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Simon Washbrook

10 Tips To Help Grow Your Database

The foundation of any good email campaign is the quality of the contacts in your database. A database that has opted-in contacts and is regularly marketed to, will give you the best results. This blog post highlights 10 tips that will allow you to quickly and easily grow your database. These tips use both soft and hard opt-in methods; please click HERE to find out more about what this means.

1. Export your Linkedin contacts to Grow Your Database

Linkedin is the world’s largest active database of professionals online, and it is also one of the best ways that you can grow a targeted database that you can export out and Email Market to. But before you rush off and start connecting with all and sundry, try taking a more strategic approach and target the individuals/industries etc. as these will give you the best possible returns.
Once you have connected with your target audience and imported them into popcorn, I would recommend sending them a quick email telling them what you have done and that you are going to be email marketing to them (stating how often and typically what about) and give them the option to unsubscribe. Not only is this ‘best practice’, but it will position them for future communication and win you favour as an ethical marketeer.

Click HERE to see our simple infographic on how to export your contacts from Linkedin! Also, did you know that when you import your contacts into popcorn email marketing it automatically connects to any email addresses that are already on Linkedin and updates your contact information – handy, we know …

2. Tell viewers to sign up at the end of your videos

This may sound completely obvious and not necessary, as you probably already have a sign up box on your Home / Landing page. But don’t forget that may of your viewers may have found your video directly on YouTube (the World’s second largest Search Engine) or they may not have spotted it, as they were focused on searching for the information that is in your video.
At the end of your videos, try telling the viewer that you have a Newsletter and how they can sign-up, even physically point to the area that the Sign-up form would be on your website. Since they have begun to Know, Like and Trust you after watching the video, they are more likely to want to hear more from you in the future.

3. Add a sign-up form to your website to Grow Your Database

Just in case you don’t have or haven’t yet got around to adding a Email Marketing Newsletter Sign-up form to your website. We strongly recommend doing this on multiple pages, specifically your Home page, on your Blog and you can also create a dedicated Landing page, that is free from any other distractions.
popcorn has a simple piece of code that can be easily insert into your website and will automatically create this form for you and then add your Contacts into a specific campaign folder.

4. Ask your Facebook followers to sign-up

Again, this is a really quick and simple technique for engaging with contacts that already Know and Trust you / your Brand. Create a post on Facebook that highlights the benefits of what your Newsletter can offer to your readers and then add a link to a Landing page (or your home page if you don’t have one) where they can sign up… But don’t forget to tell them what you are planning to send and how often on this page.

5. Promote your newsletter on all your printed materials

Many businesses send out hundreds, if not thousands of invoices and quotes every year, and if these enquiries have not come in via Email you are missing an opportunity to capture a Newsletter subscriber. Simply add an advert to the bottom or back of the paperwork, directing them to a dedicated Landing page that has a simple URL – www.popcorn.email/newsletter with a sign up form on there.

6. Add all the business cards you are given

photo for tips to grow your database article displaying business cards
If you are like me and most of the business owners I know, you will have collected dozens / hundreds of business cards from the numerous meetings and Networking events that you have attended. All of this data can be added to a spreadsheet manually or by using one of the many phone apps that take a photo and transcribe the text for you. (I use ScanBizCards, which is brilliant and available on both iOS and Android).
This is a really quick way of collating valuable data, just be careful not to copy old and out of date information. Typically data lists decay at 25% per year, due to contacts moving jobs and businesses going bump and the higher your bounce rate, typically the lower your delivery rate is.

7. Add a footer to your standard Email signature to help Grow Your Database

photo for tips to grow your database article displaying popcorn email editor
We are all Emailing our friends, family and colleagues on a constant basis, why not add a simple p.s. to your auto-signature, inviting the reader to sign up to your Newsletter. This is especially useful what you are regularly Emailing people about enquiries and technical support, as they obviously want to know more about your products and services. Also, if you write it in a different colour to the main text it will stand out more and increase the chances of your readers engaging with it.

8. Add details from all your past quotes and enquiries

photo for tips to grow your database article displaying quotes and enquiries on computer
Any enquiry or quotation you may have had in the past is also a good source of data that can be used for Marketing, so long as it is still current and relevant to what you are Marketing. Try searching through all your inbox or paperwork for enquiries that have come from your Website and update your contact / quotation forms to include a Marketing opt-out option.

9. Cross promote your newsletter on a partner’s newsletter

If you can identify a Partner that you work with who has a similar target audience to yourself, but does not conflict with your products or services. It would be worth cross promoting each others businesses on their and your Newsletters (electronic and print). When doing this, it is best to again drive the reader to a dedicated Landing page with a promotion / hook to get them engaged, this does not need to be a discount, but could be to download a Guide or get a free sample.
One word of warning, it would be easy to offer to exchange databases with each other, but as the contacts that you are sharing have not agreed for you to share this Data, you would be breaking the Data Protection Act … which is Bad! But promoting each others services on your Newsletter is … good. 🙂

10. Ask everyone who calls your business to sign-up

Don’t be shy about it, whenever anyone pops or calls into your business, ask them if they would like to receive your Newsletter. And if they do, ask them to fill out a form (confirming that they give permission). These people already know about your business and unless they are trying to sell to you, they will probably be interested in keeping in touch.
And finally, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this post ‘How to Grow your Database – 10 Quick and Easy Tips’, please feel free to comment below or drop us an Email from our contact page.

popcorn is a smart, easy-to-use and efficient platform that not only helps you compose beautiful emails and newsletters but also helps you manage your sales funnels and leads. If you would like to test popcorn and see if it could help improve your email marketing game, you can sign-up for the free trial here.

Enjoyed this article? Comment below or read through our blog for more sales and marketing insights.

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