One of the best pieces of advice I got when I first started my online business, was to start growing an email list. With social media becoming the more common place to connect with customers many people forget this critical element of business. So I’m here to tell you why building an email list is important for your personal brand.

Here’s the thing… while you may think you have control over your social media. The cold, hard truth is you don’t! But that’s not the only reason why building an email list is important for your personal brand. Let’s talk this through…

**This post may contain affiliate links. The services I share are the services I personally use and honestly recommend to anyone. No extra costs are incurred for you; the referral commission simply contributes to bringing you valuable content. 

Let me offer you 5 reasons why building an email list is important for your personal brand.

1.  You Own Your Email List

Many platforms come and go – email marketing has already withstood the tests of time. While you may think you have control over your Facebook likes, Instagram followers, Pinterest views and so on. You really don’t. Algorithms are constantly changing and platforms may come and go. If your primary platform was to get shut down tomorrow, what would you do? 

Have you got a back up plan to stay connected with your audience? The only place you really have control is in your email list. Once somebody provides you with their email it’s yours forever (unless they unsubscribe by choice).

Plus, if you decide to rebrand or move in new directions (like I have) then keeping in touch with your email audience is a great way to keep them engaged with what’s going on with your new business ventures.

2. Your Content is More Likely to Actually Reach Your Audience

Think about how much engagement is forever changing on social media. Half your content may not even be seen by your followers because of the way newsfeeds are controlled (the general reach is about 2% of your audience on social media). One day you could be doing really well on Instagram and Facebook, then an algorithm changes and bam, crickets.

But when it comes to your email list it’s a whole different ball game. 90% of emails actually get delivered to the intended recipient’s inbox. So basically once a subscriber has opened one of your emails, they’ve confirmed they want to hear from you. And that means every time you send an email, it is going to hit their inbox. So there’s no guesswork, you hit send, it hits their inbox and is ready and waiting for them to read it.

Not to mention there’s actually a LOT more email accounts than social media profiles. So all in all email marketing actually has a higher reach than any social media platform. In 2017, the number of worldwide email users topped 3.7 billion. By the end of 2021, the number of worldwide email users will be over 4.1 billion. Approximately half of the worldwide population was using email in 2017. You need an email to sign up for everything (social media platforms included).  

3. It Gets in Front of Your Readers Regularly

The key to establishing a powerful personal brand is through consistently connecting with people.

Back to the above point, because 90% of your emails hit your audience’s inbox. If you have a good email strategy and are sending out regular emails then this is a great way to stay front of mind for them. Which will turn them into much more loyal and engaged followers.

Chances are the person reading your emails found you on social media. They may have read a brief post, saw a pin, or liked your page. But does that really allow them to get to know you? No…

And in their busy lives they’ll just move on and probably forget about you. And because your social media reach is only 2% they may never see one of your posts again.

But…

If you have a way to capture their email while they’re on your social profile this is your chance to keep in touch. Your emails are a way to really strengthen your connection with them and build a genuine relationship. The more they hear from you, the more the reader gets to know you, like you, and trust you. This eventually leads them to wanting to work with you. And that is a huge reason why building an email list is important for your personal brand.

4. It Will Help You to Increase Your Traffic

One of the most important measures of personal brand success is traffic. Especially for bloggers and influencer trying to score sponsorship deals, work with large brands etc. Those brands are going to want to know you have a good flow of traffic. And unless you’re an SEO genius and know how to get ranked on the front page of Google every single time, getting views on your site can be tricky. Especially when you’re just starting out.

You could share your posts on social media. But again…  You don’t have anywhere near the reach you get when sending an email to your list.

So what if you sent out an email every time you published a new post? That email hits your reader’s inbox, they click the link, and that counts as a view on your site. The bigger your list grows, the more people clicking through to your blog in a short amount of time. And that is a way to improve your SEO and start to get ranked on Google.

Not only is this important for bloggers and influencers, but any small business owner trying to build a personal brand and name for themselves. If your site is getting more traffic there’s more chances you’ll start to be recognised by more of your ideal clients, or even start getting noticed by companies who want to hire you, or PR agencies contacting you for press opportunities.

An email list can help you get in front of more people, much faster.

5. Email is the Best Way to Sell a Product

According to a study conducted by VentureBeat. For 10 years in a row email marketing has reported to generate the highest ROI for marketers – For every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38 in ROI. And even if you don’t have a product to sell right now, you might do in the future.

Imagine having a very warmed up email list that loves you to send that product to once you do. I never would’ve had the success I’ve had if it wasn’t for my email list. The fortune is in the follow up.

So that’s why building an email list is important for your personal brand. If you haven’t got one yet… it’s time you start building an email list today.

Don’t know where to start?

The platform I use for my email marketing is GetResponse – you can get a 30 day free trial of their system right here.

This is a fabulous platform because it’s super user friendly, has great support, simple to use templates, great automation and tracking tools and much more!

For information on some of my other top recommended tools for establishing a strong personal brand read this post.

Still not clear on what personal branding is and why it’s so important? Go back and read this post.

And there you have it. All the dirt on why building an email list is important for your personal brand. Happy list building!

Jade xo

As usual, if you like what you’ve read feel free to like, comment, or share. Your time reading my posts is greatly appreciated.