Did you know it is possible to have a pin go viral on Pinterest, leading tons of new people to your site, but your inquiry form remains filled with dust?
While Pinterest is filled with consumers ready to pull the trigger on a purchase, you have to consider your ideal audience and the product or service you are offering when crafting your strategy. If you were hiring vendors for your own wedding, would you just book your date as easily as you click things home on Amazon, or would you want to get to know that person, create a connection, and make sure it’s a good fit? Chances are, you would like to do a little more research before committing to a vendor for your wedding, and the same goes for your couples!
Even though Pinterest is an excellent source for traffic to your site, we cannot forget that these leads are usually cold leads. This means that it is our job as the business owner to establish and nurture that relationship once they step into our world. So how do we do that? In this post I will explain how you can use Pinterest as a tool to turn cold leads into paying clients through Pinterest strategy and list building!
The basics of your email list
If you listen to any marketing podcasts, like The Goal Digger by Jenna Kutcher, Online Marketing Made Easy by Amy Porterfield, or any other ones, you’ve probably heard them rave about creating an email list. While this topic may seem like such a buzz in the online entrepreneur world these days, it is certainly an important topic to cover. If Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook disappeared tomorrow, would you have a way of contacting your audience?
The truth is y’all, we don’t own any of our social media channels. And as much as it pains me to say, with the amount of time I’ve invested to understand Pinterest, they could all be gone tomorrow. Additionally, communicating via email with our audience allows us to further nurture the relationship, increasing the chances of them purchasing from us when the time is right!
Setting up an email list these days doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. There are a ton of options that you can use and connect to your website to start collecting lists today. Here are a couple of options:
Flodesk*:
This beautiful email marketing service provider is hands down the best one I’ve tried! It’s incredibly easy to use, and not to mention beautiful. It actually makes it fun to do email marketing.
Cost: Use my link to get 50% off for life! That is an incredible deal, at just $19/mo regardless of the size of your list!
Mailerlite*:
The personal free favorite over here at Hygge Design Co. This is the email service provider I used after switching from MailChimp. Mailerlite is very intuitive when it comes to creating campaigns and signup forms, and has been great for keeping track of all our subscribers in various lists based on interests. Our absolute favorite thing about MailerLite is how easy it is to set up welcome sequences that actually make sense! I love a good visual, and MailerLite does such a great job at this.
Cost: Mailerlite is free up to 1,000 subscribers. Sign up here for free and get a $20 credit on your account!
MailChimp:
MailChimp is another popular entry-level email marketing service provider. This may be the most well-known list building service for those just starting out, and can be a great option to get familiar with building your list, setting up emails for your subscribers etc.
Cost: MailChimp is free up to 2,000 subscribers.
ConvertKit:
ConvertKit is one of the most popular list building services for those that have outgrown the free versions of MailerLite and MailChimp. ConvertKit is known for its great tagging and organization, which helps you send your audience more tailored newsletters and offers.
Cost: ConvertKit starts at $29/mo (up to 1000 subscribers), and will cost $49/mo for 1k-3k subscribers.
How to get people to sign up for your list
In this post I talked about the importance of creating a solid Pinterest strategy with a clear goal in mind. As we try to grow our email list, the strategy part becomes even more crucial. Consider how often you are asked to give up your own email – what does it take for you to hand it over? How likely are you to approve of someone entering your own inbox? The same goes for our audience. Let’s break this process down into three simple steps:
1. Get people to your site
In this case we are going to be using Pinterest to drive traffic to our site. While this post will not go into depths on this topic, the basics are important to cover. We need to create Pins that are visually appealing to our target audience, write descriptions (with keywords) that will get us found on the SmartFeed, and create clear call to actions encouraging people to click through to our site.
2. Create Relevant Content
As we are creating content for our site and Pinterest, with the intention of drawing people in and collect emails, we need to create content that is relevant. The content needs to be not only relevant to our audience, but also has to be relevant to the kind of service or product we are going to be offering. Want to share a great recipe you just found? I’m sure your audience would love it, but honestly, if you’re offering wedding photography, it may not be the smartest move.
Step into the shoes of your ideal client for a minute, and consider what they need.
3. Provide Relevant Opt-In Incentive
Freebie, content upgrade, opt-in incentive, etc. they all mean the same thing and refer to the thing you get in exchange for giving up your email. This could be a workbook, an ecourse, a checklist, or a guide, basically anything that provides value to your ideal client.
Just like our content has to be relevant, so does our content upgrade. Not only does the content upgrade need to be relevant for the specific post we are writing, but it also needs to be relevant and of value to our audience.
Your website can certainly have more than one opt-in freebie available, but don’t let this hold you from starting your list. Create one thing that you can offer your audience now, and you can always add more later as you get a chance!
A couple of opt-in ideas:
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Workbook
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Checklist
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E Course
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Guide
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Step by step instructions
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Free graphics
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Email subject line workbook
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Quiz
Again, make sure
that this is something that is relevant for your audience. For instance, if you are catering to brides, a business building checklist probably won’t be your best option! Use this opportunity to further serve your audience and provide things of value to them.
The Rule of Seven
Have you ever heard of The Rule of Seven? It basically states that your audience has to see something seven times before taking action. This means that sticking your opt-in form at the bottom of your site hoping for the best may not be the most proactive solution. While you can certainly add your signup for there, you want to consider other places as well to increase the likelihood that someone will sign up.
Here are a couple of places you can put your sign up form:
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Footer of your site
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Above the fold on the home page
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Sidebar of your blog
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Within your blog posts
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At the end of your blog post
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As a pop-up with a timer
The more frequently you are able to show up offering relevant and timely resources, in the right places, the more likely you are that your ideal client will enroll in your list, giving you the opportunity to continue to build a solid relationship!
Alright, y’all, those are my best tips for converting Pinterest traffic into paying clients through an email list.
* this is an affiliate link, which means I may get some benefit at no extra cost to you!
