Today on the Virtual Visionary Podcast, we are looking at why your online business needs an email list and how you can start and grow your email list from day one!

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What we covered in this episode:

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Episode References:

Come connect with me on Instagram: @kara_cahill

My Signature Course: The ‘Gram Guide

Flodesk: Get 50% off your subscription

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FREE Masterclass

This Episode was brought to you by my FREE MASTERCLASS: How to make more sales on Instagram without posting everyday Access the free training here >>

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Transcript:

Welcome back to another episode of the virtual visionary podcast, i’m your host Kara Cahill. Today we are chatting about one of the biggest mistakes I see online entrepreneurs make when it comes to their overall strategy with Instagram, which is dun dun dun…not building your email list.

So if you know anything about me, I am all about Instagram! I love instagram and I think it is the most important platform for online entrepreneurs to be on because it has so many features that allow you to directly connect and engage with your audience and also allow you to quickly build an audience if you are just starting out.

However, if there is one thing I would do differently from day one is focus on building my email list alongside my Instagram following…and before you tune me out and think oh kara I’m not ready for that, that sounds too hard…hang with me.

So while Instagram is often this shiny fun object, it is easy to put all of our focus there. However, it is important to remember that while our following might be growing, we don’t own that audience. Mark zuckerburg does, and they ultimately have control over your audience so you are essentially building your business on borrowed land…very powerful land but borrowed nonetheless.

Just imagine if Instagram decided to shut down, which I don’t anticipate happening, but if it did, how would you get in touch with all of those followers you worked so hard to get? If your account got hacked, or IG goes down for whatever reason, I have seen so many people I follow get their accounts hacked and i’m sure we all remember the slew of IG shut downs that had everyone panicking…how would you continue to tell those people about your offers or services…you wouldn’t be able to!

Solely building your business and audience on Instagram is putting all your eggs in one basket which is not the most effective way to do things if you are working to build a sustainable long term business.

So, what I suggest is starting to grow your email list alongside your instagram account. That way, as your following grows, your email list will grow with it. There are so many pros doing it this way. You are able to build that profitable asset in your email list, you are also able to connect with your new followers in multiple places and have multiple touch points which is important for building the know/like/trust factor which is essential for making sales. But if you set up your email sales sequence correctly, you are also able to make sales on the backend which is a great way to start making money  and sales with your IG account.

Now building an email list does not have to be hard. I let the fear of the tech hold me back for way too long which I don’t want to happen to you. My favorite email marketing platform that I use in my business today is Flodesk. It is super user friendly and intuitive and allows you to set up your email list quickly!  I will put a link in the show notes. But as soon as I got flodesk I was able to quickly start growing my email list without all the tech overwhelm.

So if you have been thinking about starting your email list but have been procrastinating, this is your reminder to get it rocking and rolling so that you can start building an audience that you own. 

If you are also serious about learning how to make more sales from Instagram, make sure to go sign up for my free training all about how to make more sales from Instagram without posting everyday. Head to karaachill.com/freetraining to save your seat and I will see you there!

Thanks for tuning in to today’s episode!