Email marketing is the sales equivalent of a Swiss Army knife. Not only is it easy, cheap, and effective, but can be used to do any number of tasks. Get a strong list of local buyers together and you can announce new products, promote events, jumpstart sales with a discount code, and even share helpful tips.

Before you can do any of these things, however, you have to have some subscribers to send your messages to in the first place. And that’s the part of the process the trips a lot of small business owners up.

To help you make the most of a particularly versatile marketing tool, today we want to share a handful of subscriber-grabbing tips. Here are five things you can do to double the size of your local email marketing list today…

#1 Promote Your Newsletter Offline

If you distribute catalogs, brochures, or direct mail pieces, make sure you mention your email newsletter (and where to sign up). Reaching opt-in contacts through their inboxes is faster than other forms of direct mail and costs less. Plus, it gives you a chance to reinforce your sales messages in a new way. Why not see if you can turn bulk mail recipients into email subscribers?

#2 Give an in-Store Discount

For business owners who get a lot of walk-in traffic, advertising regular sales, discounts, and subscriber-only offers is a good way to add contacts to an email distribution list. Everybody likes to get a great deal, and customers will be more likely to read your messages if they are aware of the savings they can find inside.

#3 Host a Giveaway

Raffles, prizes, and other types of giveaways are always a big hit. In some cases, drawing names for a premium product or shopping spree can help you add thousands of email subscribers in just a few days. Just be sure you follow the promotion up with some great marketing, or you could lose those contacts very quickly without generating a lot of sales in return.

#4 Start a Referral Chain

Whatever your perfect customer looks like, they probably know lots of other people who would also be a great fit for your business. One way to take advantage of that fact is by offering a one-time discount to anyone who joins your email list and the person who referred them. Assuming buyers like and trust you, they may go out of their way to send new subscribers in exchange for a gift or coupon code.

#5 Get Some Local Publicity

Chances are, there are some business publications in your area that could use fresh content. You can contact editors to ask if they would be open to using some of your ideas in exchange for mentions in your email newsletter. If your topics are relevant enough, you could gather dozens or hundreds of new contacts from a single article submission.

There are a lot of ways to promote your company and grow your sales, but few of them are as simple and affordable as sending a regular email newsletter. Put these tips to good use and see how easy it is to add hundreds of new recipients to every message you send. It just might be the idea that boosts your sales for years to come!