How I Grew My Email List To 30,000 Subscribers

When you think of all the fun, exciting things you can do to grow your business, ‘email marketing’ may not be at the top of your list. Creating engaging TikTok videos and Instagram content is more enticing and may seem like it’s more important than writing a weekly newsletter. 

But, allow me a few minutes of your time today to explain why email marketing and list building should actually be at the top of your business growth priority list. Personally, I’ve grown my small company into a 7-figure empire thanks to my list. 

Not to sound dramatic, but the truth is that having an engaged targeted audience who opens, reads, and buys from my weekly newsletter has changed the trajectory of my business and my life. 

Because of my list, I no longer have to wonder what my audience wants, what type of products to create next, or worry about not hitting my sales goals. Do you want this for your business, too?

In this article, we will dig into why your business needs to implement email marketing as a growth tool and I will also share 10 simple lead magnet ideas to help you start and grow your list today. 

It’s never too early to start the email list for your business.

Always an Entrepreneur

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a business owner in some form. In 3rd grade, I pushed my bike up and down the beach selling cans of pop to sunbathers in the summer. In 4th grade, I bought out the last 40 items at the school bake sale and resold them on the playground for 10x the price. In high school, I sold vintage items out of my locker, and in college, I paid my tuition with funds from a drop shipping side hustle. 

After graduation, I worked in corporate marketing by night and waitressing by day while also jumping from venture to venture, learning along the way and figuring out what worked. 

But the thing that stuck, and what ultimately led to long-term success, was when I started a blog and email list. Blogging paired with email marketing combines the creativity of writing with strategic thinking, marketing, and sales skills. It is the ultimate marketing tool and it can be used to support and sell products for any type of business. 

The impact this has had on my own business and life has been incredible. I went from being an employee working jobs I hated, to working for myself, from the comfort of home doing something I love. Thanks to email marketing, I earn more in one month working for myself than I used to earn in a full year as an employee. 

But there are more reasons why email marketing pays, beyond the money...

Why Email Marketing?

You don’t own your social media followers. Without their email addresses, 10,000 followers is just a vanity metric that isn’t serving your revenue for the long term. 

Sure, some of your followers may purchase your offers. But MOST of your followers don’t even see what you post on social media. 

Your email list is the only real tangible thing you own when it comes to your audience. Facebook or Instagram could shut you down at any moment and those followers would be lost forever. 

But when you have an email list of subscribers you really do have access to their homes, via their inbox. And you can contact them at any time.

List Size Doesn’t Matter. But This Does...

Finding success with email marketing has little to do with how many people you have on your list. However, it has everything to do with having the right people.

As in, you only want people subscribed who would be an ideal fit for your paid products. This is why it’s so important to be very clear on your messaging so that you attract the right kind of subscribers. 

Here’s how to attract the right people onto your list:

• Speak to one person. The more you speak to this person, the more that type of person is able to find you and connect with you (because they feel you are speaking to them, which you are!)

• Create content for one person. The more content you create for that person, the more that type of person is likely to find you.

• Your lead magnets are designed to attract one person.

• Everything you do and create is to provide valuable resources for that one person!

You probably sense a trend here. Decide on one specific type of person who you sell to (also known as an “avatar” or “target audience”) and everything you do, create, and say is for this one person.

Then, when you build a product or promote a product that you know your avatar will love, you already have a whole audience of people who are the perfect fit.

Don’t try to speak to everyone. Be very specific and niche-down with your messaging and offers, and you will grow a community of people who are going to buy from you. 

Email Marketing = Sales

Have you heard the saying “email marketing is dead?” Well, that is only half true. When done right, email marketing is alive and thriving and the lifeblood of most companies. The whole truth is that BAD email marketing is dead. 

You know the type. Spammy or overly-salesy content, irrelevant links, unengaging, tone-deft marketing emails. Those tactics are dead and buried. 

But GOOD email marketing is thriving. When you do it right, your readers come to feel personally connected to you, trust you and actually look forward to your sales emails. Good email marketing has a high conversion rate.

The secret to a good marketing email is to tell an engaging story that brings the reader in, personally connects them with you, illustrates a pain point, and then sells the solution via a product that makes sense for your niche audience’s needs. That, my friend, is a recipe for riches. 

But in order to get to the point where your ideal customer is opening and buying from your emails you first need to find them and get them to subscribe to your list. And to do that, you need a great lead magnet. 
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How I Grew My List To 30k Subscribers

Here’s a fact: even product-based business owners can (and should!) offer digital product lead magnets. 

I’ve personally used a number of different lead magnets to grow various businesses, including digital, physical, and service-based companies. Spanning the different companies I have built, grown, and sold over the years, my subscriber counts are in the 7-figures. 

For my personal brand, HerPaperRoute.com, I grew its list from 0 to 30,000 in less than 2 years, simply by giving away awesome lead magnets that strategically lead into even more awesome paid products. An example of one of my lead magnets is I offer access to my online resource library which is a toolkit for entrepreneurs packed with training and templates to help them monetize and grow their website. I give this away for free. 

Offering high-value, highly-targeted lead magnets and giving them away for free has allowed me to grow a community of awesome people whose interests inspire the products I create. 

And you can do this with your business too. 

The trick is to make your lead magnet super-specific to your niche and customer. Basically, whatever your free lead magnet is about must be directly related to your paid products and offers. 

Your lead magnet is the intro-product that attracts your ideal customer, solves one small pain point they have, and introduces them into your product suite where you sell them bigger solutions. Let’s explore some great lead magnet ideas!

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