3 secrets for building email lists in 2024 📪

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Businesses have been silently building email lists in 2024.

Why?

It’s our defense against the dark arts. 🪄 

By dark arts, I mean the crazy algorithm changes that are:

• YouTube algorithms

• Google “Helpful Content” Updates (I got rekt by this one)

• Goldfish-attention-span TikTok algorithms

• Facebook groups are losing reach in place of ads

You get the drift.

That’s why it’s ever so important to build an email list which can help you:

→ Own your audience

→ Be platform-agnostic

→ Be algorithm-proof

→ Know that every time you send an email, people actually see it

Today, I’m dishing out 3 of the biggest secrets I have.

To build a successful email list in 2024.

3 Secrets for Building an Email List in 2024 📪

I mentioned secrets.

But they are actually open secrets.

The tactics I’ll share are already proven strategies that many businesses have used before.

You’ll see what I mean.

1. Create Viral Lead Magnets

You can forget about writing a daily or weekly newsletter.

If no one ever sees it.

Lead magnets are the no.1 best way to get people within your audience.

What’s a lead magnet?

It’s basically a free resource given to customers in exchange for registering for an email list.

Here’s an example of a lead magnet post that went viral:

From this post alone, I’ve gained 2000+ subscribers.

I created a free ebook and got subscribers to get it in exchange for signing up for this email list.

Here’s my lead generation funnel:

Lead magnet on LinkedIn → Landing page → Collect emails on Beehiiv → Welcome email funnel → Added to weekly newsletter

I use Beehiiv, which has an INSANE recommendation network.

No kidding.

It has given me almost 70% of my subscribers.

Quick math, that’s >5,000 subscribers.

Try Beehiiv today. (Get a 30-day trial + 20% OFF for 3 months!)

2. Focus on 1 Social Media Platform

Shiny object syndrome is real here.

Don’t spread yourself thin across multiple social media platforms.

Stick to one and be a master of it.

But which one you choose MUST match the niche you are in:

• LinkedIn/X (Twitter) → Business, coaching, work, career services, startups, AI, education, freelancing, solopreneurship, wealth

• Pinterest → Home, gardening, crafts, art, ideas

• YouTube → Lifestyle, outdoors, business, hobbies, fitness, wealth

• Instagram → Lifestyle, beauty, fitness

I chose LinkedIn.

My niche is AI, freelancing, business, and solopreneurship.

My advice:

Learn the ropes for everything within a certain platform.

After reaching at least 100k, move to a different platform.

It’s no use attracting so much attention, but then have nothing to do to monetize it.

Start with your 1st platform → get to 100k → monetize → move to 2nd platform → 100k → monetize

rinse and repeat.

3. Master Copywriting

Okay, so you’ve brought in the eyes to your newsletter.

What next?

You’ll need to master copywriting.

What’s copywriting, you ask?

Copywriting is the activity or occupation of writing the text of advertisements or publicity material.

In other words, it’s writing persuasively and punchily to keep your audience’s attention to sell a product.

But copywriting is a muscle.

You need to work on it.

A not-so-secret framework is the AIDA framework.

AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

1. Attention: Capture the audience's attention with compelling and relevant content to make them aware of your product or service.

2. Interest: Sustain the audience's interest by highlighting benefits and creating curiosity about how your product or service can solve their problems.

3. Desire: Build a strong desire by emotionally connecting with the audience and demonstrating how your offering meets their needs or aspirations.

4. Action: Encourage the audience to take a specific action, such as making a purchase, signing up, or contacting your business, to convert interest into a tangible result.

Spend the next 2 weeks just poring through copywriting content from:

• Blogs

• YouTube videos

• Newsletters

• Landing pages

And you’ll learn to write to capture attention.

A few good copywriters:

• Sabri Suby

• Frank Kern

• Cardinal Mason

Go to their email list and sign up for their email sequence.

Learn from them and how they write.

These are good ways to see samples for free.

The goal is to get them to send you daily emails so you get inspiration often.

Helpful copywriting YouTube videos I found:

📌 I can help you grow an email newsletter or write your emails.

Just DM me with “Email help“ on my LinkedIn.

I’ll get you some help ;)

See you next time!

Justin Chia

Find me on LinkedIn or shoot me an email at [email protected]

If you have any questions or feedback, reply to this email. (I'll personally reply! :)