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Challenging list building question

by flyingSquirrel
8 replies
Edit: I apologize for the wall of text below. I realize now, a few hours later, that in typing this out, I got closer to the answers I need. I did some further research and realized I just need to do a bunch of paid ads and also be super social and try to point people toward the opt-in form. There may be other solutions that I am not aware of, and I am sure a lot of members have some fantastic input and tips, but I don't expect people to read the wall of text (now that I look at it again).

Here's where I'm at right now:
  • I am a nature photographer (amateur on the side of my full time regular job)
  • I do not have a blog (please see reasons why, later in this post)
  • The only content that I post or share is: My photographs across a number of photography social media platforms (Flickr, 500px, etc), and I just started Facebook, Twitter, (zero followers on those two). Along with those photos I sometimes post short photography tips, what I did to get the shot, quotes, etc. And something in the past I used to do, but don't have time anymore, is to post a lot of replies and help on photography forums to assist others that had questions or wanted to improve in the areas I have knowledge in.
  • The only audience I have currently are perhaps 300 people that "follow" me on the photography sharing sites like Flickr and 500px
  • I do not have an email list yet (but recently signed up for aweber because Pat Flynn uses it and he's awesome IMO)

Here's what my goal is:
  • I want to create an email list and grow it as large as possible, with quality, relevant subscribers that are interested in my photography, and that would potentially purchase training products from me
  • But I want to grow the email list without starting any kind of blog or channel that would require me to send out free content on a regular basis.

Reasons why I don't have a blog and do not want to start one:
  • I don't have enough time to blog in addition to everything else I am doing
  • I want to focus all of my time and energy on creating the best paid products that I possibly can. I want them to be professional and knock the socks off of my future customers. I want to over-deliver in that area.
  • I am just keeping it real here. I really have no desire to publish a bunch of free content publicly, which millions of other people are doing anyway in the arena of photography blogging. It doesn't get me fired up. What gets me fired up is making amazing paid products that use my full potential, creativity, and knowledge, to get real results (massively improved photography) for any customers that are the right fit for what I am offering (I have a description of the target audience).

All of that said, I am willing (and understand it is necessary) to create valuable opt-in content, helpful resources, free info, cheat sheets, etc as a "trade" for a potential subscriber's email address. I was thinking I would also send out surveys about what challenges they may be facing in their photography. And maybe do quick 'field reports' of trips I go on, what I learned, and so forth

The main goal of all of this is to build a list of potential customers that I can then do a premium product launch for (I have a launch plan outline from some experts in that area)

I am going to design and put up a personal website for my photography and "brand." On there I can put a landing page where I can send people to sign up for the newsletter.

What are the best methods that I could use to build an email list of relevant subscribers, but without the blogging / youtube / etc, technique? One that comes to mind is paid ads. That's all I can think of. Would appreciate your expert advice and ideas for this challenging question.
#building #challenging #list #question
  • Profile picture of the author MatthewBass
    You are headed in the right direction, but the first thing you should do before worrying about building your email list is to define your target market (aka customer avatar, niche market, etc.)

    Who exactly will you be serving? How old are they? Majority male or female? What kind of people are into nature photography? Are they hikers? Fisherman? If you can dig into the profiles of the people who currently follow you it will uncover a goldmine of information on your current target market.

    For example, your target market isn't just going to be 'people who like nature pictures'. It's going to be something like people who like nature pictures, who go camping and hiking who are male ages 25-47 who are married with children, who dabble in photography, etc.

    Or, another example might be people who want to learn how to take great nature photos, who need to spend more time outdoors doing the things they love instead of being cramped up in their office cubicles all day, who are female recent college graduates, ages 22-30, just really getting started in their adult lives, etc.

    In both of those examples, you'll also need to determine what do those people dream of? What is their biggest problem right now? What is their biggest fear right now? What do they absolutely despise?

    Everything that you do will hinge on understanding these people. Every piece of marketing/advertising content that you produce should speak directly to your market. Otherwise, you'll just waste your time and money.

    I know that you mentioned that you don't have a lot of time to spend on a website/blog, but you need to have something that is yours. Even if it's just a short 5 page website. Home page, a few tips and tricks articles and an 'about' page (the most important page because that describes who you are and what you do).

    You could search for other sites in your niche (once you really determine who/what that is) and reach out to them to see if they have an email list. Build an awesome lead magnet and see if they will mail your offer to their list. Another option would be to run Facebook ads to the same lead magnet. There are other methods, but those two will probably get you the most bang for your buck just starting out.

    Hope that helps!
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    • Profile picture of the author flyingSquirrel
      Originally Posted by MatthewBass View Post

      You are headed in the right direction, but the first thing you should do before worrying about building your email list is to define your target market (aka customer avatar, niche market, etc.)

      Who exactly will you be serving? How old are they? Majority male or female? What kind of people are into nature photography? Are they hikers? Fisherman? If you can dig into the profiles of the people who currently follow you it will uncover a goldmine of information on your current target market.

      For example, your target market isn't just going to be 'people who like nature pictures'. It's going to be something like people who like nature pictures, who go camping and hiking who are male ages 25-47 who are married with children, who dabble in photography, etc.

      Or, another example might be people who want to learn how to take great nature photos, who need to spend more time outdoors doing the things they love instead of being cramped up in their office cubicles all day, who are female recent college graduates, ages 22-30, just really getting started in their adult lives, etc.
      Matthew, thank you very much for taking the time to help a beginner out. You are the only person that responded to my question, and I posted this on several other forums. I really appreciate that.

      I have an idea of who my target market is and what they want, however it is not even remotely close to as precise as you are suggesting. I totally agree that it would be vital to have this information. I will have to do some research - I think my only option would be to try to run a survey on my followers, which is easier said than done since they are only following me on flickr, they are not on an email list or anything.

      Originally Posted by MatthewBass View Post

      In both of those examples, you'll also need to determine what do those people dream of? What is their biggest problem right now? What is their biggest fear right now? What do they absolutely despise?
      I was going to probe into some of those items via one or more surveys...which I still have to figre out how to implement given that I do not have an email list yet.

      Originally Posted by MatthewBass View Post

      Everything that you do will hinge on understanding these people. Every piece of marketing/advertising content that you produce should speak directly to your market. Otherwise, you'll just waste your time and money.
      That is powerful advice, and I definitely will remember it and use it.

      Originally Posted by MatthewBass View Post

      I know that you mentioned that you don't have a lot of time to spend on a website/blog, but you need to have something that is yours. Even if it's just a short 5 page website. Home page, a few tips and tricks articles and an 'about' page (the most important page because that describes who you are and what you do).
      I will have no problem getting a website up and putting some pages and content in (The only issue with the blogging concept is the ongoing time commitment - but upfront initial content is doable) I like the idea of at least having some tips & tricks articles (and a lead magnet).

      Originally Posted by MatthewBass View Post

      You could search for other sites in your niche (once you really determine who/what that is) and reach out to them to see if they have an email list. Build an awesome lead magnet and see if they will mail your offer to their list. Another option would be to run Facebook ads to the same lead magnet. There are other methods, but those two will probably get you the most bang for your buck just starting out.
      Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it seems that you are suggesting that I approach a competitor and ask them to help me by mailing my offer to their list?

      Originally Posted by MatthewBass View Post

      Hope that helps!
      Most definitely. Thank you
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      • Profile picture of the author MatthewBass
        Originally Posted by flyingSquirrel View Post

        Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it seems that you are suggesting that I approach a competitor and ask them to help me by mailing my offer to their list?
        That's exactly what I'm saying. I used to think direct competition was bad, but I learned a lesson a long time ago that it's wonderful! Yes, a lot of people will reject you and think you are crazy because, well... you are a direct competitor.

        That's OK though, because you will eventually find direct competition that will mail for you and you can reciprocate with them. You see, the customers that we are serving are what needs to be top of mind at all times. You each may have similar products/services but your competitors product might only be a good fit, whereas yours is a great fit. And vice-versa.

        I also approach people who aren't direct competitors, but compliment my niche. So, in your photography example, it might be the guy who has a site about how to make custom picture frames or the lady with a site on water color painting. Make sense?
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        • Profile picture of the author flyingSquirrel
          Originally Posted by MatthewBass View Post

          That's exactly what I'm saying. I used to think direct competition was bad, but I learned a lesson a long time ago that it's wonderful! Yes, a lot of people will reject you and think you are crazy because, well... you are a direct competitor.

          That's OK though, because you will eventually find direct competition that will mail for you and you can reciprocate with them. You see, the customers that we are serving are what needs to be top of mind at all times. You each may have similar products/services but your competitors product might only be a good fit, whereas yours is a great fit. And vice-versa.

          I also approach people who aren't direct competitors, but compliment my niche. So, in your photography example, it might be the guy who has a site about how to make custom picture frames or the lady with a site on water color painting. Make sense?
          Matthew, WOW, thank you so much for replying to my question. Yes, what you are saying makes complete sense, and it's absolutely brilliant. You, sir, are a genius! I can't tell you how much help you've offered to me in just these couple replies. Thank you!
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  • Profile picture of the author Edwin Torres
    If you want to do paid ads look into solo ads. Basically you're paying someone to mail their own list advertising your squeeze page. I don't do it much but its a very popular method online
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    • Profile picture of the author flyingSquirrel
      Originally Posted by Edwin Torres View Post

      If you want to do paid ads look into solo ads. Basically you're paying someone to mail their own list advertising your squeeze page. I don't do it much but its a very popular method online
      Thanks, Edwin. I will take a look into that! Have a great day
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    Since you are offering short photography tips, I would hire a virtual assistant to find all sorts of amateur photography blogs and forums.

    The next step is to instruct the virtual assistant to filter those websites based on probable traffic.

    You can easily get this information through Alexa Site Info.

    Once you have a filtered list going, you can post quality content to these places at your leisure.

    The key here is to drive them to a squeeze page that highlights your expertise.

    Your content must speak for itself.

    It must be so useful that people would want to learn more and you also have to call them to action by saying if you have any questions, feel free to click on my name or click on my profile and I would be more than happy to help you, and of course when they click on your name they go to your squeeze page, they sign up and in your auto responder, make sure that you solicit questions.

    In fact, if you play the game properly, your auto responder content pretty much writes itself because people are encouraged to send in questions, you respond to the questions by putting them into your auto responder chain and this builds up the value of your auto responder series over time.

    Building a mailing list is not the problem, making it convert is the issue.

    That is a separate discussion.
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    • Profile picture of the author flyingSquirrel
      Originally Posted by writeaway View Post

      Since you are offering short photography tips, I would hire a virtual assistant to find all sorts of amateur photography blogs and forums.

      The next step is to instruct the virtual assistant to filter those websites based on probable traffic.

      You can easily get this information through Alexa Site Info.

      Once you have a filtered list going, you can post quality content to these places at your leisure.

      The key here is to drive them to a squeeze page that highlights your expertise.

      Your content must speak for itself.

      It must be so useful that people would want to learn more and you also have to call them to action by saying if you have any questions, feel free to click on my name or click on my profile and I would be more than happy to help you, and of course when they click on your name they go to your squeeze page, they sign up and in your auto responder, make sure that you solicit questions.

      In fact, if you play the game properly, your auto responder content pretty much writes itself because people are encouraged to send in questions, you respond to the questions by putting them into your auto responder chain and this builds up the value of your auto responder series over time.

      Building a mailing list is not the problem, making it convert is the issue.

      That is a separate discussion.
      writeaway, thank you very much for this excellent advice! There are lots of really useful and smart ideas that are helpful to a beginner such as myself. I love the auto-responder content process that you described. Genius! Thanks!
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