The answer is …..
It depends on you. Like any tool, if used correctly it can be very effective. If misused it is absolutely worthless. The same can be said for many of the free and low cost methods of promotion.
You wouldn’t use a hammer to cut a board in half and you wouldn’t use a saw to pound a nail in. The two together can be extremely effective in building something if you use the saw to cut and the hammer to pound though. If you used them the first way you would say they don’t work, the latter way they do.
Now that leads to another question doesn’t it?
How do you use them effectively?
First, pick the right type of list. If you can submit to hundreds at once and delete the email without effort then the odds are against you getting much use of them. It does sound great to automate everything but if you can everyone else can too. Waste of resources in my book.
Using credit based safelists is the first key to making them effective. It takes a bit of work on your part because you do have to login, post your ad to each one. You can’t click one button and mail hundreds of thousands.
More importantly, you need to actually read the emails to get credits so that you can get your emails read. No credits in your account you can’t mail to others. It really takes it back to how they worked originally before the automation came in.
The second part to making them effective is look at the market you are getting there. (This applies to any of these type resources.) Why are people a member of a safelist? One reason - to promote their product or program not to buy yours.
Target your offer to something that they need to do that and all of a sudden they do have an interest in what you are promoting. Offering a course or ebook to more effectively market their product will work. They want to market better.
Of course, you want to deliver this to them through an autoresponder so that you get the chance to build an ongoing relationship. That is where you will market your products or programs - to a warm audience.
Now you still need to do the normal marketing things - testing your headlines, test your copy, test your email series, etc. but by using a saw as a saw and not a hammer, safelists can be effective for building your list. Then it is up to you to monetize it. We can help you there.
