Now that you’ve decided to embark on an email campaign, your next task is to build an email marketing list, but where do you get it from?  Many people succomb to the pitfall of ‘buying’ email marketing lists.  Don’t make the same mistake.

You’ve very likely seen the ads that offer you millions of email addresses for a relatively low cost, well if you fall for one of these ads, you will end up labled as a ‘spammer’ almost as quickly as you send the email.It’s nearly certain that most all of your messages will wind up in the junk mail folders of the recipients, and you get no return for your efforts.As much as 70% of purchase email addresses are either bogus or duplicates, and many of the remaining 30% are very likely to not have agreed or opted in to be on a list to get your messages. 

You can also “rent” your leads list from a variety of suppliers. This is potentially very expensive, however, with prices up to 30 cents for more per email lead.What is it that you do? There are seven ideas summarized below that may give you good ideas about how to develop your own well targeted email list.Keep in mind that your campaign will work best if you are able to send the emails to prospects that are pre-qualified and actually are expecting to hear from you. 

The big question, “where do you find these people?”  Your best bet is to start with diverse marketing methods and pay attention to your web traffic. The list below is similar to that suggested by various email marketing companies to enable success for your email marketing list development. 

1.Webpage Forms — provide an opt in form on your website that offerst the opportunity to sign up to your newsletter in return for a free report or entry into a contest. You should take care to position this opt in lead capture form on every page of your website.

2.    Try Direct-Mail Marketing — mail out flyers or postcards to all potential customers.When you design your postcards, be sure to request that people visit your site and sign up to get valued information and relevent messages. 

3.    Consider Telemarketers — consider using a telemarketing service or telemarketing agent to make contact with your potential clients.  Request that your telemarketers require e-mail addresses (it’s a good idea to offer incentives for having clients give out their e-mail address [contest, free trials, etc.]).

4.    Consider Using a Broker — request websites that offer brokerage services, with heavy traffic, to link to your service and offer sign up for information.Many brokers offer this sevice for a typical average of $.10 to $.15 per e-mail message.

5.    Get out There and Hoof It – this is a great opportunity for students who are off during the summer.The students can go door-to-door to offer information or free samples in return for email addresses. 

6.Use an Online Contest — Everyone loves to enter free contests and this is an effective way to get free email addresses.Request email addresses on the contest entry forms as a requirement for entry to the contest.

7.    Get Physical — if you operate a physical store, be sure and request the customers provide you with their e-mail address at checkout.Consider also using surveys and contests via email to entice prospects to provide contact information.

In summary, there are surely a broad variety of ways to develop a list of eager buyers to target with your email campaign. You don’t have to resort to buying email marketing lists.

In addition, you will almost certainly need to acquire the use of email marketing software that is designed to manage the communications with your email marketing prospects.  For more information, see network online reviews for email marketing and list building tips and tricks.

Tags: Email Marketing, email marketing lists, email marketing software, leads