Subscribers or, Followers: Why Building an Email List is the Best Investment You’ll Ever Make!

Building long term connections!

“Your email list is your business. Everything else is just marketing.” — Dan Kennedy

A month back I happened to see a post from a LinkedIn creator.

She was talking about an instance where another top creator on LinkedIn who had lacs of followers, was suddenly banned.

On reading I got to know, that he has no clue why they banned him and that he was trying to reach out to their support team.

After 2 days, his account was finally reinstated.

LinkedIn gave him a lame reason for banning him

It then took another 15 days for his followers to be re-instated.

Now, imagine if they did not re-instate him at all.

His business was gone..

This is the case with a lot of us building our businesses on rented lands like LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

For that matter, it is the same with YouTube as well.

We have been through that!

My wife had a YouTube channel with over a 65000 subscribers long back in 2012.

Some guy reported a music that we used as copyrighted and we got three strikes back to back and the channel was banned.

Back then their support system was lame.

And it took us almost 2 months to get some response from them.

Finally they reinstated our channel but all our videos and subscribers were all gone..

They said they couldn’t reinstate all of that.

Both these stories have a few things in common.

The algorithms and the channel’s policies.

But there was another problem as well.

It was the overreliance on a platform we didn’t control.

We had invested everything in followers, subscribers and engagement, without ever focusing on building an email list.

So, if there’s one key takeaway from these two stories, it’s this:

Followers are borrowed. Subscribers are owned.

When you rely entirely on social platforms, you’re playing by their rules.

They can change the game anytime.

With email, however, you control the relationship.

You decide when to show up, how to communicate, and what to offer.

Today, I’ll walk through seven detailed steps to start building your email list, so you never have to face the uncertainty that we did.

7 Steps to Build a High-Impact Email List

These seven steps aren’t just ideas—they’re proven, actionable strategies you can start using today. Whether you’re a creator, freelancer, or business owner, these tactics will help you grow your list with purpose.

So let us look each one of those in some detail.

Offer Something Irresistible: The Lead Magnet

Let’s start with the first rule of email marketing: People don’t just hand over their email addresses without a reason.

They need a strong enough reason to give out that email address.

That’s where lead magnets come in.

A lead magnet is a freebie—something valuable that you give away in exchange for someone’s email address.

How do you put together a lead magnet, if you are new to this entire thing?

So here’s a formula you can use : Solve a small but urgent problem.

Your lead magnet doesn’t have to be complicated.

In fact, simple and actionable works best. Think of these options:

• Checklist: “5 Steps to Find Your Personal Brand Voice”
• Template: A ghostwriting project outline to help clients plan their book
• Mini-course: A 3-day crash course on writing high-converting copy

The key is to align your offer with your audience’s most pressing challenges.

Use tools like Canva or Google Docs to create a professional-looking resource.

Remember: relevance matters more than polish. A quick win builds trust and pulls them into your world.

I have multiple lead magnets that I keep promoting.

The best one that works for me is a simple checklist.. It is the most downloaded lead magnet with over 18,000 downloads.

Mention Your Email List Organically in Social Posts

Your audience on social media needs gentle nudges to join your list.

The best way?

Include them as casual mentions into your posts.

Here’s an example:

“Love this tip? I share deeper insights and exclusive templates in my newsletter—link in the comments!”

The trick is to keep it natural and integrate your list-building efforts into your regular content.

Don’t make every post a sales pitch for your newsletter, but make sure people know it exists.

People need reminders—often more than once—to take action.

I have used this on multiple platforms including Threads.

And it has worked amazingly well.

With a follower count of only about 245 on threads, I was able to get about 96 subscribers.

That’s amazing for that small amount of followers.

A subtle invitation goes a long way when your content resonates.

Use LinkedIn/Twitter/Threads as the Top of Your Funnel

Think of social media, as the starting point of your relationship with your audience.

Not the final destination.

Platforms like LinkedIn are great for making introductions, but your goal should be to nurture deeper connections off-platform—in your inbox.

Here’s how:

• Share insights and expertise on your preferred social media channels to capture attention.
• Drive that attention toward your email list by offering exclusive content (lead magnets).
• Use your emails to nurture the relationship with value-packed tips, stories, and resources.

On LinkedIn, visibility is unpredictable.

One week your post might get 10,000 views, the next it might get 500.

But with an email list, you control when and how often your audience hears from you.

Set Up a Simple Landing Page: No Tech Overwhelm

Creating a landing page can feel like a tough thing to do, but it doesn’t have to be.

With tools like ConvertKit, BirdSend, Carrd, or even WordPress, you can set up a simple, clean landing page in under an hour.

Here’s what to include:

• A compelling headline that clearly states what the visitor will get.
• A brief description explaining the benefit of your lead magnet.
• A frictionless sign-up form—just ask for their name and email.

Remember: The fewer the steps, the higher the conversions.

Don’t complicate things with long forms.

Your landing page should feel like an easy “yes” for visitors.

Deliver Value Immediately: The Welcome Sequence Matters

If someone signs up for your newsletter and doesn’t hear from you soon, they’ll forget why they joined.

That’s why your first 3-5 emails matter the most.

A simple welcome sequence might look like this:

• Email 1: Introduce yourself, thank them for joining and share your lead magnet with some bonus tips.
• Email 2: Ask them about their biggest challenge to spark engagement.
• Email 3: Provide a case study or personal story to build trust.
• Email 4: Tease what’s coming next (your next newsletter, webinar, or course).

This is a very simple Welcome sequence.

But I have some longer sequences that I use which helps keep the engagement alive.

You can choose to either run long sequences or, keep sending broadcasts, whichever you prefer.

Tools like ConvertKit, BirdSend or, Aweber can automate the sequence for you.

The goal is to deliver value immediately and establish yourself as someone worth paying attention to.

Segment Your List for Personalization

The magic of email marketing lies in personalization.

Not every subscriber is interested in the same things, so segmenting your audience can help you tailor your content.

Here’s how to do it:

• Track click behavior to understand what interests your audience.
• Segment based on lead magnet type (e.g., those who downloaded a branding checklist vs. a copywriting template).
• Send personalized emails based on interests to boost engagement.

Personalized emails feel more relevant, which leads to higher open and click-through rates.

Stay Consistent: Frequency Builds Trust

Consistency is what separates great email marketers from average ones.

You don’t have to email your subscribers every day – but you do need to show up regularly.

Whether you send emails weekly or biweekly, stick to a schedule.

Why?

Because trust is built over time.

If your audience knows when to expect your emails, they’re more likely to open them.

Disappearing for weeks or months signals unreliability, and people will quickly lose interest.

Even if you only send a quick story, tip, or reflection—showing up matters.

Promote

Finally, it is time to promote your offers.

You have two options to do it.

1. Do a hard sell
2. Contextual promotion

The worst thing to do when promoting your offer is to do a hard sell, immediately after the first email.

But at the same time, it is also important to make sure that you subscribers know about what you have to offer as early as possible.

And since the first couple of emails are the ones that will get the best open rates and click through rates, you will want to do that first nudge in the first couple of emails itself.

How do you do it?

If you are part of the email list for any of the top creators, you will see how subtly they promote their offers in the first email itself.

It won’t be a hard pushy pitch.

It would be a subtle mention of their service, telling you that they are there in case you need any additional help from them.

This is the best way to do it.

Once your subscribers are about 5-6 emails old, start promoting your offer in every email that you send.

Mention your services contextually using stories. This will get you the most conversion rates.

Once in a while, you could even do a hard pitch. But don’t over do it.

Need a Lead Magnet Idea?

Here Are 3 ChatGPT Prompts to Get Started

If you’re struggling to come up with a lead magnet idea, these ChatGPT prompts will help you create one tailored to your niche:

For Ghostwriting Freelancers:

“Help me create a checklist that guides aspiring authors on how to turn their book idea into a finished manuscript. Suggest 5-7 actionable steps.”

For Personal Branding Freelancers:

“Suggest a downloadable worksheet that helps professionals discover their personal brand voice. Include questions and exercises to clarify their unique value.”

For Copywriters:

“Help me create a mini-course on writing high-converting landing pages. Outline the 3 key lessons and what resources I should include.”

If you need a slightly more detailed prompt, you can reply to this email and I will send you a template that you can use.

Final Thoughts: Turn Followers into Subscribers and Build an Asset That Lasts

Social media is important, but an email list is essential.

It’s the only platform where you control the conversation, and it’s an asset that will grow with you over time.

Start with small steps.

Engage with your subscribers regularly and stay consistent.

The goal isn’t just to build a list—it’s to build relationships.

What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to growing your email list?

Hit reply—I’d love to help!

Recommended Newsletters

Here are few newsletters that I would recommend that you sign up to if you are interested in learning the art of running a side-hustle:

• Write, Build, Scale – https://sparklp.co/p/40cf6480e8
• Why we buy – https://sparklp.co/p/6d27bbcf8b
• The Book Bub – https://sparklp.co/p/3bcef5f1d4
• The Stacked Marketer – https://sparklp.co/p/5c2039bc2c

Sign up to these and follow them. You will get a lot of information and content for your blog posts, podcasts and even social media posts.

I will share more such ideas in my future newsletters.

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I have pages and pages on information in my Notion Second Brain, so that I can find them and use them when ever I need.

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