Internet Business Dude

Building an email list of subscribers who are passionate about your product/service is one of the most valuable assets you can have. But with so many other people offering free gifts to get people to opt into their list, how do you differentiate yourself and gain new subscribers?

First you need to have something to offer. This can be something as simple as a free case study, ebook, audio recording, screencast, etc. The purpose of this is to reward people with this free gift when they opt into your list. Not only does this justify their action for subscribing, it gives you an amazing opportunity to give them a taste of what your brand has to offer.

Next you’ve got to differentiate yourself from your competition. In the early days of internet marketing, it was easy to set up an opt in page offering a free gift and get people to subscribe. Now there is much more competition because everyone seems to have something free to offer. So if you want to win over new subscribers, your prospects must view you as unique and different.

How Do I Differentiate Myself From My Competition?
The answer to this is simple. Find out exactly what they are doing - then do something different. However, the actual implementation of this requires some creative brainstorming. To do that, you’ll need to get inside the mind of your prospect.

Think about the niche you are in, and try to imagine yourself as one of your prospects. Then sit down, get a pen and paper, and ask yourself the following questions:

What am I looking for?

Which products/services turn me on?

Which turn me off?

Once you’ve written down some answers to those questions, you should have a clear idea of how things look from your prospects perspective. The next step is to find a way to uniquely position your free offer that immediately catches the users attention, creates curiosity and anticipation, and compels them to action.

Here are a five ways this can be done:

1. Create a headline that immediately catches their attention

Let’s say you’re offering a free ebook on dating. An energetic headline that reads something like, “Give me 5 minutes and I’ll show you the top 5 mistakes most guys make when approaching women…AND How you can fix them.” Anyone having trouble dating women would probably want to know the mistakes most guys make since they themselves could be classified as “most guys.”

2. Be Controversial

The easiest way to set yourself apart and catch people’s attention is by being controversial. A very good example of this is an opt in page I recently saw for the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction is a new age belief taught by the movie, The Secret, that basically says “You attract things into your life, both positive and negative, based on the thoughts you have.” This opt in page took a controversial perspective calling it the Lie of Attraction. This is a great tactic, because it causes people to doubt, which further incites curiosity.

3. Build Anticipation

Once you have their attention, and you’ve ignited their curiosity, you need to gradually build up anticipation. You can do this by emphasizing the benefits they will receive once they opt in. It’s important that you make it as clear as possible as to why they should give you their email address. Otherwise they will lose interest and leave. People usually need to be told multiple times why they should do something before they actually do it. So make sure you clearly state the most substantial benefits they’ll receive, and remind them they’ll receive those benefits immediately after they subscribe.

4. Use Multiple forms of media to deliver your message

Instead of just using text, add some video or audio to communicate your message. People respond differently to different mediums, so it’s important that you test each one and see what works best. Video seems to work well in many situations. But under certain circumstances using audio alone is more suitable. A lot of times the combination of an eye-catching headline combined with video can have a tremendous impact on the conversion rate of subscribers. Experiment with different combinations of audio, video, and text. But try to keep things simple and remember your ultimate goal - get them to subscribe.

5. Compel people to action

After you’ve built up enough anticipation, you need to compel people to action. By this point, you should have given them a compelling reason to respond. It can be as easy as simply telling them that in order to get this information, they just need to fill out the form with their name and email. If you make it easy and logical for them to take the next step and submit their name and email - then they will.

To recap, start brainstorming ways you can be different. Take your best ideas and implement them. Then work your way through the process of creating curiosity, building anticipation, leveraging multimedia, and finally getting people to subscribe. This process will take some thought and energy to implement, but it’s well worth the benefits.