Today's Mission: Start Planning Your Opt-In Offers
We've talked a little bit about building your mailing list here and there, but today we're going to go deeper with it.
Why?
Because from a marketing perspective, an email list is a great asset for your business. So what exactly is building a mailing list and why do you even need one?
Building an email list refers to collecting email addresses that you can send emails to. Email lists are a powerful marketing tool, and regular email campaigns can bring in more revenue.
Which is why a strong email list is considered an asset. The more people on your mailing list, the more people you can market to. Which means the more potential revenue you can generate.
List-Building Regulations
One of the most important aspects of building a list is privacy. You must always have explicit permission to email everyone on your list.
Which means that email recipients must opt-in to your email list. It also means it's important that you never disrespect your recipients.
Under no circumstances should you ever pass along your email list to anyone unless you've made this intention clear in your opt-in. You should also never spam your customers or annoy them with low-quality, click-bait content.
For most of us, this makes sense; we respect our customers anyway, so we're careful with their time. But it's also important to note that it's the law.
To get more information on to privacy in relation to e-marketing in Canada, you can see Guidance for Businesses Doing e-Marketing. These regulations are set out by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner Canada, and it's a good idea to have at least a basic knowledge of the rules.
In the United States, you can take a look at the Can-Spam Act; A Compliance Guide for Business.
But don't let the regulations intimidate you.
One of the basic tenets of a healthy relationship with your patients/customers is respect. For most businesses, carrying that respect over into their online marketing campaigns is natural.
Still, if you have any doubts, check the links above and be aware of any feedback you get from patients on your email policies.
How to Get Started
As mentioned, opt-in is a key part of building a mailing list. So how can you get patients or potential customers to opt-in to your list?
It helps to offer a piece of valuable content.
People can then give you their email address and permission to send them marketing emails in future in order to receive the content.
On Day 11, we used the example of offering a free diabetes tracker to your patients who want to better manage their diabetes. By setting up the tracker to require an email address before download, your patients who want that tracker will be added to your list.
You can develop opt-in offers for lots of different segments of your patient base. For patients suffering from fibromyalgia, you can offer a free eBook on managing the condition.
Patients dealing with athlete's foot may benefit from a checklist detailing how to treat the condition, as well as how to avoid it in future. In the checklist you can cover different remedies available in the pharmacy.
By offering this helpful content that solves a genuine problem, you'll get patients opting in to get your report. And, you'll get them visiting the pharmacy to pick up your recommended products.
The key is to listen to your patients, know what they need and what will add value to their lives. Then create content that will solve their problems while positioning yourself as a trusted resource.
You can start generating content for this purpose by going over all the work you've done on your buyer personas up to this point. In them, you should have lots of great information on what your audience needs.
And of course talking to patients and actively listening to their needs is also so important.
Building great opt-in pieces needn't be a long, complicated process. You can build great pieces off of the content ideas you've already built into your content plan.
Your mission for today is to choose 3 of your buyer profiles and brainstorm some opt-in content ideas. Talk to your staff, look over your current content plan and keep your buyer profiles in mind as you do this.
Once you have 3 pieces in mind, one for each profile, add them to your content plan. Decide on a realistic schedule for completing them. Delegate the tasks you need to and set out an action plan for each piece.
Hopefully you've got lots of great ideas in your content marketing plan by now, and you're getting used to the idea of scheduling your marketing tasks. Remember to keep things fun and interesting by setting realistic deadlines and asking your staff to participate.
Enjoy, and we'll be back tomorrow (Day 22) to talk about building a content marketing funnel!
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