Copyright Kris Mills 2000.

Email marketing is an increasingly powerful and ever so affordable way to turn prospects into clients.

To build a list you can either gather your own names or you can rent a list.  Having said that, I'd highly recommend building your own because the email list rental industry is still in its infancy, and with that you will run into one of two hurdles. 

You'll either purchase a list of "unsolicited" names and end up spamming your email list which can get you banned by your ISP, or you could rent a reputable "opt-in" list but you'll find that the costs for doing this are even more expensive than hiring a snail mail list.

Here are some ways to build your own email list.

1. On your website, offer a FREE subscription to a newsletter or offer a FREE report to capture the email addresses of site visitors.

2. Make a referral offer to all new subscribers inviting them to "refer a friend" in return for a referral incentive.  It might be a special report or a discount offer or something of that nature.

3. At Trade Shows capture business cards and/or have enquiry cards for people to fill out their details including their email address.

4. Website postcards - Have a range of website postcards printed and mail them out to clients and/or mailbox drop them.  This advertises the benefits of visiting your website and actively asks them to visit and subscribe to your free newsletter or free membership etc.

5. Every time one of your sales people meets a new prospect and gets their business card, record their email details in your email database.

6. Run classified ads in appropriate sections of the newspaper asking people to visit your website to register for a free report on a topic that is relevant to the column where you placed the ad.  eg. if you're an antique dealer, run an ad promoting a free report on "10 things to consider when purchasing antiques".

7. In your "hard copy" newsletter, encourage readers to visit your website and register for a membership that offers them extra privileges.

8. For retailers , every time someone purchases ask them for their email address so you can communicate with them about new ranges and special events.

9. Link up with a competito r who doesn't directly sell the same type of product you do.  eg. if you are a business planning consultant you could team up with a market research company who has the same type of clientele but doesn't do business plans. Advertise jointly to promote a joint email newsletter and therefore split the advertising costs.

10. Advertise in relevant sections of magazines and newspapers promoting all the benefits of visiting your website.