Wellness Professional Corner: Starting Your List

I'm going to cut to the chase.

If you're a fitness or wellness entrepreneur and you're not keeping, managing, and growing your email list - you are not only leaving money on the table, you're not serving your clients as well (or as easily) as  I am sure you desire!

Here is the Number 1 reason you need to tend to your list (or start one) right now!

#1 : You Own Your List!
No matter how many followers you have on Instagram or TikTok the reality is that consumer information on social platforms are not yours. As wonderful as the free world of social media is the truth is that it's evolved rapidly and with it the ability to reach consumers organically through it has shrunk.

Bottom line: exclusively relying on social for communication leaves you vulnerable. And if Facebook chooses to change an algorithm or TikTok decides to change it's policies, before you know it your entire communication and marketing strategy could be in jeopardy. 

There are many ways to start capturing emails and in future blogs I'll chat about that.

But for now your job is to pick an email marketing provider. For those with 500 people or less I recommend Mailchimp. Here's why...

Free & Low Cost to Begin
It's free to begin and if you choose to pay for the service it scales as you scale. If and when you want to switch platforms, be it because you intend to offer digital courses or need a more robust customer management and e-marketing platform, it will be simple to download your list and move forward.

Landing Pages (even before a website!)
Mailchimp also has low-cost paid versions that offer landing pages. So if you're not quite ready to take the plunge in building out a full-scale website, a landing page is all you need to take your list building to the next level. 

Plays Nicely With Other Platforms
Another great thing about Mailchimp is that it integrates with many other software platforms. Basic HTML functions can help you develop email newsletter sign up links once you do (and if you do) decide to build out a website. I've personally worked with Mailchimp integrations via Weebly, Wix, Wordpress, and many different CRM softwares.  Even if you don't end up with Mailchimp forever you can go the distance with a free or low-investment provider for a long time!

Now, is Mailchimp the only option? No way! There are many great free and low cost providers out there. And truly when you're getting started it's good to anticipate that at some point your tech may change. But, dont let choosing a provider stall you. Start building your list now - it just may be the most important first step in going from dabbling to dazzling when it comes to your small fitness & wellness biz.