In internet marketing, you're often told to build a list.
Which is usually a good idea as it means you can contact potentially interested people without relying on them finding you again.
But I often talk to people who've built a list and are then wondering what to do with it.
Be yourself (or the person you're pretending to be!) This is maybe the most over-looked aspect of list building.
So often, people go into corporate mode or speak in the third person or generally stand back from their list.
Email is a personal medium.
So far as the person receiving the email is concerned, they could be the only person you've written to.
The closer you can get to that, the better your results will be.
Write your emails in your own voice rather than some imaginary persona.
Of course, if you've adopted an alternate character for your particular list then you'll have to step into that character in much the same way as an actor does.
Email regularly For most of my lists, I send an email near enough daily.
Some people think that's too often and if they are a subscriber they usually unsubscribe at that stage.
You can't please all of the people all of the time so unsubscribes are part of the business.
Of course, you need to have something to say to your list.
You can't send the email equivalent of "Hi, how are you today" very often and expect to keep subscribers interested! Decide how often to pitch There's no magic formula for this.
Some email lists I'm on are near enough total pitch.
But for some reason I stay on them - I'm not sure if I could tell you exactly why.
Others seem to never pitch, even though they do.
It's just the way the words are weaved into what they send and the product or whatever they're selling is just weaved in as a "by the way".
Others put whatever it is they're selling as a P.
S.
or in the article or blog post they're pointing to.
You need to decide in your own mind the model you're going to follow.
There's no one-size-fits-all answer and you'll find that over time you'll start attracting people to your list who like your chosen style.
Be congruent That means making sure everything "fits" rather than jars at unexpected points.
It comes back to being yourself or being a good actor.
If you suddenly swap personas - which can be a problem if you're using the "swipes" that get offered to promote products - the people who are on your list and paying attention to what you write will notice the disconnect.
Being congruent also applies to the whole sign-up process.
If you use a video on your squeeze page, you'll attract people who like to receive their information by video.
If you use a free report such as a PDF then you'll attract people who prefer to get their content that way.
You can swap between these delivery methods but it's often better to keep things consistent.
Which means that if your list likes videos you may be best sending them short emails that lead on to a video.
Experiment Every now and then, try something slightly different.
I'll sometimes do this - often with an admission in the email that I don't normally do it.
Because a lot of the time, you don't know until you try.
That applies to your email list as much as anything else in life.
Of course, if you get it drastically wrong then you run the risk of losing lots of subscribers.
But you could polarise them and that's often no bad thing.
Think about the "shock jocks" like Howard Stern where a large proportion of their audience tunes in to be able to mutter and growl about how much they hate them - but not enough to stop them listening!