How do I Expand My Newsletter’s Reach?

You probably already know that your subscriber list is your most important commodity if you want your newsletter to succeed. If beautiful marketing content is created and nobody reads it, does it make a sound? The prevailing wisdom is that it doesn’t. And the prevailing wisdom is correct.

Building your list should be a top priority for you as a creator. There are countless tips, hints, and pieces of advice out there for you to consume to get your list growing–but let’s distill those into a selection of the ten best ways to grow your email list.

Here we’ll look at some key questions that every creator has, and try to work out some answers. This is what we’ll cover:

• What is the best way to grow my email list?

• How do I grow my email list in 2023?

• What is email acquisition strategy?

• How do I grow my business email list?

Let’s go!

What Is the Best Way To Grow My Email List?

1. Be Good

Yep, it’s as simple as it sounds. If your content is terrible then the size of your email list will be pitiful. And that’s how it should be. The most important thing you can do is be great at what you do; to create magical content that will have your readers dying to subscribe to your list. Easy, right?

You can try everything else - you can A/B test; you can make contacts on social media; you can contact every professional you’ve ever had lunch with. There's a lot you can try, but If your content sucks, you won’t get a purchase from anyone.

Luckily for you, you’re great. You rule. Your content is of the first order. That’s a relief, so let’s look at what else you can do to grow your list.

2. Social Media

Twitter is a weird place. Period. But people use it, so use it. The same goes for Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn (particularly for LinkedIn, when thinking about weird places and weird people).

The fact is that you have a peer group. Your newsletter needs to appeal to your peer group, so you need to interact with that group. How better to generate interest in your newsletter than to reach out to the people who might need the help you’re offering, by sharing your great content and enticing them into your universe?

To do this you need a great social media game. DM the people you think are useful. Announce every new post and let your quality do your work for you.

3. Give People Stuff

If you’ve ever participated in society, you’ll know that most people like something for nothing (and who can blame them?!)

Write an ebook, a whitepaper, and a guide to how to meet the ideal man via the medium of horoscope deconstruction. Anything. People will sign up to your list at the prospect of something for nothing - but the ‘nothing’ isn’t anything for you. It’s gold.

4. Get Them to Share the Hell out of Everything!

You’re creating great, great work for your audience, right? Well, if it’s useful for them, it’s going to be useful for their friends and colleagues. This is an in for you. This could make a difference for you.

If you can make the content of your newsletter easily shareable for them, they’re going to extend the hand of help to the people they care about, because you’re offering value - social media, email, word of mouth... Let them spread your word!

5. Calls to Action (CTAs)

You’ve written a compelling newsletter about you, your project, and your vision. The money ought now to come rolling in. Your subscribers think you’re great, and a good chunk of them want to give you money (because you’re great). So how do they do that exactly?

Well, if you haven’t told them, they won’t know. Get a firm grip on their ambition and lead them to it. Call them to action!

It’s easy to know that you ought to give up smoking, but if you want to know how you’re going to do it, you’re going to need to know how to do it. This is where you put your CTA front and center. Results will follow.

6. The World Still Exists

You’re an email marketer. Everything that works in modern business may happen online. Most of it does, you’re right. But not all of it.

Getting yourself to a conference/event/summit might not be a bad idea. All you need to grow your list is to attend a live event and simply, y’know, talk to people. People still like talking to people, and if all that’s separating you from success is an exchange of business cards, then make sure you get buy-in from the people you meet in real life.

7. Advertise

By now you’re reaching a significant audience. You’re ensconced in your niche, you’re the master of your domain. How much better could you be doing?

You could still be doing much, much more if you want to monetize this great output.

Advertising could be the solution for you. There is an email marketing platform out there that offers you the opportunity to create newsletters of outstanding beauty, as well as connect you with the corporate coin. You just need to get started.

8. Get the Right Partner

To continue on the theme, you’re not going to get the best results from your email marketing if you’re working from a Yahoo! address.

If you work in e-commerce, if you work in ladies’ outfitting, if you work in the male grooming industry, there’s an email marketing platform out there for you. But it’s not Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo!

Substack is an option if you’ve been doing well for a while, and people know and trust you already. Mailchimp works well for a lot of big corporations with big budgets. In addition, there’s beehiiv, which does what both of the others do, at a fraction of the cost.

9. Social Proof

We all know that what you do is wonderful. You know, your friends know, your clients know. Who else knows?

We do. Your friends do. Your clients do. Nobody else does. Here’s a thought–Tell your friends and clients to share their experiences of what you do! If you need email addresses (and you do), there is no better way than showing the world the real-life people you’ve helped. Surely you can help them, too?

10. Message Testing and Analytics

There are a million ways out there for you to dice and splice your email marketing solutions. You can write individually to each prospect; you can send a blanket offer to your entire list and ask them to sign up; hell, you can even visit them all at home.

But you need to work smart. How about a package that offers you all the analytics you need, incorporates every testing metric available, and comes right at you at less than $100 per month - sounds pretty great, right?

Get Started With Your Email Acquisition Strategy at beehiiv

Now that you have our top ten tips on growing your email list, it’s time to put your knowledge to use. beehiiv makes growing your list a breeze with features you won’t find elsewhere. You can use the above tips no matter which ESP you use - but they’ll be exponentially more effective combined with beehiiv’s referral program and other features!

See how beehiiv can get you where you need to be right now.