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Having an audience you can address on your own terms puts you in a powerful position.

In this article I’ll be sharing how I built my You Are The Media audience – email subscribers who are willing to give you their details in exchange for you keeping in touch, adding value to their week and encouraging them to feel a part of something that they can enjoy, learn and participate in.

We’re not going to be shooting for the moon here, we’re going to be keeping it realistic, setting you up to acquire your first 10 loyal email subscribers.

A Place To Start That Isn’t About Chasing ‘000s Of Subscribers

In 2009, Seth Godin wrote the fantastic blog “First, Ten” . The premise of this piece still rings true over a decade later.  

The focus is that to start something, you just need ten people. If ten people enjoy what they receive from you and see real worth in what they’re receiving, they’ll go on to tell others about it.

Seth wisely says, “You can no longer market to the anonymous masses. They’re not anonymous and they’re not masses. You can only market to people who are willing participants.”

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It is your subscribers who identify with you and the messages you share. It’s your subscribers who help you carry on when things get difficult. For instance, we had Zoom Bombers (people who can gatecrash your Zoom video calls and cause havoc) at a recent YATM Lunch Club Online, it didn’t affect people’s enjoyment, they stuck with it. It’s your subscribers who stick by you and will eventually buy from you.

Why Is It Important To Have Subscribers?

With the current reset that’s happening in the business world, you need a place and people more than ever. 

People like to belong somewhere they feel valued and heard. If you can bring others together through the narrative you develop and share, then you’re creating something that will help you and your business in the long term.

To me, having YATM email subscribers has been the lifeblood of keeping everything together. No one’s walked away and we’re building an even deeper sense of affinity. If you’re up for it, now is the time to be there for others.

How Can You Do It?

The investment you need to make is not financial, such as promoting what you’re doing via paid ads but it requires a commitment of time – putting in the hard work, creating and developing, and consistently sharing a narrative that will eventually lead to all sorts of personal and business benefits.  

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The following is a means by which to create your own subscription mechanism:

Strategy And Tactics That’ll Help You Find Your First 10 Subscribers

Know what you want to get out of it. 

Before you start you have to fully understand why you’re going down this road. If you begin with gusto, only to lose momentum a few months down the line, it will have been a complete waste of time. For instance, do you want to raise your profile, create a loyal customer base or eventually sell a product?

Figure out what you’re going to give people. 

This relates to giving your audience something they want to receive. It works best when you put your own unique stamp and voice within your marketplace, rather than sharing material that people can easily get somewhere else. What aligns with the values you already hold and complements your everyday role with your business? This article can help you: https://www.youarethemedia.co.uk/how-to-make-a-side-project-work/

Give your email a name. 

If I invited people to sign up for the ID Group Newsletter (which is my main company), few would subscribe. It would feel as though there was an agenda, something to sell. I branded the weekly email I started sending out in 2013, You Are The Media, as the focus of what I believe in centres on people building something that they own and can congregate others around. A name and identity that sits separately from your main business is the thing that will generate interest, sign-ups and stand the test of time.

Set up a dedicated platform for people to sign up to.

There has to be a mechanism for people to leave their email on. For instance, you can build your landing page for free on Mailchimp, click here and follow what you need to do to create a landing page . I also use https://upscri.be/ as a means to collect emails, as it is easy to embed within blogs and also on Medium (plus you can create forms and pop-ups), I pay $5 a month. It also creates a simple landing page to share with others. 

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Create a dedicated page on your website.

When you have a page on your website dedicated to new subscribers https://www.youarethemedia.co.uk/subscribe/, you can explain more about what you do in a way that looks seamless (with Mailchimp you have to build your own, using their template). You Are The Media is a WordPress site, so there is a contact form plug-in built-in, as well as Upscribe prompts. The reason I have a contact form and Upscribe is security. In July 2019, I deleted my entire database and I didn’t have a back-up, click here to read about Project Mayhem .

Tell people what they are going to get, and when.

When you create your sign-up form, the worse thing you can do is leave it blank and use the words ‘subscribe to our newsletter.’ Explain the main thread of what you’re going to be sharing and when you’ll be making an appointment for, in their inbox. 

Deliver consistently.

What’s the theme behind what you’ll be sharing and teaching others? Is it going to be sharing how something’s gone for you, successes and failures included? Is it documenting the world around you and how it relates to your marketplace? Is it asking others questions related to how they’ve succeeded or tackled adversity? You have to choose and stick to something that you can become identified with, because familiarity breeds trust. 

Make asking people to subscribe, a habit. 

With your landing page set up, you can make it the magnet for everything else. From new LinkedIn requests, adding the sign-up page URL on your profile on Twitter or Instagram and having it as a sign-off to every presentation you make and email you send, get into the habit of continually drawing people to your landing page. From every touchpoint, you have to tell people what they will be receiving and how they will benefit from the insights you share. At the end of every YATM Bitesize Podcast (the shorter audio), my sign off is always asking people to subscribe.

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Email from a personal address.

When you send anything, make sure it always comes from you, personally. Don’t hide behind an ‘info@’ or ‘team@.’ Someone opening your email is the time they choose to spend with you, respect them and don’t take their interest for granted.

Thank every person who subscribes.

Whether this is via an email from you or using a video platform such as bonjoro.com,let people know you’re grateful. The more personal you can make it, the better. For instance, if you have a quick look at LinkedIn you can see where a new subscriber is located. Find ways to personalise in this automated world.

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Add subscribe links in your blog posts.

Rather than interrupting your readers with pop up messages, think about whether there’s a natural pause on say, your blog pages, where you can include a subscrip