Content Marketing: How Copyblogger used content and a free paywall to grow its email list by 400%

How do you build an email marketing list in a distrustful environment? This is the question that Brian Clark, Founder and CEO, Copyblogger, asked in his session at Email Summit 2014 in Las Vegas.

"It's harder and harder to sell free content in exchange for an email address because people are afraid of what you're going to do with it, what you're going to do in the sanctity of their email inbox," he said.

Copyblogger didn't trust that traditional methods of delivering content, such as a newsletter, would be effective enough to drive list opt-ins for its new free content paywall, "MyCopyblogger." With that, they wanted to offer more perceived and actual value than they believed a newsletter send could provide.

Instead of paying for access, users simply provide their email address to gain access to a protected library of premium content.

"The role that you play as a marketer with content and with email is as the mentor, and your prospect is the hero," Clark said, adding that the goal of valuable content is to nurture leads.

Watch Clark's full presentation to see how Copyblogger increased email sign-ups by 400% by driving people to the "MyCopyblogger" subscription.

Download the slides to this presentation

Related Resources

MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2015 — Want to see more presentations like this one? Attend Email Summit 2015, Feb. 23-26, Las Vegas

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