your content into other types of products, educational tools or services, you’ll be so glad you started collecting emails and engaging with people through email right now!