Make Love With Your List

If you’re reading this it’s because you want to be uplifted. You want to get a nugget or two about how to grow your business better, faster and easier. And if I can potentially do that for you and it’s fulfilling for me, why wouldn’t I? It's especially rewarding for me if you become my ideal customer or client down the road.

And this is the reason I’m a big fan of having an email or address list, blog, YouTube channel or some other way of staying in touch with the people that dig what you have to say, teach, or show them. Having a ‘list’ (people who have said they want to receive information from you), is a fantastic way to keep past, current and future customers happy.

You create a mutual love affair when you are authentic and consistent in your connection with those that want to hear and see what you have to share.

Shy? Doesn’t matter. Not into online marketing? Doesn’t matter. Your industry doesn’t do stuff like this? Doesn’t matter. I don’t think there is any business that wouldn’t benefit from staying in touch with their peeps.

The best part of keeping the connection alive is you get to do it in a way that feels fun and inspiring to you. If you stay true to your style and brand, your ideal customers will dig it.

There are only a few guidelines I suggest. Yes, I know you may have heard specific things to do from other ‘experts’ in the industry. But if you do it their way and it doesn’t feel totally juicy for you, then you won’t stick to it and people won’t love you nor buy from you.

Lay it all on the line from the get go. Show them what you have in mind from the start. If you like to share lengthy lessons, do it. If you’ve got a firecracker personality, let ‘er rip and don’t hold back. You want your peeps to know what they can count on.

Be consistent. If they like you, they want to hear from you. Give them what they want. Doesn’t matter if it’s every week, or once a month, but get a system to be consistent. You can still create the communication when inspiration hits, and save it for the first week of the month, each month. Will your business blow up if you don’t stay on schedule? No. But systems and structure give YOU freedom.

See it as an experiment. Until you get the timing, format and conversion to sales dialed in the way you love, keep trying different things. Nobody gave me a formula. My ezine has been going out since 1999. It’s changed a lot since those early years. I really like the looks, content and format now. But a year from now it might be different based on something new I learn and want to try out.

Don’t be attached to the results. Just because you’ve been giving people value and your time through what you send out, doesn’t mean they’ll buy when you promote your latest and greatest service or product. But don’t give up! There are many factors that impact conversion to a sale (that’s a whole other article!). Stay true to you heart, be clear on the benefits and make sure you’re making it easy for customers to say YES.

If you like feedback, ask. If you want to know how people are liking/not liking what you’re giving them, tell them to let you know. Often people send me emails, comment on my blog or make a comment on Facebook letting me know the impact my article has made on them. But sometimes I don’t hear a peep. Does that mean my article sucked? I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. But if you’re the type of person who likes to know, tell them to write you, leave a comment on your blog or your preferred social media channel.

Promote your ‘thang’ more than once. If you want sales through your list, give more than one shout out. People are busy, overwhelmed, out of town, or not in the mood. But they might pay attention a few days from now. If what you have is of value, why wouldn’t you do whatever it took to make your market aware of your amazing solution to their problem?

I think most businesses have to lighten up about connecting with their fan base (you may even cringe at that term). Keep it real and keep it fun. Be in love with the process of flirting, dating and being in partnership with your list. Whether you have two or ninety thousand names on it, it makes an adventuresome love affair that benefits all parties.

People who feel love in their hearts are highly attractive.