July 28, 2025 • 44 mins
Your followers don't belong to you, but your e-mail list does!
In this episode, I’m joined by Survivor alum and self-proclaimed “Fresh Princess of Email,” Liz Wilcox - and she’s sharing her best strategies for connecting with people and making sales through e-mail marketing.
Whether you’ve been avoiding email marketing because it feels boring, sleazy, or just overwhelming, this convo is packed with simple, practical shifts that will help you build an e-mail list that works for you - and have fun doing it.
We talk about:
- Why your email list is the most important asset in your business
- How to grow your list using what you already have (no tech overload or fancy funnels required)
- What makes a killer freebie (and why yours might be missing the mark)
- Mistakes you might be making on your lead magnet landing page
- Creative ideas for growing your audience fast - even offlin
- And how to choose list-building strategies that fit YOUR strengths and vibe
Liz’s whole approach is about keeping it simple, keeping it human, and keeping it you.
Links & References:
- Join us at our next PWR Virtual Speed Networking Event!
- For even deeper connections, check out the Powerful Women Rising Community!
- CLICK HERE to get Liz's free welcome sequence template, 3 newsletter samples, and 52 subject lines - or check out her $9/month Email Marketing Membership that’ll save you hours and get your emails DONE.
Connect with Your Host!
Melissa Snow is a Business Relationship Strategist dedicated to empowering women in entrepreneurship. She founded the Powerful Women Rising Community, which provides female business owners with essential support and resources for business growth.
Melissa's other mission is to revolutionize networking, promoting authenticity and genuine connections over sleazy sales tactics. She runs an incredible monthly Virtual Speed Networking Event which you can attend once at no cost using the code FIRSTTIME
She lives in Colorado Springs with two dogs, her soul cat Giorgio and any number of foster kittens. She loves iced coffee, Taylor Swift, and Threads.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello Liz, Welcome to the Powerful Women Rising
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Oh my gosh, so excited to be here.
Let's talk, baby.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Yes, I'm so excited to have you.
We're talking about emailmarketing today, but before we
dive into all the good stuff,tell everybody a little bit
about you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah.
So what up?
I'm Liz Wilcox and you knowthat feeling you get when you
listen to an awesome podcastlike Melissa's and people come
on and they start feeling youget when you listen to an
awesome podcast like Melissa'sand people come on and they
start screaming at you you gotto email, you got to email, and
so you get pumped up, you loginto kid or active campaign or
whatever, and then you promptlyfeel kind of dumb because you
have no idea what the heck towrite.
(00:39):
Well, I eliminate that problem.
That's what I do online.
I love to make email contentsuper, super simple.
It's all about just getting inthere and getting to the point
and getting out.
I've got a couple of fun factsthat we might talk about along
the way, but I think the biggestthing you got to know about me
is I started as an RV travelblogger.
(01:02):
That's how I really got intoknowing how to connect with
people.
So I wasn't, you know, justthis B2B2B2B2B person.
I started, you know, marketingto usually men in their 60s was
the majority of my audience, andI just learned how to talk to
them, how to teach them aboutdigital products and how to sell
(01:24):
, and eventually I was like, hmm, I think I know something that
other people don't.
So I sold that business and Iwent all in teaching email
marketing.
And now I'm talking to you andMelissa Super exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I love that.
I really love that.
That's your background too,because so often I think we
listen to these interviews andwe're like, okay, yeah, good for
you, that worked for you.
But it's really like youselling to people who are then
like selling to other businesses, who are selling to other
businesses Like is this reallyjust a giant pyramid?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Can I say the word incestuous on this?
And you know, I'm not above it.
Y'all, I teach email marketingto you know, email marketers,
right, and you, listening, I'mnot above it, y'all, I teach
email marketing to you know,email marketers, right, and you,
listening, you are an emailmarketer.
I'm including you in that.
But, yeah, I love that.
I started out in the travelindustry, too, and y'all our
(02:17):
viewers, like I said, men intheir 60s, they did not even
know what a digital course was.
My first product was an ebook.
They're like, what's an ebook?
They would buy it and they'd belike, well, what do you mean?
I'm not getting a physical copy.
I'm like, why do you think itwas $5, bro?
Like, come on.
And so I really had to navigate.
You know, talking directly toconsumers and not just consumers
(02:40):
consumers that you know this ispre-pandemic, right.
So they don't know a lot abouttechnology, the internet.
They're, you know, cautiousabout putting in their credit
card.
Again, you know, I feel likeonce the pandemic hit, that
became less of a thing.
More people, no matter whattheir age, are buying online.
But this was 2016, right?
(03:01):
So they were like I don't know,is your site secure?
Do you have, you know an SSL.
You know they were reallyconcerned about that stuff.
So I just found a way tonavigate that by being, you know
, super personal, right andpersonable right and talking to
them like humans and not tryingto just get at their wallets,
(03:25):
trying to get at their issuesand solve them.
And yeah, I just noticed, youknow, my friends were struggling
with that and I was like, waita second, I actually care a
little bit more about my friendsthan these dudes in their 60s.
So I'm going to sell this blogand I'm going to teach what I
know.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
That's awesome and that's one of the things I
really love about what you teachand how you teach it.
I've been in your emailmarketing program for a while
and your membership and it's soeasy to apply what you teach to
anyone in any industry, in anyfield, right?
I mean, obviously, the way thatI'm talking to female
entrepreneurs is not going to bethe same way that Janice is
(04:07):
talking to the people she'sselling her like quilting
patterns to right, but the waythat you teach email marketing
is going to work for me and it'sgoing to work for her, because
you help us kind of personalizeit and it's not.
We're not just like copying andpasting from chat GPT.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Thank you.
I love that.
That's so funny that youbrought in the quilting pattern,
because today is like my day ofcalls and I had two little
coaching calls, one with atravel blogger and the other
with a crochet blogger who wastrying to sell more patterns in
a membership.
And you know it's using thosesame tips and I'm sure we'll get
into it.
And you know it's using thosesame tips and I'm sure we'll get
into it.
Of you know, connecting withyour subscribers, showing that
(04:49):
you're invested in them beforethey invest back into you, right
, but it really is applicableacross all industries because at
the end of the day, you knowwe've mentioned B2B, b2c.
It's really H2H right, human tohuman right, even if you're
working with corporate clients,like I have a longtime
(05:11):
subscriber.
She's in data viz right, so datavisualization.
She works with the UN.
She works most of her people onher list, aregov right, and you
would think that's the mostpolished, most professional
Y'all.
She's sending pictures of herkids she got five kids, right.
She's sending pictures of herkids.
She just did a two-hour liveyesterday and sent people to
(05:36):
that, where she's justtroubleshooting working in
Microsoft Excel, and she's themost personable email that I'm
on anyone's list, right, andshe's like.
That just makes me stand out ina sea of boring, because I'm
actually talking to humans andthey're like oh yeah, I remember
Ann because Ann showed me apicture of her kid.
(05:59):
I'm gonna hire Ann becauseshe's top of mind, right, and
she knows what she's talkingabout.
So it doesn't matter whatindustry you're in, you know
she's top of mind, right, andshe knows what she's talking
about.
So it doesn't matter whatindustry you're in, my dear, you
can be personable and it willwork.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yes, I love that and that's exactly what I teach
people about networking too isadding that personal touch and
that human piece of it.
Because when you remember, whenyou share that part of yourself
or when you remember like oh, Ijust had that conversation with
Liz last week about her I don'tknow vacuum cleaner that broke
and I go to follow up with youafter the networking event a
(06:33):
couple of weeks later and I'mlike, hey, hope you got your
vacuum cleaner fixed.
Like it's not that big of adeal, but for you it's like, oh,
she actually like saw me as ahuman and it mattered enough for
her to remember that my vacuumcleaner was broken.
Like that matters to people,especially in this day and age
when everything is so automatedand chat, gpt and you know on
(06:54):
screens and for people to betreated like humans by other
humans is huge.
Amen.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I love that Melissa.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
So let's back up a little bit to what the point of
building an email list is.
Seems like a silly question,but we also hear a lot from
people like get your people offof Facebook, get them on your
email list.
What are you doing with youremail list?
So like, why does that actuallymatter?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Listen, okay.
So I know you're probably doingthe dishes, you're in carpool,
you're going for a walk, but Iwant you to do this anyway.
Raise your hand for me.
Raise your hand if you werealive in like 2022.
And you remember when abillionaire bought a social
media platform?
Right, keep your hand raised.
If you remember the next year,you know he changed the name.
(07:46):
It imploded upon itself.
It lost all of its sponsorshipdollars, half of its users, you
know, and continues to loseusers by the droves in 2025.
Yeah, you know, that does nothappen with email.
That does not happen with email.
So, with social media, one guyliterally owns the whole
(08:09):
shebangabang and he can say whatworks and what doesn't.
Right, we're constantlycomplaining the algorithm, the
algorithm, the algorithm, right,but really it's just one or two
guys at the top saying theseare what the goals are and all
the minions.
You know they change thealgorithm, they change policies.
You know, and you're stuck withwhat you're stuck with, right,
(08:34):
I know, at the beginning of 2025, there was talk about the
TikTok ban.
Right, if you are building yourentire audience on, you know,
for what was formerly known asTwitter, on TikTok, facebook,
instagram threads, whatever, youare subject to the approval of
those people, right, and you aresubject to their whim.
(08:56):
It feels like that, right, likewhy did they change that?
It was working.
But with email, email is sodifferent, it's owned by many
different people.
You know, you own a littlepiece of it, I own a little
piece of it Microsoft, google,yahoo, omnisend, kit,
activecampaign, flowdesk,protonmail, hotmail.
(09:20):
You know there's all thesedifferent players.
So in order for email to make achange, it takes a lot of
energy behind it.
Right, it's not like socialmedia where it's just yep, this
is the new policy, here we go,right.
And so that's why email is soimportant, because you don't
(09:41):
want to build on rented land, soto speak.
Right, you want to be able toown your email list, own your
following.
You can't own it on Facebook.
Facebook could shut you down,put you in jail tomorrow, but
with email, because it's adecentralized platform, it's
very difficult to be banned,right?
So you get your email list, youget your subscribers, and
(10:05):
whether you choose to use Kittoday and you change to Flowdesk
or MailerLite tomorrow, you cantake those email addresses with
you.
That's why everyone and theirmother, including me and Melissa
, are hollering at you.
You know, grow your email list.
Get those people off of socialmedia.
We don't want you to lose them.
We want you to have fullcontrol of your audience, and
(10:28):
that's what email marketing is.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I love that, I love that answer, and it's really
such a good way in a lot of waysbetter than social media to
keep track and keep in touchwith the people who actually
want to hear what you have tosay.
Right, I'm thinking when you'retalking, I'm like, well, what
if I'm just not on social media,then who cares?
Right, but I want to keep trackof the people who want to hear
(10:51):
what I have to say.
I want to keep track of thepeople who might want to
collaborate with me or buy oneof my products in the future or
subscribe to my service orwhatever it is.
So, even if you are, I tellpeople a lot like if you hate
social media, don't do socialmedia.
Like, there's a lot of ways togrow your business that don't
involve social media.
If you want to be somebody whojust goes out into the world and
(11:14):
networks and that's how you'regrowing your business Fantastic.
But you still need a place tocollect those people, right?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Absolutely, and y'all .
I read an article just thisweek that it said something like
84% of consumers, will you know, go to their email to consider
buying something.
That's a huge percentage, right, that's a huge percentage.
(11:42):
So email really does work, youknow.
You might think, oh, I don'twant to spam people, I don't
want to do this, but there's gotto be, like Melissa's saying, a
place where you can gather youraudience and speak directly to
them.
And if you know whether youwant to make sales right now or
you want to make sales down theline, if that's important to you
(12:03):
which it should be, if you havea business, right, nod your
head.
I know you're nodding your head.
Email definitely is the way togo.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, so when it comes to growing your email list
, what do you suggest as astarting point?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
As a starting point, I suggest going to where you are
most active.
So, if you are on social media,if you're on Instagram,
facebook, something like that,go and announce that you have an
email list, right?
Hey, I'm doing this thing overhere.
When I started my travel blog,I got on Facebook and I didn't
(12:42):
even know this was a strategy.
It just felt like the rightthing to do.
I was like, well, those arewhere my people are, right,
that's where I'm talking topeople online.
And so I said, you know, hey,I'm starting this travel blog.
I just bought an RV, you know,want to come, take a look at my
journey and maybe learnsomething with me.
You know, join my email listhere.
And then, from there, I createda lead magnet, a freebie, an
(13:05):
opt-in, whatever you call it.
Right, and that was somethingto incentivize people to sign up
.
Right, because, of course, somepeople are just going to sign
up because they want to followme, but some people they need an
incentive, especially as youstart growing, as you, you know,
get people on your list thatyou don't know personally, right
, they need an incentive.
And so, creating that incentive, I like to think of it.
(13:29):
As you know, the first day ofclass.
You know you're teaching X,what do they need to know?
Or what resource do they needto have on the first day of
class?
Right, for me it's a welcomesequence, like I know you need a
welcome sequence Even if you'renot growing your list yet.
You need to write that welcomesequence because once you start
(13:49):
getting people on, you got towelcome them.
So that's my freebie.
That's the very first thing Ifeel you need on the first day
of class when it comes to makingmoney with email marketing.
So think of it that way Like,what do they need on the first
day of class?
Is it a resource, is ithomework?
What is it?
And that can be your freebie.
And then you know, followpeople like Melissa to help you
(14:12):
learn about networking.
So I always say list buildingand visibility go hand in hand.
I'm a 90s kid so you guysremember, like Mary-Kate and
Ashley Olsen, tia and Tamara,right, like?
I know they're different people, but I can't tell them apart.
That's how I think of listbuilding, visibility, brand
(14:32):
awareness, networking they'rethe same thing.
The more you can you know, themore network you have, the more
people that know who you are,the more your list is going to
grow.
So really, you know, justgetting it out there, creating a
lead magnet and then reallyworking on your networking to
have, you know, collaborationsand things like that, that's
(14:54):
going to be what really setsyour growth on fire.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
One of the things that I say alot is networking doesn't just
happen at networking events ornetworking meetings.
It really can happen anywherethat you are connecting with
another human.
So we are networking in ouremail, we are networking on
social media.
If you're speaking on stage,you're networking right, because
they're all just different waysof connecting with the people
(15:21):
that you want to connect with.
So are there any other tipsthat you have as far as a
freebie, lead magnet, opt-in, asfar as creating something that
actually works and converts andgets people to sign up?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah, so remember, we're taking it to that first
day of class.
But any good teacher knows thatthe formatting is important.
The way you present theinformation is important.
So for me, you know I mentionedmy welcome sequence that's in a
Google Doc.
For you, it's not a PDF thatyou have to copy and paste, it's
literally a Google Doc.
(15:56):
When you click on it, it forcesyou to make a copy, so it's in
your drive immediately, right?
So that's going to help people,you know, actually get it done.
So, thinking about the freebie,how can I get people to actually
be interested in this?
Or get it done?
Right?
And so you know, if you'reworking with single moms, you're
(16:16):
not going to create a 21 daychallenge, right?
Like, oh my gosh, maybe youjust create a 21 minute playlist
of affirmations for them, or of, you know, feel good, if you're
a fitness coach, it's a 21minute playlist of, you know,
songs from the nineties, so youcan just take a 21 minute walk
(16:38):
this week.
Right?
You know, think of what is goingto get them to sign up, right,
cause it is a little bit of work.
Right, we wanted them to takethe, take the class, sit down on
the first day.
But we also need to incentivizethem to get their butt in the
chair, so to speak.
So really making sure theformat is right.
What would help my personeasily digest this?
(17:02):
What would make them say, ohyep, that's doable.
It's not the challenge, it's theplaylist.
It's not a 60-, it's theplaylist.
It's not, you know, a 60 minutetraining on welcome sequences.
It's the welcome sequencealready written for them, madlib
style, right?
Oh, that seems easy, liz.
Yep, I'm in.
So really making sure you know,hey, what do they need on that
(17:25):
first day of class?
And how can I make it?
You know, like that seventhgrade math teacher that just
somehow always had us workingwith Skittles, you know, like I
was just excited, even though Ihated math, I just loved working
in her class because she alwayshad candy or incentives or
games.
Right, thinking about it fromthat perspective, that's going
(17:45):
to help you convert your leadmagnet AKA actually get people
to sign up for it.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Brilliant.
I love that.
What are some of the ideas thatyou've seen?
Either you've used them andthey've worked, or you've seen
other people use them that haveworked.
Maybe things that people aren'tthinking of, some creative ways
or unconventional ways to buildyour list, or unconventional
ways to build your list.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, so collabs are the best, and maybe that's not
something you haven't seen, butI'm telling you, if you don't
hear it when I sing, you knowI'm being real.
That's your signal to listen up.
A pattern, interrupt right.
Collabs are great, Evensomething as simple as a freebie
(18:30):
swap.
So you share my lead magnet, Ishare yours.
You know, I see this, but Idon't see it enough.
Right, this is just a super lowlift, low effort thing.
The key to it, though, isnetworking right Is getting
people like oh hey, I metMelissa.
I met Melissa through a ladynamed Deanna.
(18:50):
Right, we did an email intro,and I mean, I had kind of known
about her, I think she had kindof known about me, but now we're
friends, we're talking right,we're in each other's
communities.
So, making sure you can findthose connections to do the
freebie swaps those are so, sofreaking simple.
If you learn nothing else,please do the freebie swap.
(19:12):
Get out there and say hey, willyou share mine, I'll share
yours, and that's just so lowlift.
Another creative way I've beenseeing people grow their list is
, honestly, with QR codes.
Right, when you're doing a youknow online thing and you know
(19:34):
you have the ability to changeyour background, putting your QR
code in that background.
That leads to your lead magnet,right?
You're doing a summit, you'redoing a podcast, you're doing a
YouTube live, you're doing aFacebook live.
How can you get your QR code inthe background, Even if you
print it out, right?
If you're like oh, I'm nottechie, Liz, how do I get a QR
(19:55):
code on my Instagram live, Printit out and put it in the
background If you're notwatching the video, I've got my
calendar, I got the fresh printsChildish Gambino, NSYNC's back
there.
I'm covering them up.
I need to get my QR code backthere, right?
Because that is just such agood way to grow your list.
When you go to in-person events,putting your QR code as the
(20:18):
background of your phone is so,so smart.
My sister actually gave me thisidea and I'm going to pull it
up.
Right?
If you're watching the video,you can see like I literally
have it ready and available.
So when people you know, see, Iliterally have it ready and
available.
So when people I'm networkingat in-person events and oh, yeah
, oh, Liz, what do you do?
Oh, I need email marketing help.
Oh, join my email list.
(20:39):
That's the best way.
That's the best way you'regoing to get me.
And oh, here's a cue.
It's on just my backgroundscreen, I don't have to pull it
up nothing.
That's so fun, right it?
Just even thinking about itmakes you smile.
So, really, taking advantage ofQR codes and you can make them
in Canva.
Now y'all, gone are the dayswhere it's complicated.
(21:00):
Thank you Canva, thank youChatGPT, thank you Melissa,
thank you Liz.
We're making this simple foryou.
So QR codes are reallyunderrated.
The collabs?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
especially the freebie swaps, are really
underrated.
I love all those ideas.
It's so funny because I've beenan entrepreneur for eight, nine
years.
Now this is my third businessand I did your list building
live summit.
Was it a summit?
Do we call it a summit?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, it was like a little mini audio summit.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
It was so good, all these different interviews with
people with different ideas ofhow to grow your list, and one
of the ones that I listened towas about the freebie swap and I
was like how did I make it thisfar and never either A hear
someone say that or B thinkabout it myself?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Melissa, I am shooketh Y'all.
If you are not watching thevideo, you need to, because I
literally had my job.
I did not know she was going tosay that, because that's one of
the very first ways I startedgrowing my list in my travel
blog, I was like, oh well, Ihave a freebie.
I don't know if I read it or ifI came up with it.
I mean, obviously I didn't comeup with the freebie swap but I
was just like, oh hey, camille,will you share my freebie?
I'll share yours.
(22:12):
I've got a hundred people on mylist.
And she was like, oh well, I'vegot 50.
I'm like, okay, let's swap.
And the beauty about those are,you know, it borrows trust,
right?
If Melissa tells you join Liz'slist, I love this freebie.
When you join my list, I have alittle bit of trust already
built in because you came fromMelissa.
So it's, you know, it's morethan a Facebook ad, right?
(22:34):
Yeah, I love that.
Another.
I'm so glad you brought up listbuilding live.
That was a little summit I didin March 2025.
But somebody was talking aboutin it.
Gosh, I lost my train ofthought on.
I got it.
I got it.
Oh, just asking your currentemail subscribers.
Uh, you know, hey, can youshare my freebie with your
(22:56):
people?
Right, and there's technologythat does this nowadays.
But you could literally justask.
You don't have to spend twothousand dollars on spark loop,
okay, you can just ask hey, I'mgiving away this thing for free,
do you mind sharing it?
And that was something.
That's how I got my firstthousand subscribers.
I think I was stuck at 800 for afew months and I was just so
(23:19):
frustrated, like, come on, I'mdoing all the things, how can I
do this?
And I had an ebook that Iusually charged between five and
$10 for.
And this guy was like, whydon't you just give away that
ebook for free?
You know you're you're tryingto sell the book.
Why, if you really want athousand subscribers, that bad,
just give it away for free.
So I created a landing page youknow, normally $10 or whatever
(23:42):
it was at the time, giving itaway for free and I emailed it
out to my subscribers because Imean, I had already tried
selling it to them.
Some people bought, some peopledidn't.
So I said, hey, if you don'thave a copy yet, here you go,
you can sign up over here onthis landing page.
But you got to do me a favor.
Send this to one of yourcamping buddies, right, because
(24:05):
I was in the camping industry.
Oh my gosh, I got like 1500subscribers.
I almost doubled my email listand I said this is only going to
be available for the month ofFebruary or whatever.
Right, and for 30 days or 28days, right.
I said, you know, please share,please share.
Just every time I emailed.
Please share this, please sharethis Anytime.
(24:27):
I would go in a camping group.
Hey, I'm giving this away forfree, free, free, free.
You know, and I, yeah, I wasable to almost double my email
list.
So that's another thing, um,that I just recently remembered,
and I actually think I'm goingto do that with my membership.
Give it away for free for like48 hours, um, and see what
(24:47):
happens, cause I'm alwayslooking to grow my list with fun
, creative ways too.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, that would be awesome.
Those are really great ideas.
I love those.
And are you gonna do ListBuilding Live again?
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yes, next in 2026.
I think I'll do it every March.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Okay, so y'all are going to have to wait a while,
but until then this podcast willtide you over, or you can just
go join email marketingmembership, and then that will
also tide you over.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Amen $9.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
All right.
So let's talk about some commonmistakes that you see people
making when they are trying togrow their list, especially
organically, like without usingpaid ads.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
When you're trying to grow your list and I say it
with love on your landing page,nobody cares about you.
A big mistake, and I say itwith love, babe, I really do.
They just want to know if thisthing, this freebie, is for them
.
I see too many people withlanding pages that are just
(25:58):
really long and they have anabout me section and it's like I
don't care, I just need to knowis this going to work for me?
Are you talking to me?
Is this for me?
So, making sure your landingpage it should have you in it.
Right, I need to know whoMelissa is, but I don't need to
know too much.
I just need to know, like, do Iget the vibe right, so to speak
, and so you can say a lot in alittle time or in as many or in
(26:25):
as little words as possible withpictures, even if you just have
a picture, that's going to bebetter than you know five, 10
sentences about why you createdthis or you know your history
and why you're the one right.
For example, on my landing pageand I'm sure Melissa will link
it in the show notes somewherethere's a picture of me with
(26:45):
I've got a Will Smith sweater onand I'm pointing to it like
making a funny face, and thecaption says Will Smith would
want you to have these welcomeemail, swipes or something Y'all
.
That's obviously untrue.
Will Smith doesn't know me, hedoesn't care about your business
, but it's funny, right?
It's like, oh, this ladydoesn't take herself too
(27:06):
seriously, but I said thatwithout saying anything, right,
without any words.
And so immediately that's goingto attract some people.
Oh, this email is so boring,this lady seems funny, I want
this.
And it's going to repel othersto oh, what the heck, this lady
cannot be serious, exit out,right.
(27:27):
And so, again, the big mistakeI see people making is just
making that landing page toolong.
You just wanna address people.
And again, when you go to mylanding page, you'll see it says
hey, you're building your emaillist, now what?
But you don't know what to sendthem, right, send them the
welcome sequence, right?
So I'm talking directly to you.
(27:48):
If you're not building youremail list, you're like oh, I
landed on the wrong place, exitout.
So just speaking very directlyto that exact person is really,
really gonna help.
Worry less about describing thefreebie and more about
describing where your person isright now and how the freebie
(28:09):
very quickly can help them getthat next step.
You know, hey, this is yourfirst day in class.
This is what you need.
This is what we're going to do.
This is why Come on in.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I love this interview so much because everything that
you're saying about emailmarketing is like a version of
what I say about networking.
Like I see people do the samething when they introduce
themselves at networking events.
It's like I read a statisticonce that in the first 7 to 11
seconds of you talking, peopledecide if they want to keep
listening to your law.
Like 7 to 11 seconds is not alot of time and I can't tell you
(28:44):
how many people spend the first30 saying I'm board certified
in blah, blah, blah and I have acertification in this and I'm a
this and this and this coachand you know, and like, like you
said, no one cares.
No, at some point we might.
Yes, right, now in the first 30seconds of meeting you.
(29:06):
We just want to know are youtalking to us and can you solve
our problem?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Right, what's in it for me I know that's cliche, but
it's so, so true Like, am I inthe right place?
And what's in it for me?
Right?
So yeah, y'all we just, when itcomes to list building, keeping
those top of mind, the same asnetworking, right, because list
building is networking.
It's the same, you know.
It's just finding your audience, finding people who will, you
(29:35):
know, maybe not right now, butwill eventually buy your
products, your services, spreadthe word for you, you know,
invest in you, do the work youask them to do, share with their
friends, right?
That's networking in a nutshell, right?
Like, how can I find people whowill help me find more people?
Right, that's all your list is.
(29:56):
How can I find people who willhelp me find more people who
will buy?
So, yeah, everything thatMelissa says.
Just think about it, you know,regarding email list building,
and you'll be golden.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, I love what you said too about the authenticity
piece of it, and like theoutfit that you're wearing in
the picture and like the jokethat you think is funny, because
I mean it is funny.
I didn't mean that you thinkit's funny and no one else does,
but where was I going with that?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
When I introduce myself at networking events a
lot, or really anywhere, I'mlike really awkward.
People think I'm really funnyand they're always like you're
so funny.
I'm like I'm actually not thatfunny, I'm just like really
nervous.
And when I'm nervous, a bunchof weird shit comes out of my
mouth and for some reason, youguys think it's funny, but like
I just let myself do that and bethat person, and I didn't
(30:47):
always because and this is partof why networking in a lot of
spaces has gotten so weird aseverybody feels like they need
to show up as this, likepolished, perfect, professional.
I'm so successful, I'm so smart, I have an altogether person
and I feel like when you show up, like you do on your landing
page or like I do when I'mnervous and I introduce myself,
(31:09):
yes, there are plenty of peoplethat are like oh my God, what is
this lady?
And no, and then there areplenty of people that are like I
love her, she's hilarious, thisis my vibe, I'm in right, and,
and both are good things.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Amen.
I recently sponsored a foodblogging event and I went and
these were advanced bloggers, sothey, you know, they had it
going on and I I did, I thinklike 22 sessions in one day,
like one-on-ones, and justlooking at their welcome
sequence and I would say 20 outof 22 of them because I was in
(31:52):
person with them I would say,you know, oh, this is a great
welcome sequence, but I don'tknow who Melissa is, right, I
don't know who Shahar is.
Where's Lakeisha?
I've been hanging out withLakeisha all week but I don't
see her in this welcome sequence.
And oh, you know, I was tryingto be professional.
It's like okay, but especiallyfood bloggers, and I would, I
(32:15):
would point to the room.
I say you are one of thousands,hundreds of thousands of food
bloggers, but you have whatmakes me want to follow you,
right, and what's going to keepme around is that little, that
personal stuff.
It's not that professional,polished.
You know, welcome to my kitchenor you know whatever it's.
(32:38):
You know it's what makes usunique, is going to make us
stand out, not only in the inboxbut at networking events, on
social media, et cetera.
It's what's going to keep usgoing.
It's what's going to helppeople share our stuff so we
grow even more.
You know those unique things.
My silly joke about Will Smith,you know, before Melissa and I
(33:02):
hit record I was like I'm sosorry I forgot a hat.
You know, like that's justsomething unique about me.
I always have something on myhead.
You know, I always say it'spart of my work uniform, right,
that's unique.
There are a million and oneemail marketers out there, but
Melissa asked me to come on theshow, right, because I have a
unique perspective, a uniquelook, a unique personality.
(33:24):
So don't be afraid, even inyour list building, to put that
out there, because you know,eventually you can try to hide,
but eventually your true selfwill come out.
And you don't want to build anemail list of people who don't
know the real you.
You want to build an email listof people that are like, yes, I
(33:47):
love those corny jokes.
Liz tells yes, I love thatMelissa gets awkward when she's
nervous.
Because so do I?
Speaker 1 (33:54):
right, that's what we're trying to build yeah yeah,
and you build trust with peoplewhen they see you showing up
consistently, right, if I readwhat you put on threads.
But then I read your email andthen I meet you in real life and
all three of those sound likedifferent people.
Now I'm confused about who youare and whether or not I like
you and whether or not I trustyou.
(34:16):
So that's part of it too.
With email is like I don't wantto meet you at a networking
event, get on your email listand then all of a sudden I'm
like wait, this doesn't soundanything like the lady that I
met at the networking event.
So that piece, I think, isreally important too.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
So, so important.
I always say you know, share alittle bit of personality in
your emails and on your landingpages, right, but the
personality a lot of people gettripped up.
They're like, oh well, I'm aprivate person.
It's like, okay, well, you wearyour personality.
We all wear our personalities,right?
Like you don't have to be thiscrazy extrovert.
You know tropical coloredshirts and yellow background
(34:54):
like Liz Wilcox, to have apersonality you can.
You know it's.
Are you a little awkward whenyou're nervous?
What TV shows do you like?
What's in your mug today?
Do you have a mug or are you asuper nice glass girly?
Those surface level things cango a long way in relating and
(35:18):
keeping you memorable andkeeping your business around for
a long time.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
This reminds me of theconversation, the interview that
I did with Deanna Seymour forthis podcast, speaking of
personalities, and it was allabout using gifts in your
marketing.
And I started using them moreafter I did that interview and I
felt I feel like that's a greatway to just interject a little
bit of your personality, alittle bit of your humor, your
(35:46):
style, what you like, what youthink is funny, and so there's a
lot of different ways to do ittoo.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yes, I love that.
I use GIFs all the time, likein not every email, but you'll
see one in.
You know my welcome sequence.
You'll see them in at least oneemail a month.
But I make my own because Iwant people to see my face right
, especially online.
(36:13):
You know we can network, butit's so much better when people
you know know what you look like, especially when you're
building an email list.
If they just found your landingpage on Pinterest or something,
they might not even know whatyou look like.
So putting a picture or puttinga GIF really, really helps with
that personality piece, reallyhelps with that connection,
which will help with conversionslater, for sure.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Yeah, I love that you're calling it a GIF.
And I called it a GIF because Iremember in the interview with
her we talked about what is thecorrect pronunciation and before
I started talking about it, Iwas like shit, what did she say
was the correct pronunciation?
And I just went with.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
GIF.
I think GIF, the guy thatcreated GIFs says GIF, but I
would argue, even though I sayGIF, I would argue that GIF is
much more popular and probablywhat is like well known as the
correct pronunciation.
I just say jif becausesometimes I have an accent,
depending on who I'm talking to,and so sometimes it's like wait
(37:13):
, what did she say?
So I've just gotten thepractice of saying jif, so it's
not confused.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
That's awesome and that's the lore on that.
Anyway, back to email.
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I love that and that's the lore on that.
Anyway, back to email.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Is there anything?
I mean, there's a lot that goesinto list building.
There's no way we can cover itall this morning, but is there
anything that I haven't askedyou about or that you haven't
gotten to talk about that youfeel like this is really
important for people to hearwhen it comes to list building?
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yes, if I could leave on any note, I would love for
you to know that there are amillion and one email strategies
for growing your list out there.
I mean, melissa just said wecould talk forever about it, but
you've got to go with the onethat feels good for you, right?
Because list building it's along game.
(38:02):
You're not just going to go oh,I'm going to focus on list
building for six months andsuddenly you have 100,000 people
on your list.
It's a long game.
It's something you have to doover and over.
It's why I said, yes, of course, melissa, we'll be doing list
building live again, because Ineed to be doing it every year,
because you need to be doing itevery year.
And so, when it comes to whatstrategy you should pick, go
(38:26):
with the one that fits what else?
Your personality, right?
I've mainly grown my list withpodcasts and summits.
You might think, oh gosh, Icould never do a podcast.
You think Melissa gets nervous,you don't even want to see me,
right?
So pick the one that fits yourpersonality, that fits your
(38:46):
style, because this is somethingyou're going to have to do over
and over and over again.
So make sure it feels good toyou.
If Pinterest feels good.
You're a visual girly, you knowyou could play around in Canva
all day Pinterest would be greatfor you.
If you're someone who loves tonetwork and you're really good
at it oh my gosh.
Doing collabs, getting onsummits, hosting your own events
(39:09):
or getting on podcasts, freebieswaps those would be good for
you.
So, making sure you pick thething that's like yeah, I could
see myself working on that forthe next 90 days.
Go with that.
Brilliant, love it.
If people wanna know more aboutyou, I could see myself working
on that for the next 90 days.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Go with that Brilliant, love it.
If people want to know moreabout you, if they want to grab
that freebie that you have, thewelcome sequence thing is
awesome.
If they want to join emailmarketing membership, which is
also awesome, what's the bestway for them to connect with you
, follow you, learn about you?
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Oh my gosh.
She finally asked Yay, ofcourse I'm an email marketer.
I would love to help you growyour list and grow mine at the
same time.
You can go directly tolizwillcoxcom.
There's a hot pink button inthe top right hand corner.
You can't miss it.
You're going to get that welcomesequence that I've been talking
about that you will definitelyneed as you grow your list to
(40:02):
introduce your subscribers toyou and your products.
So you're going to get thatwelcome sequence.
You're also going to get threenewsletter samples so you can
show, or you can see, how to getpeople to click, how to get
people to reply and how to getpeople to buy directly from your
newsletter.
And if that's not enoughbecause I really want you to
email and I know writing fromscratch totally sucks you're
(40:25):
going to get 52 subject linesfor a year full of emails.
So that's the welcome sequencethree newsletter samples and 52
subject lines.
Lizwilcoxcom hot pink buttonyou can't miss it.
And of course, melissa hasmentioned my $9 a month email
marketing membership.
That's where I write yourweekly newsletter for you.
(40:46):
You can take and make it yourown Mad Libs style.
You can go directly tolizwilcoxcom.
There's a yellow button at thevery top.
You can check it out there.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Awesome, love it.
Thank you so much for being myguest on this podcast.
It was great chatting with youand shared a lot of awesome
information and things that Ithink people can start doing
right away to start growingtheir list, so thank you very
much.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Awesome.
Thanks, melissa, and I can'twait to see what we all do with
email marketing.
Hello Liz, Welcome to the Powerful Women Rising
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Oh my gosh, so excited to be here.
Let's talk, baby.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Yes, I'm so excited to have you.
We're talking about emailmarketing today, but before we
dive into all the good stuff,tell everybody a little bit
about you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah.
So what up?
I'm Liz Wilcox and you knowthat feeling you get when you
listen to an awesome podcastlike Melissa's and people come
on and they start feeling youget when you listen to an
awesome podcast like Melissa'sand people come on and they
start screaming at you you gotto email, you got to email, and
so you get pumped up, you loginto kid or active campaign or
whatever, and then you promptlyfeel kind of dumb because you
have no idea what the heck towrite.
(00:39):
Well, I eliminate that problem.
That's what I do online.
I love to make email contentsuper, super simple.
It's all about just getting inthere and getting to the point
and getting out.
I've got a couple of fun factsthat we might talk about along
the way, but I think the biggestthing you got to know about me
is I started as an RV travelblogger.
(01:02):
That's how I really got intoknowing how to connect with
people.
So I wasn't, you know, justthis B2B2B2B2B person.
I started, you know, marketingto usually men in their 60s was
the majority of my audience, andI just learned how to talk to
them, how to teach them aboutdigital products and how to sell
(01:24):
, and eventually I was like, hmm, I think I know something that
other people don't.
So I sold that business and Iwent all in teaching email
marketing.
And now I'm talking to you andMelissa Super exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I love that.
I really love that.
That's your background too,because so often I think we
listen to these interviews andwe're like, okay, yeah, good for
you, that worked for you.
But it's really like youselling to people who are then
like selling to other businesses, who are selling to other
businesses Like is this reallyjust a giant pyramid?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Can I say the word incestuous on this?
And you know, I'm not above it.
Y'all, I teach email marketingto you know, email marketers,
right, and you, listening, I'mnot above it, y'all, I teach
email marketing to you know,email marketers, right, and you,
listening, you are an emailmarketer.
I'm including you in that.
But, yeah, I love that.
I started out in the travelindustry, too, and y'all our
(02:17):
viewers, like I said, men intheir 60s, they did not even
know what a digital course was.
My first product was an ebook.
They're like, what's an ebook?
They would buy it and they'd belike, well, what do you mean?
I'm not getting a physical copy.
I'm like, why do you think itwas $5, bro?
Like, come on.
And so I really had to navigate.
You know, talking directly toconsumers and not just consumers
(02:40):
consumers that you know this ispre-pandemic, right.
So they don't know a lot abouttechnology, the internet.
They're, you know, cautiousabout putting in their credit
card.
Again, you know, I feel likeonce the pandemic hit, that
became less of a thing.
More people, no matter whattheir age, are buying online.
But this was 2016, right?
(03:01):
So they were like I don't know,is your site secure?
Do you have, you know an SSL.
You know they were reallyconcerned about that stuff.
So I just found a way tonavigate that by being, you know
, super personal, right andpersonable right and talking to
them like humans and not tryingto just get at their wallets,
(03:25):
trying to get at their issuesand solve them.
And yeah, I just noticed, youknow, my friends were struggling
with that and I was like, waita second, I actually care a
little bit more about my friendsthan these dudes in their 60s.
So I'm going to sell this blogand I'm going to teach what I
know.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
That's awesome and that's one of the things I
really love about what you teachand how you teach it.
I've been in your emailmarketing program for a while
and your membership and it's soeasy to apply what you teach to
anyone in any industry, in anyfield, right?
I mean, obviously, the way thatI'm talking to female
entrepreneurs is not going to bethe same way that Janice is
(04:07):
talking to the people she'sselling her like quilting
patterns to right, but the waythat you teach email marketing
is going to work for me and it'sgoing to work for her, because
you help us kind of personalizeit and it's not.
We're not just like copying andpasting from chat GPT.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Thank you.
I love that.
That's so funny that youbrought in the quilting pattern,
because today is like my day ofcalls and I had two little
coaching calls, one with atravel blogger and the other
with a crochet blogger who wastrying to sell more patterns in
a membership.
And you know it's using thosesame tips and I'm sure we'll get
into it.
And you know it's using thosesame tips and I'm sure we'll get
into it.
Of you know, connecting withyour subscribers, showing that
(04:49):
you're invested in them beforethey invest back into you, right
, but it really is applicableacross all industries because at
the end of the day, you knowwe've mentioned B2B, b2c.
It's really H2H right, human tohuman right, even if you're
working with corporate clients,like I have a longtime
(05:11):
subscriber.
She's in data viz right, so datavisualization.
She works with the UN.
She works most of her people onher list, aregov right, and you
would think that's the mostpolished, most professional
Y'all.
She's sending pictures of herkids she got five kids, right.
She's sending pictures of herkids.
She just did a two-hour liveyesterday and sent people to
(05:36):
that, where she's justtroubleshooting working in
Microsoft Excel, and she's themost personable email that I'm
on anyone's list, right, andshe's like.
That just makes me stand out ina sea of boring, because I'm
actually talking to humans andthey're like oh yeah, I remember
Ann because Ann showed me apicture of her kid.
(05:59):
I'm gonna hire Ann becauseshe's top of mind, right, and
she knows what she's talkingabout.
So it doesn't matter whatindustry you're in, you know
she's top of mind, right, andshe knows what she's talking
about.
So it doesn't matter whatindustry you're in, my dear, you
can be personable and it willwork.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yes, I love that and that's exactly what I teach
people about networking too isadding that personal touch and
that human piece of it.
Because when you remember, whenyou share that part of yourself
or when you remember like oh, Ijust had that conversation with
Liz last week about her I don'tknow vacuum cleaner that broke
and I go to follow up with youafter the networking event a
(06:33):
couple of weeks later and I'mlike, hey, hope you got your
vacuum cleaner fixed.
Like it's not that big of adeal, but for you it's like, oh,
she actually like saw me as ahuman and it mattered enough for
her to remember that my vacuumcleaner was broken.
Like that matters to people,especially in this day and age
when everything is so automatedand chat, gpt and you know on
(06:54):
screens and for people to betreated like humans by other
humans is huge.
Amen.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I love that Melissa.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
So let's back up a little bit to what the point of
building an email list is.
Seems like a silly question,but we also hear a lot from
people like get your people offof Facebook, get them on your
email list.
What are you doing with youremail list?
So like, why does that actuallymatter?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Listen, okay.
So I know you're probably doingthe dishes, you're in carpool,
you're going for a walk, but Iwant you to do this anyway.
Raise your hand for me.
Raise your hand if you werealive in like 2022.
And you remember when abillionaire bought a social
media platform?
Right, keep your hand raised.
If you remember the next year,you know he changed the name.
(07:46):
It imploded upon itself.
It lost all of its sponsorshipdollars, half of its users, you
know, and continues to loseusers by the droves in 2025.
Yeah, you know, that does nothappen with email.
That does not happen with email.
So, with social media, one guyliterally owns the whole
(08:09):
shebangabang and he can say whatworks and what doesn't.
Right, we're constantlycomplaining the algorithm, the
algorithm, the algorithm, right,but really it's just one or two
guys at the top saying theseare what the goals are and all
the minions.
You know they change thealgorithm, they change policies.
You know, and you're stuck withwhat you're stuck with, right,
(08:34):
I know, at the beginning of 2025, there was talk about the
TikTok ban.
Right, if you are building yourentire audience on, you know,
for what was formerly known asTwitter, on TikTok, facebook,
instagram threads, whatever, youare subject to the approval of
those people, right, and you aresubject to their whim.
(08:56):
It feels like that, right, likewhy did they change that?
It was working.
But with email, email is sodifferent, it's owned by many
different people.
You know, you own a littlepiece of it, I own a little
piece of it Microsoft, google,yahoo, omnisend, kit,
activecampaign, flowdesk,protonmail, hotmail.
(09:20):
You know there's all thesedifferent players.
So in order for email to make achange, it takes a lot of
energy behind it.
Right, it's not like socialmedia where it's just yep, this
is the new policy, here we go,right.
And so that's why email is soimportant, because you don't
(09:41):
want to build on rented land, soto speak.
Right, you want to be able toown your email list, own your
following.
You can't own it on Facebook.
Facebook could shut you down,put you in jail tomorrow, but
with email, because it's adecentralized platform, it's
very difficult to be banned,right?
So you get your email list, youget your subscribers, and
(10:05):
whether you choose to use Kittoday and you change to Flowdesk
or MailerLite tomorrow, you cantake those email addresses with
you.
That's why everyone and theirmother, including me and Melissa
, are hollering at you.
You know, grow your email list.
Get those people off of socialmedia.
We don't want you to lose them.
We want you to have fullcontrol of your audience, and
(10:28):
that's what email marketing is.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I love that, I love that answer, and it's really
such a good way in a lot of waysbetter than social media to
keep track and keep in touchwith the people who actually
want to hear what you have tosay.
Right, I'm thinking when you'retalking, I'm like, well, what
if I'm just not on social media,then who cares?
Right, but I want to keep trackof the people who want to hear
(10:51):
what I have to say.
I want to keep track of thepeople who might want to
collaborate with me or buy oneof my products in the future or
subscribe to my service orwhatever it is.
So, even if you are, I tellpeople a lot like if you hate
social media, don't do socialmedia.
Like, there's a lot of ways togrow your business that don't
involve social media.
If you want to be somebody whojust goes out into the world and
(11:14):
networks and that's how you'regrowing your business Fantastic.
But you still need a place tocollect those people, right?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Absolutely, and y'all .
I read an article just thisweek that it said something like
84% of consumers, will you know, go to their email to consider
buying something.
That's a huge percentage, right, that's a huge percentage.
(11:42):
So email really does work, youknow.
You might think, oh, I don'twant to spam people, I don't
want to do this, but there's gotto be, like Melissa's saying, a
place where you can gather youraudience and speak directly to
them.
And if you know whether youwant to make sales right now or
you want to make sales down theline, if that's important to you
(12:03):
which it should be, if you havea business, right, nod your
head.
I know you're nodding your head.
Email definitely is the way togo.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, so when it comes to growing your email list
, what do you suggest as astarting point?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
As a starting point, I suggest going to where you are
most active.
So, if you are on social media,if you're on Instagram,
facebook, something like that,go and announce that you have an
email list, right?
Hey, I'm doing this thing overhere.
When I started my travel blog,I got on Facebook and I didn't
(12:42):
even know this was a strategy.
It just felt like the rightthing to do.
I was like, well, those arewhere my people are, right,
that's where I'm talking topeople online.
And so I said, you know, hey,I'm starting this travel blog.
I just bought an RV, you know,want to come, take a look at my
journey and maybe learnsomething with me.
You know, join my email listhere.
And then, from there, I createda lead magnet, a freebie, an
(13:05):
opt-in, whatever you call it.
Right, and that was somethingto incentivize people to sign up
.
Right, because, of course, somepeople are just going to sign
up because they want to followme, but some people they need an
incentive, especially as youstart growing, as you, you know,
get people on your list thatyou don't know personally, right
, they need an incentive.
And so, creating that incentive, I like to think of it.
(13:29):
As you know, the first day ofclass.
You know you're teaching X,what do they need to know?
Or what resource do they needto have on the first day of
class?
Right, for me it's a welcomesequence, like I know you need a
welcome sequence Even if you'renot growing your list yet.
You need to write that welcomesequence because once you start
(13:49):
getting people on, you got towelcome them.
So that's my freebie.
That's the very first thing Ifeel you need on the first day
of class when it comes to makingmoney with email marketing.
So think of it that way Like,what do they need on the first
day of class?
Is it a resource, is ithomework?
What is it?
And that can be your freebie.
And then you know, followpeople like Melissa to help you
(14:12):
learn about networking.
So I always say list buildingand visibility go hand in hand.
I'm a 90s kid so you guysremember, like Mary-Kate and
Ashley Olsen, tia and Tamara,right, like?
I know they're different people, but I can't tell them apart.
That's how I think of listbuilding, visibility, brand
(14:32):
awareness, networking they'rethe same thing.
The more you can you know, themore network you have, the more
people that know who you are,the more your list is going to
grow.
So really, you know, justgetting it out there, creating a
lead magnet and then reallyworking on your networking to
have, you know, collaborationsand things like that, that's
(14:54):
going to be what really setsyour growth on fire.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
One of the things that I say alot is networking doesn't just
happen at networking events ornetworking meetings.
It really can happen anywherethat you are connecting with
another human.
So we are networking in ouremail, we are networking on
social media.
If you're speaking on stage,you're networking right, because
they're all just different waysof connecting with the people
(15:21):
that you want to connect with.
So are there any other tipsthat you have as far as a
freebie, lead magnet, opt-in, asfar as creating something that
actually works and converts andgets people to sign up?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah, so remember, we're taking it to that first
day of class.
But any good teacher knows thatthe formatting is important.
The way you present theinformation is important.
So for me, you know I mentionedmy welcome sequence that's in a
Google Doc.
For you, it's not a PDF thatyou have to copy and paste, it's
literally a Google Doc.
(15:56):
When you click on it, it forcesyou to make a copy, so it's in
your drive immediately, right?
So that's going to help people,you know, actually get it done.
So, thinking about the freebie,how can I get people to actually
be interested in this?
Or get it done?
Right?
And so you know, if you'reworking with single moms, you're
(16:16):
not going to create a 21 daychallenge, right?
Like, oh my gosh, maybe youjust create a 21 minute playlist
of affirmations for them, or of, you know, feel good, if you're
a fitness coach, it's a 21minute playlist of, you know,
songs from the nineties, so youcan just take a 21 minute walk
(16:38):
this week.
Right?
You know, think of what is goingto get them to sign up, right,
cause it is a little bit of work.
Right, we wanted them to takethe, take the class, sit down on
the first day.
But we also need to incentivizethem to get their butt in the
chair, so to speak.
So really making sure theformat is right.
What would help my personeasily digest this?
(17:02):
What would make them say, ohyep, that's doable.
It's not the challenge, it's theplaylist.
It's not a 60-, it's theplaylist.
It's not, you know, a 60 minutetraining on welcome sequences.
It's the welcome sequencealready written for them, madlib
style, right?
Oh, that seems easy, liz.
Yep, I'm in.
So really making sure you know,hey, what do they need on that
(17:25):
first day of class?
And how can I make it?
You know, like that seventhgrade math teacher that just
somehow always had us workingwith Skittles, you know, like I
was just excited, even though Ihated math, I just loved working
in her class because she alwayshad candy or incentives or
games.
Right, thinking about it fromthat perspective, that's going
(17:45):
to help you convert your leadmagnet AKA actually get people
to sign up for it.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Brilliant.
I love that.
What are some of the ideas thatyou've seen?
Either you've used them andthey've worked, or you've seen
other people use them that haveworked.
Maybe things that people aren'tthinking of, some creative ways
or unconventional ways to buildyour list, or unconventional
ways to build your list.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, so collabs are the best, and maybe that's not
something you haven't seen, butI'm telling you, if you don't
hear it when I sing, you knowI'm being real.
That's your signal to listen up.
A pattern, interrupt right.
Collabs are great, Evensomething as simple as a freebie
(18:30):
swap.
So you share my lead magnet, Ishare yours.
You know, I see this, but Idon't see it enough.
Right, this is just a super lowlift, low effort thing.
The key to it, though, isnetworking right Is getting
people like oh hey, I metMelissa.
I met Melissa through a ladynamed Deanna.
(18:50):
Right, we did an email intro,and I mean, I had kind of known
about her, I think she had kindof known about me, but now we're
friends, we're talking right,we're in each other's
communities.
So, making sure you can findthose connections to do the
freebie swaps those are so, sofreaking simple.
If you learn nothing else,please do the freebie swap.
(19:12):
Get out there and say hey, willyou share mine, I'll share
yours, and that's just so lowlift.
Another creative way I've beenseeing people grow their list is
, honestly, with QR codes.
Right, when you're doing a youknow online thing and you know
(19:34):
you have the ability to changeyour background, putting your QR
code in that background.
That leads to your lead magnet,right?
You're doing a summit, you'redoing a podcast, you're doing a
YouTube live, you're doing aFacebook live.
How can you get your QR code inthe background, Even if you
print it out, right?
If you're like oh, I'm nottechie, Liz, how do I get a QR
(19:55):
code on my Instagram live, Printit out and put it in the
background If you're notwatching the video, I've got my
calendar, I got the fresh printsChildish Gambino, NSYNC's back
there.
I'm covering them up.
I need to get my QR code backthere, right?
Because that is just such agood way to grow your list.
When you go to in-person events,putting your QR code as the
(20:18):
background of your phone is so,so smart.
My sister actually gave me thisidea and I'm going to pull it
up.
Right?
If you're watching the video,you can see like I literally
have it ready and available.
So when people you know, see, Iliterally have it ready and
available.
So when people I'm networkingat in-person events and oh, yeah
, oh, Liz, what do you do?
Oh, I need email marketing help.
Oh, join my email list.
(20:39):
That's the best way.
That's the best way you'regoing to get me.
And oh, here's a cue.
It's on just my backgroundscreen, I don't have to pull it
up nothing.
That's so fun, right it?
Just even thinking about itmakes you smile.
So, really, taking advantage ofQR codes and you can make them
in Canva.
Now y'all, gone are the dayswhere it's complicated.
(21:00):
Thank you Canva, thank youChatGPT, thank you Melissa,
thank you Liz.
We're making this simple foryou.
So QR codes are reallyunderrated.
The collabs?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
especially the freebie swaps, are really
underrated.
I love all those ideas.
It's so funny because I've beenan entrepreneur for eight, nine
years.
Now this is my third businessand I did your list building
live summit.
Was it a summit?
Do we call it a summit?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, it was like a little mini audio summit.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
It was so good, all these different interviews with
people with different ideas ofhow to grow your list, and one
of the ones that I listened towas about the freebie swap and I
was like how did I make it thisfar and never either A hear
someone say that or B thinkabout it myself?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Melissa, I am shooketh Y'all.
If you are not watching thevideo, you need to, because I
literally had my job.
I did not know she was going tosay that, because that's one of
the very first ways I startedgrowing my list in my travel
blog, I was like, oh well, Ihave a freebie.
I don't know if I read it or ifI came up with it.
I mean, obviously I didn't comeup with the freebie swap but I
was just like, oh hey, camille,will you share my freebie?
I'll share yours.
(22:12):
I've got a hundred people on mylist.
And she was like, oh well, I'vegot 50.
I'm like, okay, let's swap.
And the beauty about those are,you know, it borrows trust,
right?
If Melissa tells you join Liz'slist, I love this freebie.
When you join my list, I have alittle bit of trust already
built in because you came fromMelissa.
So it's, you know, it's morethan a Facebook ad, right?
(22:34):
Yeah, I love that.
Another.
I'm so glad you brought up listbuilding live.
That was a little summit I didin March 2025.
But somebody was talking aboutin it.
Gosh, I lost my train ofthought on.
I got it.
I got it.
Oh, just asking your currentemail subscribers.
Uh, you know, hey, can youshare my freebie with your
(22:56):
people?
Right, and there's technologythat does this nowadays.
But you could literally justask.
You don't have to spend twothousand dollars on spark loop,
okay, you can just ask hey, I'mgiving away this thing for free,
do you mind sharing it?
And that was something.
That's how I got my firstthousand subscribers.
I think I was stuck at 800 for afew months and I was just so
(23:19):
frustrated, like, come on, I'mdoing all the things, how can I
do this?
And I had an ebook that Iusually charged between five and
$10 for.
And this guy was like, whydon't you just give away that
ebook for free?
You know you're you're tryingto sell the book.
Why, if you really want athousand subscribers, that bad,
just give it away for free.
So I created a landing page youknow, normally $10 or whatever
(23:42):
it was at the time, giving itaway for free and I emailed it
out to my subscribers because Imean, I had already tried
selling it to them.
Some people bought, some peopledidn't.
So I said, hey, if you don'thave a copy yet, here you go,
you can sign up over here onthis landing page.
But you got to do me a favor.
Send this to one of yourcamping buddies, right, because
(24:05):
I was in the camping industry.
Oh my gosh, I got like 1500subscribers.
I almost doubled my email listand I said this is only going to
be available for the month ofFebruary or whatever.
Right, and for 30 days or 28days, right.
I said, you know, please share,please share.
Just every time I emailed.
Please share this, please sharethis Anytime.
(24:27):
I would go in a camping group.
Hey, I'm giving this away forfree, free, free, free.
You know, and I, yeah, I wasable to almost double my email
list.
So that's another thing, um,that I just recently remembered,
and I actually think I'm goingto do that with my membership.
Give it away for free for like48 hours, um, and see what
(24:47):
happens, cause I'm alwayslooking to grow my list with fun
, creative ways too.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, that would be awesome.
Those are really great ideas.
I love those.
And are you gonna do ListBuilding Live again?
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yes, next in 2026.
I think I'll do it every March.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Okay, so y'all are going to have to wait a while,
but until then this podcast willtide you over, or you can just
go join email marketingmembership, and then that will
also tide you over.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Amen $9.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
All right.
So let's talk about some commonmistakes that you see people
making when they are trying togrow their list, especially
organically, like without usingpaid ads.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
When you're trying to grow your list and I say it
with love on your landing page,nobody cares about you.
A big mistake, and I say itwith love, babe, I really do.
They just want to know if thisthing, this freebie, is for them
.
I see too many people withlanding pages that are just
(25:58):
really long and they have anabout me section and it's like I
don't care, I just need to knowis this going to work for me?
Are you talking to me?
Is this for me?
So, making sure your landingpage it should have you in it.
Right, I need to know whoMelissa is, but I don't need to
know too much.
I just need to know, like, do Iget the vibe right, so to speak
, and so you can say a lot in alittle time or in as many or in
(26:25):
as little words as possible withpictures, even if you just have
a picture, that's going to bebetter than you know five, 10
sentences about why you createdthis or you know your history
and why you're the one right.
For example, on my landing pageand I'm sure Melissa will link
it in the show notes somewherethere's a picture of me with
(26:45):
I've got a Will Smith sweater onand I'm pointing to it like
making a funny face, and thecaption says Will Smith would
want you to have these welcomeemail, swipes or something Y'all
.
That's obviously untrue.
Will Smith doesn't know me, hedoesn't care about your business
, but it's funny, right?
It's like, oh, this ladydoesn't take herself too
(27:06):
seriously, but I said thatwithout saying anything, right,
without any words.
And so immediately that's goingto attract some people.
Oh, this email is so boring,this lady seems funny, I want
this.
And it's going to repel othersto oh, what the heck, this lady
cannot be serious, exit out,right.
(27:27):
And so, again, the big mistakeI see people making is just
making that landing page toolong.
You just wanna address people.
And again, when you go to mylanding page, you'll see it says
hey, you're building your emaillist, now what?
But you don't know what to sendthem, right, send them the
welcome sequence, right?
So I'm talking directly to you.
(27:48):
If you're not building youremail list, you're like oh, I
landed on the wrong place, exitout.
So just speaking very directlyto that exact person is really,
really gonna help.
Worry less about describing thefreebie and more about
describing where your person isright now and how the freebie
(28:09):
very quickly can help them getthat next step.
You know, hey, this is yourfirst day in class.
This is what you need.
This is what we're going to do.
This is why Come on in.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I love this interview so much because everything that
you're saying about emailmarketing is like a version of
what I say about networking.
Like I see people do the samething when they introduce
themselves at networking events.
It's like I read a statisticonce that in the first 7 to 11
seconds of you talking, peopledecide if they want to keep
listening to your law.
Like 7 to 11 seconds is not alot of time and I can't tell you
(28:44):
how many people spend the first30 saying I'm board certified
in blah, blah, blah and I have acertification in this and I'm a
this and this and this coachand you know, and like, like you
said, no one cares.
No, at some point we might.
Yes, right, now in the first 30seconds of meeting you.
(29:06):
We just want to know are youtalking to us and can you solve
our problem?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Right, what's in it for me I know that's cliche, but
it's so, so true Like, am I inthe right place?
And what's in it for me?
Right?
So yeah, y'all we just, when itcomes to list building, keeping
those top of mind, the same asnetworking, right, because list
building is networking.
It's the same, you know.
It's just finding your audience, finding people who will, you
(29:35):
know, maybe not right now, butwill eventually buy your
products, your services, spreadthe word for you, you know,
invest in you, do the work youask them to do, share with their
friends, right?
That's networking in a nutshell, right?
Like, how can I find people whowill help me find more people?
Right, that's all your list is.
(29:56):
How can I find people who willhelp me find more people who
will buy?
So, yeah, everything thatMelissa says.
Just think about it, you know,regarding email list building,
and you'll be golden.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, I love what you said too about the authenticity
piece of it, and like theoutfit that you're wearing in
the picture and like the jokethat you think is funny, because
I mean it is funny.
I didn't mean that you thinkit's funny and no one else does,
but where was I going with that?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
When I introduce myself at networking events a
lot, or really anywhere, I'mlike really awkward.
People think I'm really funnyand they're always like you're
so funny.
I'm like I'm actually not thatfunny, I'm just like really
nervous.
And when I'm nervous, a bunchof weird shit comes out of my
mouth and for some reason, youguys think it's funny, but like
I just let myself do that and bethat person, and I didn't
(30:47):
always because and this is partof why networking in a lot of
spaces has gotten so weird aseverybody feels like they need
to show up as this, likepolished, perfect, professional.
I'm so successful, I'm so smart, I have an altogether person
and I feel like when you show up, like you do on your landing
page or like I do when I'mnervous and I introduce myself,
(31:09):
yes, there are plenty of peoplethat are like oh my God, what is
this lady?
And no, and then there areplenty of people that are like I
love her, she's hilarious, thisis my vibe, I'm in right, and,
and both are good things.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Amen.
I recently sponsored a foodblogging event and I went and
these were advanced bloggers, sothey, you know, they had it
going on and I I did, I thinklike 22 sessions in one day,
like one-on-ones, and justlooking at their welcome
sequence and I would say 20 outof 22 of them because I was in
(31:52):
person with them I would say,you know, oh, this is a great
welcome sequence, but I don'tknow who Melissa is, right, I
don't know who Shahar is.
Where's Lakeisha?
I've been hanging out withLakeisha all week but I don't
see her in this welcome sequence.
And oh, you know, I was tryingto be professional.
It's like okay, but especiallyfood bloggers, and I would, I
(32:15):
would point to the room.
I say you are one of thousands,hundreds of thousands of food
bloggers, but you have whatmakes me want to follow you,
right, and what's going to keepme around is that little, that
personal stuff.
It's not that professional,polished.
You know, welcome to my kitchenor you know whatever it's.
(32:38):
You know it's what makes usunique, is going to make us
stand out, not only in the inboxbut at networking events, on
social media, et cetera.
It's what's going to keep usgoing.
It's what's going to helppeople share our stuff so we
grow even more.
You know those unique things.
My silly joke about Will Smith,you know, before Melissa and I
(33:02):
hit record I was like I'm sosorry I forgot a hat.
You know, like that's justsomething unique about me.
I always have something on myhead.
You know, I always say it'spart of my work uniform, right,
that's unique.
There are a million and oneemail marketers out there, but
Melissa asked me to come on theshow, right, because I have a
unique perspective, a uniquelook, a unique personality.
(33:24):
So don't be afraid, even inyour list building, to put that
out there, because you know,eventually you can try to hide,
but eventually your true selfwill come out.
And you don't want to build anemail list of people who don't
know the real you.
You want to build an email listof people that are like, yes, I
(33:47):
love those corny jokes.
Liz tells yes, I love thatMelissa gets awkward when she's
nervous.
Because so do I?
Speaker 1 (33:54):
right, that's what we're trying to build yeah yeah,
and you build trust with peoplewhen they see you showing up
consistently, right, if I readwhat you put on threads.
But then I read your email andthen I meet you in real life and
all three of those sound likedifferent people.
Now I'm confused about who youare and whether or not I like
you and whether or not I trustyou.
(34:16):
So that's part of it too.
With email is like I don't wantto meet you at a networking
event, get on your email listand then all of a sudden I'm
like wait, this doesn't soundanything like the lady that I
met at the networking event.
So that piece, I think, isreally important too.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
So, so important.
I always say you know, share alittle bit of personality in
your emails and on your landingpages, right, but the
personality a lot of people gettripped up.
They're like, oh well, I'm aprivate person.
It's like, okay, well, you wearyour personality.
We all wear our personalities,right?
Like you don't have to be thiscrazy extrovert.
You know tropical coloredshirts and yellow background
(34:54):
like Liz Wilcox, to have apersonality you can.
You know it's.
Are you a little awkward whenyou're nervous?
What TV shows do you like?
What's in your mug today?
Do you have a mug or are you asuper nice glass girly?
Those surface level things cango a long way in relating and
(35:18):
keeping you memorable andkeeping your business around for
a long time.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
This reminds me of theconversation, the interview that
I did with Deanna Seymour forthis podcast, speaking of
personalities, and it was allabout using gifts in your
marketing.
And I started using them moreafter I did that interview and I
felt I feel like that's a greatway to just interject a little
bit of your personality, alittle bit of your humor, your
(35:46):
style, what you like, what youthink is funny, and so there's a
lot of different ways to do ittoo.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yes, I love that.
I use GIFs all the time, likein not every email, but you'll
see one in.
You know my welcome sequence.
You'll see them in at least oneemail a month.
But I make my own because Iwant people to see my face right
, especially online.
(36:13):
You know we can network, butit's so much better when people
you know know what you look like, especially when you're
building an email list.
If they just found your landingpage on Pinterest or something,
they might not even know whatyou look like.
So putting a picture or puttinga GIF really, really helps with
that personality piece, reallyhelps with that connection,
which will help with conversionslater, for sure.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Yeah, I love that you're calling it a GIF.
And I called it a GIF because Iremember in the interview with
her we talked about what is thecorrect pronunciation and before
I started talking about it, Iwas like shit, what did she say
was the correct pronunciation?
And I just went with.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
GIF.
I think GIF, the guy thatcreated GIFs says GIF, but I
would argue, even though I sayGIF, I would argue that GIF is
much more popular and probablywhat is like well known as the
correct pronunciation.
I just say jif becausesometimes I have an accent,
depending on who I'm talking to,and so sometimes it's like wait
(37:13):
, what did she say?
So I've just gotten thepractice of saying jif, so it's
not confused.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
That's awesome and that's the lore on that.
Anyway, back to email.
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I love that and that's the lore on that.
Anyway, back to email.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Is there anything?
I mean, there's a lot that goesinto list building.
There's no way we can cover itall this morning, but is there
anything that I haven't askedyou about or that you haven't
gotten to talk about that youfeel like this is really
important for people to hearwhen it comes to list building?
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yes, if I could leave on any note, I would love for
you to know that there are amillion and one email strategies
for growing your list out there.
I mean, melissa just said wecould talk forever about it, but
you've got to go with the onethat feels good for you, right?
Because list building it's along game.
(38:02):
You're not just going to go oh,I'm going to focus on list
building for six months andsuddenly you have 100,000 people
on your list.
It's a long game.
It's something you have to doover and over.
It's why I said, yes, of course, melissa, we'll be doing list
building live again, because Ineed to be doing it every year,
because you need to be doing itevery year.
And so, when it comes to whatstrategy you should pick, go
(38:26):
with the one that fits what else?
Your personality, right?
I've mainly grown my list withpodcasts and summits.
You might think, oh gosh, Icould never do a podcast.
You think Melissa gets nervous,you don't even want to see me,
right?
So pick the one that fits yourpersonality, that fits your
(38:46):
style, because this is somethingyou're going to have to do over
and over and over again.
So make sure it feels good toyou.
If Pinterest feels good.
You're a visual girly, you knowyou could play around in Canva
all day Pinterest would be greatfor you.
If you're someone who loves tonetwork and you're really good
at it oh my gosh.
Doing collabs, getting onsummits, hosting your own events
(39:09):
or getting on podcasts, freebieswaps those would be good for
you.
So, making sure you pick thething that's like yeah, I could
see myself working on that forthe next 90 days.
Go with that.
Brilliant, love it.
If people wanna know more aboutyou, I could see myself working
on that for the next 90 days.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Go with that Brilliant, love it.
If people want to know moreabout you, if they want to grab
that freebie that you have, thewelcome sequence thing is
awesome.
If they want to join emailmarketing membership, which is
also awesome, what's the bestway for them to connect with you
, follow you, learn about you?
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Oh my gosh.
She finally asked Yay, ofcourse I'm an email marketer.
I would love to help you growyour list and grow mine at the
same time.
You can go directly tolizwillcoxcom.
There's a hot pink button inthe top right hand corner.
You can't miss it.
You're going to get that welcomesequence that I've been talking
about that you will definitelyneed as you grow your list to
(40:02):
introduce your subscribers toyou and your products.
So you're going to get thatwelcome sequence.
You're also going to get threenewsletter samples so you can
show, or you can see, how to getpeople to click, how to get
people to reply and how to getpeople to buy directly from your
newsletter.
And if that's not enoughbecause I really want you to
email and I know writing fromscratch totally sucks you're
(40:25):
going to get 52 subject linesfor a year full of emails.
So that's the welcome sequencethree newsletter samples and 52
subject lines.
Lizwilcoxcom hot pink buttonyou can't miss it.
And of course, melissa hasmentioned my $9 a month email
marketing membership.
That's where I write yourweekly newsletter for you.
(40:46):
You can take and make it yourown Mad Libs style.
You can go directly tolizwilcoxcom.
There's a yellow button at thevery top.
You can check it out there.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Awesome, love it.
Thank you so much for being myguest on this podcast.
It was great chatting with youand shared a lot of awesome
information and things that Ithink people can start doing
right away to start growingtheir list, so thank you very
much.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Awesome.
Thanks, melissa, and I can'twait to see what we all do with
email marketing.
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