Let's face it.
You would love to double your email list in the next 90 days.
But there are so many different things you could do to grow your list, you don't know where to start. You're overwhelmed.
Should you run a Facebook ad campaign?
Guest blog?
Host a Twitter Q&A session?
Start doing more YouTube videos?
Create a 30 day challenge?
Use pop-ups?
Just looking at all those options, I'm overwhelmed – and that isn't even a quarter of the tactics you could try!
What should you do? Should you do all of these? None of these? Some of these?
I have the answer for you, but first I want to prove to you that what I have to share works.
The truth is, in the last 90 days, I was able to more than double my email list for a free offering I created.
Why less really is more
Contrary to what you might think, my list didn't grow because I tried a bunch of different tactics.
My list grew because I practiced the Pareto Principle.
This idea was introduced in the 1790s by the man himself, Vilfredo Pareto.
It's based on the idea that 20% of our effort produces 80% of our results.
In other words, whatever our goals are, there are a small handful of strategies that give us most of our results.
This means that, instead of trying to do a ton of different tactics to grow our email list, it's smart to focus on 1 or 2 key things that'll give us the most bang for our buck.
Think about it.
Say you decide that, over the next 90 days, you're going to try to do all 6 tactics that I described above. Maybe you've even decided you'll try more ideas than that.
The more tactics you try, the better your chances of getting the results you want, right?
Nope.
The truth is, doing more stuff doesn't automatically equal better results.
And if you try to do all of those tactics all at once, you'll probably end up with mediocre results at best.
When our energy is spread out in a bunch of different directions, it's impossible for us to get the best results imaginable. We're just stretched too thin.
But when we focus on 1 or 2 things that we're confident will work – because we've done the research so we know what action makes the most sense for us to take – we can make incredible strides.
It's not about doing more.
It's about doing less. And doing it to the absolute best of our abilities.
So if you want to double your email list in the next 90 days, here's what I want you to do…
Step 1: Choose a clear, specific goal
In order to reach your goal of growing your list, you first need to get clear on what that'll look like.
Do you want to add 20? 100? 1,000? 3,000 more people to your list?
And what's your deadline?
A fluffy, hard-to-achieve goal might look something like this: I want to grow my email list.
Okay… But how much? And by when?
A better goal – that's measurable so it's easier to know if you're making progress and when you've actually achieved it – looks something like this: I want to add 1,000 unique subscribers to my email list by March 15th.
Step 2: Pick One tactic that has worked for you (or someone else)
When I wanted to double my email list, I decided my best bet for making that happen would be guest blogging. I'd had some success with guest blogging in the past, and I knew that it was a smart idea to get in front of other people's audiences as much as possible.
If someone had a bigger list than me, guest blogging was a great way to get access to that large list of potentially ideal subscribers.
So I started sending out pitches and within 4 weeks I had 5 guest posts published.
I made sure to craft a compelling offer in my guest post bio to entice people back to my website. I offered the readers something that would encourage them to come sign up for my email list.
Sure enough, my email list began growing at a much more rapid pace than if I had just stuck to blogging on my own blog.
I could have scattered my energy around and tried a bunch of different things, but I knew guest posting worked. And I knew that if I spread myself too thin, I wouldn't get the results I wanted.
So I focused and put my full attention on guest posting.
I want you to focus your attention on 1 strategy too.
Step 3: Map out your game plan – week-by-week
Once you know the tactic you'll use to grow your list – whether it's guest blogging or something else – it's time to get clear on the specific steps you need to take each week to make that happen.
Break it down into digestible parts.
For example, for guest blogging I knew I needed to do these things:
- Pick the websites I wanted to pitch to
- Research each site
- Pick 3 topics I wanted to pitch
- Write an email, or fill out a form and pitch my ideas
- Follow-up if I haven't heard back after a week
- If it's accepted, write the post
- If not, go back to the drawing board and come up with some more ideas and send another pitch to them or someone else
You'll have a list of things you need to do too.
Break down each step of the process.
What needs to happen?
And, super important, when does it need to happen by? Make sure you put deadlines on each step so you're not leaving it up to chance. You want to be focused on making a certain amount of progress by a certain date.
Step 4: Implement
Now that you've done all the prep work, it's time to just do it.
Take the plan you created and run with it.
The best part is that you won't wonder what you should do each day. You have a prioritized list of to-dos based on deadlines – just follow it step-by-step.
Step 5: Stay the course or jump ship
If it's been 4-8 weeks and you haven't seen the spike in subscribers that you were hoping for, it's time to re-evaluate.
Maybe this isn't the best strategy for you.
Keep in mind that some strategies might take longer than others. If you're pitching and writing guest posts, you won't see that rush of subscribers until after your post is published – which could take a while.
The idea is that you want to be constantly evaluating your progress.
The good news is that it'll be easier to see what's working and not working when you're not trying a bunch of different tactics. By focusing on 1 or 2 tactics at a time, you'll be able to figure out where things are breaking down a lot easier.
But if you're trying to use 6+ tactics, it'll be really hard to figure out what went wrong.
This is why scientists only test one hypothesis at a time. If they try to test multiple ideas at once, things will get mighty confusing very fast.
They'll have no idea what variable caused the change.
Just like you'll have no idea what strategy worked best if you're trying a whole whack-load of strategies.
So keep track of your progress and make an informed decision to either stay the course or jump ship and try something else.
Ready to melt away the overwhelm and get big results?
At the end of the day, it's not about making sure you choose the perfect tactic.
Sometimes it's simply about choosing one that you know works. One that you know you have the ability and grit to follow-through on. And then giving it 100%.
Not only does this strategy work, but it also melts away the overwhelm.
Instead of feeling like you need to be everywhere at all times, you know you can focus on one area and still get amazing results – maybe even better results than if you had tried to do multiple things at once.
So I challenge you to give this a try.
Get clear on your goal, pick a tactic you know will work – because it's worked for you or someone else in the past – and one that feels like a good fit for you, and run with it.
I know you can do this.
Sometimes it just takes a bit of moxie, a great plan, and steadfast determination.
So get started. You've got the plan, now it's time to run with it.