If you’ve done any kind of research on online marketing, you probably have come across the familiar saying, “the money is in the list.” I can’t agree enough. Make no mistake, email marketing blows away the competition year after year. Hands-down, no question about it.

Yes I am talking about email marketing beating the stuffing out of search engine rankings. Can you imagine that? Search engine rankings can’t hold this candle to the power of email marketing. I can’t even begin to tell you how big of a deal this is, because if you think about search engine marketing, it is really nothing short of mind-blowing.

For example, you’re thinking of looking for a new coffee blend, so you go on Google and you type in “roasted coffee” and then the name of your city; let’s say, “roasted coffee Los Angeles.” And then what happens is the first few lines are ads of coffee roasters, and other coffee entrepreneurs and impresarios in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Isn’t that neat? Isn’t that nifty? Basically, at the point of your highest interest, in whatever service or product you are looking for, you get access to advertising offering that thing you’re interested in. It’s as if they are reading your mind.

It is no surprise that conversion rates for highly targeted commercial searches on search engines like Google, are through the roof. They make money. That is why people spend billions upon billions of dollars on Google Ads year after year.

Their ad growth rate shows no signs of slowing down. But despite all of this, email marketing is beating the hell out of search marketing. That’s how awesome email marketing is, and that’s why you need to get on this.

I don’t care how small you think your business is. I don’t care how limited your local market may appear to you. If you are not marketing your local business using a mailing list, you are putting yourself at a competitive disadvantage. It is only a matter of time until your competitors leave you in the dust, because they have mastered the art of mailing list.

The power of mailing lists

So what’s the big deal about mailing lists anyway? Why do they produce sales? Why do they produce more sales than search engines? Here’s the thing; when you have an existing relationship with somebody, it’s easier to sell stuff to them. After all, they bought stuff from you. They’ve already consented to receive your marketing materials by joining your mailing list.

In other words, the cheapest form of new business is old business. When people sign up for your mailing list, they are saying to you, in no uncertain terms, that they trust you. They are looking for a relationship. They’re looking to hear from you.

So that’s why mailing lists convert hand over fist. With search engine marketing, you’re basically converting people on a one-time, big-time basis. Basically, it’s a one-time thing, and the next time somebody is looking for something else, they enter into the search engine, and then they convert again.

Not so with a mailing list. You can set up your mailing list to run on autopilot so it’s sending out updates, and every time they like an update they see, they can buy stuff. It is no surprise that people who sign up for a mailing list, end up buying many different products at many different times. The value of each list numbered goes up over time; it’s like real estate.

How to use Facebook to build your mailing list

The great thing about Facebook is that it is a surveillance software. You give away your life the moment you log in to Facebook. Did you know that Facebook is tracking your interests and your psychological profile when you are logged in? That’s right, it keeps track of the stuff you like, the content that you post comments on, and other indirect indicators of your interests.

What do you think it does with this data? It’s not doing it because it has nothing else better to do. It uses this highly complicated information and breaks it down into easy to understand data points, and then blasts it through an advertising-targeting algorithm.

In other words, Facebook’s overarching aim is to create an ad system that seems to read your mind. They haven’t reached the same level as Google, because Google is keyword-driven, but it’s getting there. And the good news is you can use these ads to get into the heads of local people.

Facebook also has very targeted localization system. Somebody who is a Facebook user in Manila, for example, is not going to ads targeting people in Madrid. So you get to drill down as to the population you want to reach, and then get them to sign up for your mailing list.

The best part to all of this is that Facebook has so much inventory, you can build your mailing list on the cheek, if you use post ads or content ads. Regardless of how you do it, do it today.