A lot of you are new to marketing online, and there is a common belief that I want to crush today. It’s probably holding you back from getting the results you deserve. Many of you believe you need a big email list in order to make a big profit. This ain’t true.
Yaro wrote a post about how having a small email list is all you really need. I dig it. It’s the first straight forward post I’m aware of…from an A-lister…speaking directly to the fact that small, targeted lists can be highly profitable.
Everyday, we see well-known marketers with tons of traffic and tons of subscribers. It’s natural to compare ourselves to them. We read their sites…just like everyone does. You know, guys like Brian Clark and John Chow and Darren Rowse and Yaro Starak and all these people. I also have several more linked up on my resources page. They follow a familiar business model, and it’s a model that works. You SHOULD read this content, and you SHOULD learn from them. They have a lot to offer, but don’t forget that not everything they do may translate to your business.
This is one of the reasons I feel compelled to write this blog. There’s just not a ton of bloggers out there talking DIRECTLY to the challenges and needs of a small business owner with a small list. Small as in…less than 5000 people. There are a few very important things you may not realize:
- Small is NOT a problem. It’s just a different business model.
- Many, many marketers are out there as you read this, pulling in a very decent living from a very small list. It’s doable, and importantly…it’s doable by YOU.
- Bigger ain’t always better. Should you grow your business? Always. But growth doesn’t always mean bigger. Sometimes it’s way more profitable to focus on quality over quantity.
- When you have an email list with 100,000 people on it, you can get away with a lot. I don’t mean this rudely or dismissively. It’s takes a serious amount of awesomeness to build a huge list like that, but let’s be honest…if you have a list that size, you can send out just about anything, and you’re gonna get some orders. When you have a small list, you have to be awesome. There’s a much smaller margin for error, because you need to make every email count.
- I was making a full time income on this business when my list crossed 500. Proof that a small list is all you need.
You don’t need a huge list. You need a great one. This isn’t a shortcut, but it’s an important point. Just one subscriber who is totally down with what you’re doing is worth more than 1000 who aren’t. Quality, not quantity, is the key.
Are you running a small business in a small market, like most readers of this blog? If so, then building a huge list isn’t in the cards. Don’t sweat it. It doesn’t matter. Instead, build an awesome, small list. Consider the benefits:
- A small list allows you to be much more engaged with your readers one-on-one.
- A small list allows you to listen more attentively.
- A small list allows you to produce offers that are much more targeted and valuable to your readers.
- A small list, when managed properly can be just as profitable as a big list.
I’ll talk more about the mechanics of marketing to a small email list in future posts. For today, I just wanted to encourage you; size doesn’t matter 🙂
If you want to attack this issue directly in your business, hit me up for some small business consulting. In a very short time, we can knock weeks or months off the learning curve for you. Also, if you have any direct questions about email marketing, fire me an email or hit me up on Twitter. Let’s talk.