*Are you brainstorming ideas on how to grow your email list? Have you thought about reaching out to partner with other content creators that complement your business? Maybe you have reached out and all you've gotten are chirping crickets.
That's all OK! It can be tricky when branching out to cultivate those meaningful partnerships in the beginning. Luckily, we have Amanda Shuman of Carrylove Designs, breaking down the process of how to grow your email list through content partnerships.
Here's what Amanda teaches:*
The first thing that I want to get into is the benefits of growing your list through content partnerships.
Benefits of partnerships
One of the greatest benefits to growing your list through partnerships is presenting to a fresh and new audience. They haven't heard about you, your offer, or the mission of your business. These are people that are primed and ready to learn about you.
The second great benefit to partnerships is engaging with that audience. Maybe many people on your list haven't heard from you or are not engaged or active anymore. So, this is a way to reactivate or reengage with your list so that they are ready to, when the time comes, eventually buy from you.
Lastly, you get to segment your audience, and so if you do three or four partnerships throughout the year, you can segment your list based on those partnerships and their interests. Then you can provide good value with information that they want to learn about. So then, once again, whenever it comes time to sell, they are engaged and ready to hear what it is that you have.
How to find a partner
How do you find the right partner to partner with? You want to make sure that both of your businesses align with one another, but you're not direct competitors of each other. For example, a copywriter and another copywriter probably wouldn't make a great partnership because you want it to be mutually beneficial for each partner. For another example, this partnership I have with Flodesk. I offer brand, website, and marketing services. Flodesk is an email marketing platform. We have a similar audience, but our offers don't overlap with one another.
Then lastly, you want to make it clear to the audience that they are signing up for an email list. Take the opportunity to set expectations to make for an excellent content partnership. Not only for you and the other partner. It's also for the people who are being added to the list.
I like to pitch about two or three partnerships per month. Whenever you go into pitching a partnership, let them know your idea for the partnership. What it is you offer, why you think that their audience would enjoy it, the value you can provide to their audience, and the value you can provide to their business. So, if you go into that partnership, lay out all the facts and how it will benefit them and their business, they're going to be more likely to say yes and want to partner with you.
Ideas for partnerships
What are some ideas for content partnerships? I'll share a few examples that have worked for me in the past.
Whenever you and a potential partner have a freebie, you can do a freebie swap. You would approach the potential partner, hey, this is my freebie, this is where you download it, and this is why your audience would enjoy it. Then they will email their list telling them, hey, there's this fantastic person, they have this great free content, this is where you can go to download it, and then, of course, anybody who clicks the link and signs up will then join your email list and vice versa. You would do that to your email list and provide their free content in exchange for them signing up for your partner's list. I think that's the easiest way to create a partnership.
The next is doing a JV or joint venture webinar. Whenever you partner up to do a webinar together, you both promote it on your social media channels. Then whoever signs up from your audience or their audience goes onto one spreadsheet or email list that you both share. That way, you're both growing your email list, providing free content, and getting in front of a new audience.
Another great option is doing a joint giveaway. Suppose you partner with three or so other people to go in on a bigger giveaway, say like a MacBook or maybe a free year of Flodesk. In that case, anyone who signs up for that giveaway goes on everybody's email list who's participating. You want to make sure that it goes in line with the guidelines for whatever platforms you're using and that everybody who's signing up for the giveaway understands that they're going to be on multiple email lists. So once again, going back to setting clear expectations makes for great partnerships.
Lastly, there's a summit freebie. Maybe you're hosting a summit, or you are speaking or participating at a summit. If somebody wants to learn more, you can provide a free download that talks more in-depth about what it is that your message was, and then they can go download that freebie and opt into your email list that way.
What to do after a partnership
The last thing that I want to cover is what to do after a partnership is over and you've got all these new subscribers. First and foremost, you want to email them regularly. You did all this work of putting together a partnership and promoting it. The last thing you want to do is not keep them engaged. If you email them regularly, you stay top of mind, you get to know them, and you'll have an active email list. Then, when the time comes to sell something, they are ready to purchase.
Lastly, you want to provide a lot of value. Give, give, give before you sell. I like to keep it about 80% of free content and value and then only sell to my list 20% of the time. That's just my metric, but I think a list is more active and more engaged whenever you're providing a lot of value before you try and sell them something.
I hope you've enjoyed this course on how to grow your email list through content partnerships.
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