"Build A HUGE List Even Starting From Zero !" 

A quick glimpse at your watch tells you it is now only seven o'clock  and there is even time to relax before guests arrive.

With the flash of confetti poppers, you are transported through time to just seconds before midnight. 

All over the world people turn toward televisions watching compete strangers hug and kiss in Times Square! A brand new year is here and with it, all of the expectant hope that "newness" brings. 

And tonight, in your own cozy home amongst all the frivolity as the ball was dropped in Times Square, the full weight of this disaster delivered its final crushing blow. 

You're all alone, nobody came.

You didn't know your list!

Ken was a recovering alcoholic so he didn't dare come. Pam and Steve couldn't stay out late because of their new born baby etc, etc.

In the business world:

My friend, quite frankly it can be like that, you can build a store or make a website, stock it with the most wonderful things, do everything correctly, invite the world to come in and enjoy, only to think that when you hear footsteps of customers... you find it's nothing but your own heart beat in your ears.  

How can something this bad happen?

It's often repeated that, "if you build it, they will come" but that is seldom the case. 

Yes, you have to build it to give them something to come to, but getting them to come, is marketing. 

And marketing is what it is all about.

There are lots of tricks and techniques but when it comes to making a killing in  marketing only "THE LIST" consistently delivers the coup de grace! 

What I mean to say is that the list is to marketing what guest would be to a party.

Everything!

If like in the story, you knew more about what the people on your guest list wanted, you definitely would not have spent that new years alone and dejected.

THE LIST is  everything!

It's what gamblers would call a sure bet because like counting cards...when you have built a good list you can predict with almost certainty the percentage of sales you'll receive from any given offer.

As your list gets bigger so do the sales.

It works in percentages!

It works offline and online the same.

You can bum around and by that I mean bum marketing (using every free avenue to bring people to your sales page.) But essentially you'll be wasting much of your time because if you don't "list market" anyone who was originally scared off by your sales page is gone and a lost cause. 

Does that mean bum marketing doesn't work? 

No.

But it does work better, as do other marketing strategies when you combine them with list marketing.

List Marketing:

List marketing is about grabbing a hold of every eyeball that ever wanders your way, no matter how they got there.

You do this by offering them something of real value for the irresistible and painless price of simply giving you their email and name. 

From there it's a matter of keeping their eyeballs on you as you build a relationship offering them free and low priced solutions while you learn in greater detail their needs and their price pain threshold. 

The next logical step is sorting eyeballs or customers so that you can increase the value of each relationship by only supplying each group what you know they need at a price they are willing to pay. 

This beats working your tuchus off trying to find and bring in new eyeballs to every new thing you have to offer.

The best part about list marketing:

Studies show that the longer someone does business with somebody, the more comfortable they are spending more each time they do business. 

Customers are willing to risk more with a business or person who has shown them a track record of providing value. 

This is why people say the money is in the list.

When marketers show you that they sell products for hundreds of dollars at a pop, they often neglect to explain the steps it takes to bring a customer across that hundred dollar threshold.

In reality they may have taken years building a relationship with that customer to the point where the trust bond is so high they perhaps could have made the sale for double the price.

The worst nightmare is not having a good customer list.

Can you imagine having someone come into your shoppe', buy everything on your shelf and then disappear into the crowd never to be seen again? 

Uggg!!! 

Please come back...............!

You are my new best long lost friend!

If you don't market your list this might just be the blues you're doomed to sing.

What you need to do is direct everything else you do in marketing towards your list.

When you Optimize for the search engines make sure your driving eyeballs to your opt-in page so you can get their email and start making a beautiful relationship.

When you're blogging make sure those who find you interesting know where to sign up to learn even more!

If you market with articles, use your list to hang onto the attention your articles have gotten for you.

If you pay per click market make doubly sure you sign-up those expensive sets of eyeballs.

And as I said before, you can bum around with bum marketing and that works great and if you find a way to make one of your messages go viral then rock on! 

But whenever or wherever you get an eyeball looking in your direction I don't care if you have to use staples, don't let that eyeball get away.

Of course I'm kidding about the staples  but I hope you getting the sense of urgency in my demeanor as I say again