This blog is a great read for you if you already started a small business or you're planning on starting a business soon. We will be breaking down what the number one marketing tip is that has the power to move the needle for you and your business.

Sneak Peek:

• Owning Your Traffic
• Social Media & Your Database
• Providing Value

The #1 most important tip for small business owners and freelancers is to focus on the traffic you actually own. Having your own list means doubling down on the traffic that you have access to. Far too many businesses have their focus on the wrong areas of marketing and advertising. This is leaving them at risk because no matter what you're doing in business, it’s important to have an email list. An email list ensures the ability for you to stay in touch with your audience over the weeks, months, and years. The more you grow your email list, the more people you can provide value to and sell your products/services to. 

Through Email Marketing, you don't need to depend on social media platforms to be your main traffic source. You don't have to be at mercy to the all-mighty algorithm when you own a list of contacts that you can email at any time. If you own your email list then no one can take those leads away from you. Whereas on a platform you are not in control of your audience.

For example: let's say all your traffic is coming from YouTube. Then, for no reason, YouTube decides to ban your account by mistake! If that happens, you won't have any way of keeping in contact with your audience. If this happens, you will end up losing all that work you did to gain your audience in the first place. So instead of finding yourself up the creek without a paddle, be sure to start building your database of contacts ASAP!

No matter what you're doing in business, it’s important to maintain an active list of contacts. The lifetime value of a customer is so important because repeat customers are the holy grail of any business. A big mistake marketers make is they take for granted what social media platforms can do for them. Marketers think their followers will never go away. That they're always going to be able to reach them. One day there will be a completely new platform than what we are on now. So it’s important to not put all your eggs in one basket. You can't rely on one platform to market your business. Use the different social media platforms that you have that make sense for your business. Use social media to get traffic that you can own. You can also focus on having your audience sign up for your email list. This way you can get in touch with them beyond the social media platform.

Having your own email list is the key to any business because that's their database. The database holds all the people that have given their email addresses and their names to the business. Information like that to a business is immensely valuable. Those contacts are ones who showed interest in the business but haven't converted yet. Or they turn into a repeat customer if given the opportunity. That is where you can use Email Marketing as a form of security to be able to have those contacts without being at risk. At any moment these large social media platforms can make all your traffic disappear. This is why it's important to build up your own list of contacts and stay in touch with them via email so you never lose them.

Email marketing is more than sending one email out to your list once in a while. It's getting more sales, segmenting your list, and growing your brand loyalty.  ActiveCampaign is a great marketing automation and emailing tool for freelancers and small business owners. This tool helps you get to know your audience’s habits, interests and gain feedback. With the right email service provider, you can track what links readers are showing interest in. This shows specifically what the audience is clicking, which provides insight into your most engaging content.

One of the most powerful marketing strategies is reigniting a companies database. When you leverage social media to get traffic that you own, you can learn more about your audience and create a loyal following no matter where you go. When you can stay in contact with your list, your business will ultimately see more success down the road.

Now that you understand why an email list that you own is so important, the next topic to understand is how to reach out to them. You want to be able to provide value to the customers you're sending emails to. You want to give so much value to the point where they look forward to your emails. You can do this whether you are giving them some sort of promotion, or immense value without pitching a sale. It's important to not make your audience feel all your emails are solely based on just selling.

You want to form a connection and show your audience you care for them and that you're working with them to provide value to make the most out of your email interaction. When you do it like that, you will likely not end up in their spam folder. One way to stay out of a spam folder is by creating an email newsletter. If someone signs up for a newsletter, they look forward to getting different emails from you. This email newsletter should provide tips, tricks, advice. Remember, they signed up to get value from you and your business because they know you're there to help them, not to get bombarded with annoying and repetitive emails.

In addition, when a new contact joins an email list, that's a great opportunity to go more in-depth and create an 'autoresponder'. An autoresponder is an automated email sequence that welcomes your contacts into your email marketing. This also lets them know what they can expect to receive as well as show how they can opt-out, or how they can add your email to their 'safe sender list.' (Which helps the emails show up more in people's inboxes and get a higher open rates)

Once you start nailing down and focusing your energy on building and nurturing the traffic that you own, you won't be at the mercy of relying on traffic from social media. You're in charge, and that's when you're going to see a big shift in how much success you're having with your marketing. Once you start to shift from using platforms to reach people, start to see that your audience is much more than a list. You are growing a tribe, building a community that looks up to you and that is looking forward to your emails.

I hope that was a helpful marketing tip for any small business owners, freelancer, or consultants out there. Email is not dead, it is by far one of the most lucrative mediums you can focus on in marketing because it's directed to the consumer. You are the one that's in control. You can use my #1 marketing tips for small businesses to make more money online, help more freelance clients, and be a better marketer. For small business owners and freelancers, it's important to build up your own list of contacts and stay in touch with them via email so you never lose them. If you want to hear more in-depth about how you can build your own list, I made a video that describes how you can do that.

>>> Click here to watch my new YouTube video now!

- Paul Mendes

 Founder of Profitable Freelancer