[Free Action Guide Edition]

Creating assets for a list building funnel is not complicated to do. Create a lead magnet, publish a squeeze page and you're off to the races - so the theory goes.

But for early stage businesses, building a funnel that is effective, i.e., attracts enough subscribers who actually pay you (before you run out of money, sanity or time), is not so easy to do.

And if you don’t have enough capital or resources to take an “if we throw enough shit some of it will stick” approach, then you have to be smarter - or work harder - if you want to break-even over time.

So, the aim of this series of list building action guides is firstly, to show how (emphasis on the ‘how’) a quality over quantity approach can help build a mailing list, that can deliver above average opens, engagement and sales - and help reduce costs over time.

And secondly, to share a range of simple processes and useful tools you can use to effectively, efficiently and productively deliver the quality assets your list building funnel will need to succeed, especially if resources are stretched and you can ill afford to waste time.

The money’s in the list. Trite Or True?

If all the big-time Charlie’s are saying it and their millions of followers are repeating it, then building a list to make money, must be the thing to do, right?

Maybe.

Here’s the thing…

If you take this trite advice at face value - you could also be setting yourself up for an uphill hill struggle, which ultimately delivers a loss-making fail.

Putting aside the fact that you probably don’t have gazillions of followers hanging on your every word (yet). You haven’t figured out how to cost-effectively get traffic to your site (yet). The more entrepreneurs, businesses (and spammers) marketing by email there is, the more challenging it becomes to get the attention of those most likely to open, engage and actually buy from you.

So your mailing list can, end up swallowing precious resources only to deliver a list of fat, flabby disinterested subscribers that force you to work twice as hard for half the results.

A hamsters wheel comes to mind.

A Viable & Profitable Model?

The truth is, email marketing can only be a viable and profitable model if it delivers…

Enough opens.

Enough engagement with your content.

And of course… 

Enough actual sales.

Low-quality traffic leads to low-quality subscribers who don't engage or actually buy stuff. Result being, each customer costs more, eats into more of your profit, which can contribute to your business becoming unviable in the end.

Not what we want at all.

And so, creating a list building funnel that’s actually effective (profitable in other words), requires the creation of many digital assets and multiple pieces of targeted content. Which, even if you have a team of talent at your disposal, takes precious time and resources to do well. And it’s even harder to pull off if you're flying solo and the clock is ticking of course.

But, you can put the razor blades away, because the good news is, you can do it, and do it well, if that is, you have…

The Best Fit Audience For You

The way to get more personal, more specific and more in-tune with your best-fit subscribers; the way to find prospects with least resistance to you; the way to attract clients ready and willing (and who love what you do) is…

Not to approach your list-building efforts as some sort of vanity-metrics numbers game, but to focus on attracting, then building relationships with, the very best audience for you instead. That’s the kind of audience that follows, listens, engages and is happy to stump up for your products, services or time. Simply because their needs match your deeds and they want to get moving a-s-a-p.

Easier to say to say than do perhaps. And so this series of list building action guides deals with the practicalities of creating the digital assets a quality-over-quantity list requires - with a balance of efficiency and efficacy front of mind.

Strategic Digital Assets Is Where It’s At

Strategically developing list-building assets built on foundations of specific audience targeting and relevant messaging, enables better understanding of what triggers reactions and motivates actions. And it’s this in turn, that empowers the creation of content that better resonates. Offers that are more relevant. And copy that clearly connects outcomes your audience seeks with value you can provide.

And for busy entrepreneurs like you and I, the key that can unlock the ability to do this most efficiently, productively and cost-effectively is strategic digital asset building. Unfortunately, delivering digital assets for a list-building funnel that’s more quality, than quantity, does take time, money and resources to achieve. And given that funnels only work, if the maths work, it’s easy to come unstuck - if you deploy those resources inefficiently.

Lucky for you then, the forged-in-the-field processes and tools that take pride-of-place in this series of action guides…

Can help you get things started quickly.

Can reliably guide you towards delivery.

And can do so, with a balance of efficiency and efficacy, which, if I’m honest, has sometimes been lacking, as I’ve worked towards my own - often self-imposed - deadlines in the past.

But not anymore I’m happy to say…

Sanity Saving Processes Borne Of Necessity

A challenge of designing, creating and connecting all digital assets for a funnel yourself, is it can require a deep immersion in a particular skill category over a lengthy period of time. Not that the immersion itself is a problem per se - this after all, is where progress is made. The re-emergence and accompanying re-calibration to a very different task - you may not have thought about for a while - is where the problem lies.

When I’m working on a funnel, I might, for example, be writing copy for several weeks, before switching to designing a PDF. I could then find myself setting up email automation, editing videos or building landing pages. Then moving into a testing, tweaking and optimisation phase - before starting the cycle all over again. A lot of hat switching, which without some care and attention, can end up hurting your head.

Of course, based on previous experience, I always ‘knew’ I could deliver what’s needed in theory. But the reality of these skill-set reboots was too much time spent wracking my brains, searching my hard drive and reviewing past work for reminders of “how I did this or that last time”. Time and headspace that really could have been put to better use.

So borne of the necessity for more efficiency during these times, I resolved to begin the process of documenting (my processes that is). Aim being, to provide a safety net of quick reminders, starting points, templates and checklists that could be relied upon to help me get things moving swiftly, utilise my time productively, and also - save me some sanity.

Sharing Processes & Tools For Quick Starts, Prompt Finishes & More Effective & Efficient Working

Result being, I now do have simple, logical and reliable processes and tools at my disposal. And I do now get things started, delivered and done, with more consistently effective results.

Customer Avatar? I have a process for that.

Lead Magnet? I have a process for that.

Squeeze Page? Yup, I have a process for that (and pretty much every digital asset an effective sales funnel requires as well).

And while that might well all be very nice for me, it might also be quite useful for you too if...

1. You're taking a DIY approach and find yourself stuck or wasting time and resources, then these processes have been designed to help get you moving in the right direction sooner rather than later and with a minimal amount fuss.

2. You don't have the time or inclination for a DIY route and you're considering delegating the work, then sharing the approach, processes and tools I use, can provide you with insight into how SAS products and services work before you spend a bean.

The SAS TOFU List Building Action Guide Series

While it is my intention to expand this first list building action guide series into a full funnel course over time, for now, the most obvious and logical place to begin is with the basic foundational elements. These are the basic digital assets needed, to begin building an effective quality-over-quantity mailing list.

Specifically then, this series of - free for now - action guides includes…

• The foundations of a Awesome Customer Avatar (not just any old average avatar)
• The foundations of a Strategic Lead Magnet (not just any old lame magnet)
• The foundations of a Squeeze Page with an above average conversion rate (not just, well - you get the idea)

All of which include simple to follow processes, designed to help you...