Email marketing is a highly effective and lucrative method of connecting with your audience. But it can take a lot of time and effort to grow your email list.
After all, people need a good reason to part with their precious personal data (in this case, their email address). A great reason many marketers use is giving subscribers access to awesome, gated content.
But with many priorities, it can be hard to find time to create an email-address-worthy content campaign from scratch. If only there was a simpler way.
There is.
The answer lies in repurposing your existing content.
In this podcast episode and blog post, I share how to repurpose your content into exciting campaigns that entice your audience to join your email list. Find out three different types of campaigns you can repurpose your content into, plus our top email marketing tips.
Hit play to listen to the podcast episode…
Or keep reading to find out how to grow your email list…
Why use content to grow your email list?
Here’s some quick statistics about the value of email marketing today…
- For every $1 spent on email marketing, the return is $42 (that’s more than 4,000% ROI).
- In 2020, global email marketing was valued at $10 billion. In 2027, it’s estimated to be worth $17.9 billion.
When it comes to an email list, more really is merrier.
But increasing subscriber numbers requires more than just asking people to sign up. You need to offer something in return.
That’s where content comes in.
Your content is highly valuable. Perhaps it empowers people, inspires them, shares knowledge…all outcomes worthy of an email address.
Whether you’ve got blog posts, videos, or podcast episodes, you can repurpose these into different types of content campaigns with the potential to grow your email address.
Before I get into the nitty gritty of chopping and changing your content into an awesome email campaign, let’s look at three different types of campaigns you could repurpose your content into…
Three types of email campaigns that grow your email list
1. An Email Course
A course can be any content that comes in steps and ends in a result for the participant.
You need to decide what your course is going to teach, and then choose the content that will best help your readers get there.
For example, I could create a 10-part email course on How to Develop a Weekly Repurposing Machine for Your Podcast.
I already have lots of content to share on this topic. I would just need to identify the best pieces for my course, work out a logical order to guide the reader, and reformat the content to suit an email campaign – lots of white space, further links or content to give the reader more value, etc. (more on best practices for repurposing content into individual emails shortly)!
Each email will be a step or a module in the course, and at the end, the reader should feel successfully guided along a journey from A-Z. You could even provide them a certificate on completion!
2. An Email Challenge
Sometimes a challenge sounds more appealing that a course...especially for the competitive amongst us!
How you actually construct an email challenge is very similar to how you would construct an email course. But here the focus is more on implementation. The learning part is still valuable, but with a challenge, you want to really encourage your readers to get their hands dirty.
For example, I could repurpose my content into a 7-day podcast repurposing challenge. I would choose pieces of content including How to Repurpose a Podcast Episode into a Blog Post, How to Repurpose a Podcast on Social Media, and even How to Repurpose a Podcast to YouTube. Then, I’d put them into a logical sequence and add some extra text into each email so new subscribers felt confident and empowered to complete the challenge.
If an email challenge sounds like something your audience would enjoy, check out the full guide to repurposing your content into one here: How to Run an Email List Building Challenge by Repurposing your Content.
3. Exclusive companion content and content upgrades
If courses or challenges don’t appeal to you, how about repurposing extra content into bonus email-subscriber-only content?
Die-hard fans of your content may very well want more – it’s up to you to give it to them!
Perhaps you already have companion content or content upgrades such as downloadable guides, checklists, etc. Or maybe you have exclusive interview content with your podcast episode guests that you can share with just your email subscribers. You could ask people to sign up to get access to these bonus pieces of content.
It’s just about going that extra mile (and doing an extra bit of repurposing) to craft your existing content into something worthy of an email address.
If this sounds like something you’d like to try, I recommend checking out this post to learn more about content upgrades.
So, those are three ideas to get your creative repurposing juices flowing. But what do you need to bear in mind when repurposing your content into an email campaign?
How to grow your email list by repurposing your content
There are six major things to consider when putting together email campaigns like these. These are: email marketing software, automation, email content, your call to action, your welcome email, and promotion.
Here’s what you need to know.
Email marketing software
Your email list is only as great as the email marketing software you use. This is the vehicle that both simplifies and streamlines your email campaigns.
For all of our email marketing at Content 10x, we use ActiveCampaign, which is a marketing and sales automation software with email campaign functionality built in. But there are plenty of others out there such as Klaviyo, Campaign Monitor, ConvertKit, AWeber, MailChimp, to name a few.
If you’re already sending regular emails to your subscribers, you’re probably already using a tool like this. So, the next step is to get familiar with the automation processes…
Automation
Automating your email campaigns will take the pain and struggle out of growing your email list. You just set it up – and let it run!
With automation, you can run longer, more complex campaigns, without it taking up any more of your time. Each software will be different, but you should be able to construct your series of emails, set up dates and times for them to go out after a new subscriber signs up, and it’ll all be taken care of for you. You could even A/B test your campaigns!
One thing to be aware of is, if you are sending emails to people in Europe, you have to comply with GDPR rules. Essentially, this means you have to get express consent (people have to actively opt-in) to receive further emails from you. Learn more about GDPR compliance here.
I’ve talked about when automation is your content’s best friend (and worst enemy!) before, so if you want to learn more about automating your content repurposing, check out this post: Content Repurposing Automation: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.
Email content
Depending on what type of email campaign you go for, you’ll choose different content to populate your emails.
If you already have lots of content, you’ll have the freedom to repurpose in a myriad of ways. For example, you could send out whole pieces of content, e.g. a blog post copied into an email, or be more selective, like sending a summary and the key points, plus a link to the original piece.
You could also create a multimedia experience, either including a range of different content formats in one email or over a journey. For example, you could send out a blog post on day one, a video on day two, a podcast episode on day three…embedding them into the email or sending links.
Be aware that however you repurpose your content, you’re likely going to have to add in certain email features. You will need to add subject lines, personalisation, and likely some text explaining more context about why the recipient is getting this piece of content, etc.
Another thing you’ll want to think about is your end result.
Your call to action
Getting people to sign up to your email list is a great way to help them in their journey through your marketing funnel, so think carefully about the result you want to guide them to. What action do you want them to take at the end of the campaign?
I would even encourage you to think about the calls to action each individual email you send has. It might be as simple as checking out that full piece of content, or linking to companion pieces, or perhaps you want them to take a further step, such as downloading a PDF, getting a free demo, or booking a call.
Deciding your desired outcomes early-on will help you craft a more successful email campaign, as every piece of content you choose to populate your email automation will be working towards the same goal.
For example, if your organization provides video editing software, and you ultimately want people to sign up to a free demo, then consider putting out pieces of content that empower people to create video. Then your call to action is the logical next step!
Welcome email
Getting people to sign up to your email list is one thing, but getting them to pay attention is another. Think of your first email as a giant hook. It should:
- Show the reader that they’re getting what they were promised
- Excite them and generate lasting intrigue (so they open the following emails)
- Provide value – and can include your first piece of repurposed content!
Your campaign should generate new sign-ups, but it should also seek to retain those new subscribers. That’s the real trick to grow your email list!
Promotion
It goes without saying, but nobody will know about your awesome email campaign unless you promote it!
You can promote it on your website, your social media channels, in your podcast midroll and outros, give it a shout out on your video, create a landing page for it…there are lots of ways you can get the word out there about what’s waiting for new subscribers.
You can save a lot of time here by using repurposed content from your pilar pieces to generate intrigue for new sign ups. For example, you could share graphics and rewrite repurposed text posts on social media. You can test and tweak these and schedule them out over a period of months, advertising it to new connections and nurtured leads now ready to sign up.
We always see a jump in subscribers whenever we promote our weekly newsletter, The Content 10x Insider. We just repurpose the promotional content and use it again and again!
Ready to grow your email list?
- An email course
- An email challenge
- Exclusive companion content and content upgrades
If you’re going to give any of these ideas a go, I’d love to know how you get on. And if you have any repurposing questions – just find me on social media (I’m @Content10x on all platforms) and ask away!
If your organization needs more help and support with your content repurposing, get in touch with us. We take it off your plate so you can focus on other marketing initiatives and grow your email list, clients, and business. Find out how by watching this video.