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Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better.

If you want to double your sales, you need to double your email list. Your list is a direct line of contact to reach the people who are interested in what you have to offer and an asset that you own and control.

Serving an engaged email list, no matter the size, is a tried and tested game changer for business growth, launching new offers, and ensuring your content is seen by the audience it’s made for! Over a decade ago I stopped solely focusing on the vanity metrics of social media and dove into growing and serving my email list. It’s my #1 profit driver and, therefore, my #1 priority in my business — and it’s time for you to do the same.

Through the years, I have learned a few simple ways that help me keep my list growing consistently without having to put in a ton of time or effort. Serving an email list can be wildly effective without being complicated. Your email list can become a well-oiled machine that serves and sells your offers, doing the heavy lifting for you.

While the following advice is for someone who already has a list they want to grow, if you need to start yours from scratch, I can help you catch way up to speed (like pro-level, but the easy way) in my free one-hour masterclass, “From Zero Subscribers (or Zero Strategy) to an Engaged Email List that Lasts.” Let me show you how to algorithm-proof your business, once and for all.

The growth of your business can’t stay in the hands of a social media platform — I’ve seen too many “my account got hacked and deleted” situations. Start your list and have an open line from your offers to your dream customers at all times.

7 Ways to Grow Your Email List (and Your Revenue) in 2024

If you want to leverage your list to grow your revenue in 2024, it’s time to optimize your email marketing ecosystem step by step. You can turn this into a once-a-year, ‘spring cleaning’ checklist or break it into bite-sized pieces you work on throughout the year. Either way, your results will reflect your effort!

1. Dig into Your Email Analytics

Far too many people like to hit ‘send’ on their emails and let that be their end goal. If you’re afraid of digging into numbers or aren’t sure where to start, you’re not alone! It can be scary to find out what’s truly working — and what isn’t. But knowing your data is the only way you can optimize. Maybe you’ve looked a few times and thought you needed more data to take action — but think of it like this: a ship doesn’t wait until it’s way off the path to course correct, right? Making small movements can help you get to your goal faster and easier!

Find your email marketing provider’s analytics dashboard and let the numbers speak. What emails get the most opens and clicks (i.e. look at time of day, topic of email, subject line, etc.)? What’s your best-performing offer? And what emails tied to that offer were the highest converting?

2. Update Your Main Opt-In Offer

Garnering new email list subscribers is usually done with an offer — your lead magnet, a free offer with high value that introduces, or leads, new people into your business! It’s time to check in with that offer and see if it needs any refreshing. Running your offer for a year or two can be effective, but beyond that, you’re possibly connecting people to outdated information which can sour a lead’s opinion of your business in a flash.

In 2017, I created my first quiz. It was all about finding your own ‘secret sauce’ and with it, I would not only help people discern what sets them apart and give them resources to own their awesome, but I was also collecting valuable insight into my community. At the time, I was pivoting my business from wedding photography to online education so I had a few strategic questions that allowed me to see what percentage of my followers were photographers, where people needed the most help in their businesses, and what type of resources they were looking for.

Since launching it, we’ve updated our results pages to include more up-to-date content and edited a question or two to continue to give us valuable insight that can direct our brand as it is today. We’ve had 111,000 people take the quiz which has grown our email list substantially and connected our audience with answers that guide them to dive into resources that will support their specific ‘secret sauce.’

Dig through your offer’s copy and look for anything that feels untimely or irrelevant. Check for any broken links, and if any are leading to more of your content, make sure it’s the most updated content you have! Review any statistics or research to confirm it’s either the latest info or still relevant.

An important step here is to consider whether your opt-in still reflects your business and brand. Do you still care about the topic and create other adjacent pieces of content that feed into it and lead people to want to learn more from you? If you feel your business has moved beyond this offer, it’s time to scrap it and make a new one.

3. Consider Creating New Opt-Ins

One opt-in to rule them all might work if your business has a very narrow focus, but more than likely, you could be missing out on catching the eyes of new potential customers and subscribers. Think about your current content pillars and paid offers. Are there entry points that would benefit from a free lead-in offer to get people in the door? You might even have massive value waiting in your everyday practices that could be mundane to you but hugely beneficial to others.

When I began charting out a new course on email list building, I knew that beginners would massively benefit from the course but would need an easier entry point. Paid offers can feel like an intimidating jump, so the goal is to lower that barrier. So, we created a free live masterclass to not only give a taste of the course but also deliver results. They can spend one hour learning with me for free and get a major head start in not only learning about an email list but also building one. That live masterclass is a powerful entry point that leads new customers into our paid offer through a valuable, free connecting point with just a few clicks to sign up. Once they’re on our list, I can serve and thoughtfully sell to them way after the live class!

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Walk through your own weekly workflow and business/creative processes. Is there a method or solution you’ve created or fine-tuned? Is there a habit you have now that you wish you would’ve known about when you were just starting? Get inspired to create new offers with what you already know!

4. Refresh Your Pop-Ups and Landing Pages

Your offer can only be as good as your subscriber’s journey to receiving it. It’s easy to think your freebie pages, sign-up forms, and pop-ups on your website are still as good as the day you made them, but your style and discernment change over time. I couldn’t count just how many times I’ve been on someone’s beautiful website only for an offer to pop up that has their old branding on it.

Walk through your customer’s sign-up journey with new eyes. Do your pop-ups reflect your current branding and voice? Does the delivery email feel relevant and fresh (or is there a GIF of a meme that was popular 5 years ago)? Ensure that the process from start to finish is smooth, inspiring, and thoughtful to the person considering giving you their email address and joining your list.

5. Chart More Paths to Your List

Your marketing efforts should be simplified to two main focuses! The first is to grow your email list; this needs to be the main focus of your business. The second is to leverage other channels you are on as an introduction and invite that audience to become list subscribers.

When you simplify your marketing you start to see that social media isn’t the place you should be selling. It’s where you should be providing value and then connecting them to your list! Whenever I record a podcast episode for The Goal Digger Podcast, I try to think of a way to tie in a freebie or invite my audience to get extra value in exchange for their email address. It’s how I guide them to their next logical step and helps me see which topics are most exciting for my listeners.

When the post’s theme is ‘productivity’, I think “What offers or valuable connections do I have that support a next step for my audience?” I could link to a free planning page, a podcast episode, or a blog post! From there, I make sure there are chances for them to engage with that ‘next step’ that leads them to my list (i.e. the podcast episode notes connect them to the freebie, and the blog post has a CTA or link to the freebie, etc.). There are likely opportunities all over your social media channels, website, and other overlooked locations to link up one of your free offers!

Are there spaces on your website where a link to your offer or straight to your email list sign-up form would make sense? Do you have blog posts that generate traffic to your website? Work a list-building freebie into the copy. Make an effort to consistently create social media posts that lead to your offer, especially since new people might not know about it yet! Even places like the links in your bios and your email signature are spots where you want to not just connect people to your website but to your list!

A major oversight for people serving a list is a common mistake for most business owners: running your marketing channels like silos rather than a fully connected ecosystem. Have you ever joined someone’s email list and thought, “Wow, you never mention this kind of stuff on your socials!” I know we want to make sure no one’s bored by our content, but you have to remember that not everyone’s got eyes on every single post or email you share.

6. Rework Your Welcome Sequence

When someone becomes a subscriber by opting into any of your offers, you want to make sure they’re welcomed into your brand and introduced to you and your work thoroughly before you toss other offers their way. You might have one welcome email in place, but knowing that some people skip over those emails because they’re excited about the offer they just signed up for, having a welcome sequence can be powerful.

Do your subscribers know your story? Write up a three-part sequence to share it with them! Want to get to know their needs, interests, industries, or experiences? Drop a survey or a quiz. If they signed up for one offer out of a library of offers you have, this is a great way to thoughtfully introduce them to your solutions. When you’re not sure what to say, share customer testimonials, exclusive access, and behind-the-scenes insight!

7. Get Smart with Your List Segmenting

If you’re not yet segmenting your email list, now’s the time to do so! Segmenting is beneficial for your business and for your readers. You can target your segments with offers that work best for them without any redundancy, which means they’re more likely to take action on those offers! It may seem like a lot of work juggling a highly segmented email list, so start small. A great entry point in segmenting is offering your full list a quiz to take part in (and it doubles as an amazing lead magnet for new people!)

If you’re already segmenting, then work through those segments. Are you able to target those segments the way you intended when you started? Do you need to craft some segment-specific copy to reengage that portion of your list and inspire them to take action on a new offer? Make sure your workflow is worth your time and pouring back into your business goals!

Don’t have an email list yet? Go from Zero to Engaged!

Ready to streamline and power-up your marketing strategy with an email list, but need help starting from scratch? Learn everything you need to know in my free 1-hour masterclass! Get actionable guidance on starting your list from scratch and making it 10x more effective than any of your social media strategies. Build a list of dream clients, grow your sales, and stop having to stress about who is seeing your posts and offers on social media! It’s time to build a list you can launch to.

Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better.

We are undeniably in the golden age of audio content.

But what’s even more interesting is that we’re also in the early days of AI-generated audio content.

AI-generated podcasts, AI-transcribed audiobooks, and AI-generated music are now more accessible than ever before. It’s easier than ever to stumble upon AI-generated audio content (maybe without realizing it), and it’s easier than ever to create AI-generated content.

But what does AI-created audio mean for the future of audio content? How will AI continue to change the landscape of podcasts, audiobooks, and other audio content?

I talked about that in my podcast and will be talking about it again in this piece:

There’s no denying that AI has already had an impact on the world. With voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, we’ve become accustomed to interacting with AI through speech without really thinking about it. But as of late, the rise of AI-related audio has taken new heights.

New heights that are influencing the way marketers do their jobs, salespeople execute their efforts, and leaders show up on a day-to-day basis.

In this article, we’re going to be diving into the current best practices of audio AI, what it is, how it’s changing business, and what the future will hold.

Let’s get into it.

From synthesizing human-like voices for podcasts and audiobooks to composing original music pieces without the need for human intervention, audio AI is breaking new ground.

The technology behind audio AI has the capability to understand, process, and respond to natural language inputs, allowing for interactive experiences and transforming passive listening into an engaging dialogue between the user and the technology.

Here’s an example of an audio-based YouTube video that I created with AI audio:

It might not pick up on my Canadian “Abouts,” but it’s pretty close …

I created the audio using ElevenLabs and then let my video team do the rest.

The Power Of Audio Content

Audio content, such as podcasts, has become an invaluable asset for marketers and brands alike.

According to podcast data from IAB, the market for podcast-related revenue in 2024 is expected to surpass more than $4.2 billion:

The podcast market is huge.

Brands are realizing that podcasts as an audio platform allow for a level of intimacy and engagement that is unparalleled, creating a direct line to the listener’s ear and, most crucially, their mind. This direct access grants marketers the power to craft narratives, convey messages, and build brand loyalty in a way that feels personal and genuine.

Podcasts like My First Million, Marketing Against The Grain, Another Bite, and Create Like The Greats are all examples of shows that create value for audiences while providing value to brands.

When Spotify recently published the follower count of some of their top podcasts, the Internet exploded in surprise at the amount of reach that these podcasters have:

Millions of followers.

Millions of listeners.

Millions in revenue.

The power of podcasting and audio cannot continue to be discounted as a fringe marketing opportunity. The opportunity for brands to capitalize on audio-driven marketing is real.

But AI is making things a whole lot more interesting …

The Impact of AI on Audio Content Creation

AI’s role in the creation of scripts and content for podcasts and audiobooks represents nothing short of a revolution in the production of audio content.

Leveraging sophisticated algorithms, artificial intelligence is now capable of analyzing vast databases of language and story structures to generate coherent, engaging narratives that captivate listeners and become podcasts for people to consume.

Technologies like ElevenLabs allow brands to configure the perfect computer-generated voice and even translate those voices into different languages. The impact that this type of technology can have on podcast creators is multifaceted.

Here are five major ways audio AI is influencing and impacting the world:

1. Increased Productivity

AI-driven audio tools can streamline the process for so many things.

It can elevate the podcast creation process by significantly reducing the amount of work needed during the post-production stage. It can replace the entire recording process for an audiobook. And it can fix anything said incorrectly during a podcast in a matter of a few clicks.

Common use cases for AI in audio content include fixing volume and tone and removing unnecessary background noise. You can isolate a voice from background music using AI and you can remove barking dogs from an audio clip that you didn’t want to make an appearance.

AI-based voice synthesis also expedites the production of audio content by eliminating the need for extensive recording sessions.

2. Internationalization Of Content

AI is dramatically transforming the landscape of audio content by breaking down the barriers of language and making content universally accessible. With advanced language translation technologies, AI can instantly translate spoken content into multiple languages, enabling podcasts, audiobooks, and other forms of audio media to reach a global audience.

This capability not only enhances the listener’s experience by providing content in their native language but also opens new markets for content creators. By leveraging AI for translation, creators can now produce a single piece of content and distribute it worldwide, significantly increasing their reach and impact. This development in AI technology is pivotal for fostering global connections and understanding through the power of audio content.

In 2023, Spotify introduced their first experiment with AI Translation and the translation hub:

It’s only a matter of time before any podcast in the world can be heard in your own native tongue.

3. Increased Content Velocity

There’s no question that AI offers podcasters the chance to improve the velocity with which they create content. It’s risky because listeners might hate it, but thanks to audio AI, you can upload a podcast script and have the script read in your voice in a matter of seconds.

Sore throat? You can still record.

Feeling under the weather? You can still record.

Forgot your audio equipment at home? You can still record.

The power of AI audio is in the fact that you can create podcast content no matter where you are.

4. Improved Editing Efficiencies

This technology enables the production of a high volume of episodes rapidly, catering to the insatiable demand for fresh content. Furthermore, AI’s ability to analyze listener preferences and trends in real time allows for the creation of highly targeted and relevant content, enhancing listener engagement, and brand loyalty.

In Descript, you have the ability to change actual words within a video using AI.

For example, in the sample below, I say, “Create a report.” But if I intended to say “create a document,” I could edit the text directly in Descript, and their AI engine would change my voice to say “document.”

Seems like magic, right?

I’ve used this technology to edit videos after I stumble over words and remove “umms” from videos where they don’t fit into the flow of the story.

AI-driven audio content creation is not just about doing more with less; it’s about opening new doors for brands to connect with their audience in more meaningful, personalized ways, thus driving their message home more effectively than ever before.

5. Reduced Authenticity For Listeners

Advancements in AI-driven audio content creation introduce a plethora of opportunities for efficiency and scale. But there’s an undeniable trade-off in authenticity for listeners.

Authenticity is the backbone of podcasting and most audio content success, with audiences gravitating toward content that feels genuine, raw, and human. The shift toward AI-generated podcasts raises questions about the future of this deeply human connection.

Listeners develop strong relationships with podcast hosts, often viewing them as trusted friends, peers or advisors. This bond is forged through the subtle nuances of human communication — tone, emotion, hesitation, and laughter — that AI has yet to replicate perfectly.

When content lacks these human elements, there’s a risk that listeners may feel disconnected or less engaged, potentially eroding the trust and loyalty podcasts have traditionally built.

In a world where authenticity is increasingly valued, the challenge for AI in audio content is clear: how to harness the efficiency and scalability of AI without sacrificing the genuine human touch that makes podcasts so compelling. This balance is the new frontier in audio content, requiring a careful blend of technology and humanity.

How AI Is Influencing Your Audio Content

Most people don’t realize that AI has been powering a lot of our lives without us knowing it.

That podcast you happened to stumble upon? AI helped.

That amazing YouTube channel you found? AI helped.

That cool sweater you just bought? AI helped.

That person you’re dating? Yeah. AI helped.

AI is all around us, and we often don’t even realize it. AI powers content recommendations on social media channels daily. AI powers music recommendations and even dating recommendations. For marketers, AI presents an opportunity to improve the ways in which your content is distributed.

Personalized Recommendations

AI algorithms have transformed content recommendations and distribution with increased personalization. Algorithms consider listeners’ previous interactions, preferences, and even time spent on specific types of content. This means they can predict what listeners might enjoy next with astonishing accuracy.

This enhances the user experience by serving more personal content and increases engagement and retention rates. It also opens up new opportunities for listeners to find new voices and stories.

Targeted Advertising

AI’s role in targeted audio advertising marks a significant shift in how brands connect with their intended audiences. It uses advanced algorithms to analyze data and find patterns in listener preferences that human analysis can’t detect.

These insights help advertisers to deliver hyper-targeted personal ads, which amplifies the impact of their ads. AI also improves ad placement in audio content (like podcasts.) It does this by placing ads in the best spots during audio content to keep listeners engaged and help them remember the message.

Analytics and Insights

In this era where content is king, AI’s is distilling vast amounts of listener data into coherent, actionable insights. This is revolutionizing the way we create, distribute, and market audio content.

It’s not just about understanding what listeners want today but predicting what they will crave tomorrow. AI is setting the stage for audio content’s future to be as dynamic and responsive as the technology that shapes it.

AI’s Role in Improving Accessibility

AI is improving accessibility in audio content by providing voices for those who can’t speak. It can also convert written materials into audio for those with visual or reading challenges. This technology is breaking down barriers to communication.

It’s a potent force for inclusivity, demolishing barriers to accessibility that have long marginalized certain listener groups. AI also offers real-time transcription and closed captioning. This makes podcasts accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, allowing for a broader audience to enjoy audio content.

Ethical Considerations and Challenges

Like any technology, AI in audio content raises ethical concerns about its potential for misuse. Its ability to synthesize hyper-realistic voices creates a risk that people could use it to deceive listeners.

The emergence of deepfake videos and AI scam calls show that this is a challenge that audio content creators and platforms must navigate. Transparency, verification processes, and responsible usage policies are essential in mitigating this risk.

In Tennessee, USA, they passed the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act. This is a first-of-its-kind legislation providing protections to songwriters, performers, and music industry professionals from the misuse of artificial intelligence to recreate their voice without permission.

The potential for misuse of AI in the creation of misleading or fake audio content cannot be ignored. This power to generate synthetic voices and manipulate speech poses significant risks. Imagine an environment flooded with audio clips that are indistinguishable from reality but are entirely fabricated. The implications for misinformation, identity theft, and defamation are profound.

Developing AI responsibly means ensuring that people use this technology to enrich society, not deceive it. This ethos must drive the future of audio AI technology, bridging the gap between innovation and ethical responsibility.

The Future of Audio AI

AI is continuously evolving, and with advancements in natural language processing, it’s only a matter of time before we see AI-generated audio content that is indistinguishable from human-created content.

One potential future for audio AI is the creation of entirely new forms of media, merging traditional storytelling with immersive and interactive experiences. This could open up new opportunities for brands to engage with audiences in unique ways.

Another exciting development is the use of AI to create a truly personal listening experience by automatically adjusting audio content based on the listener’s mood, location, and preferences. This could potentially lead to a more engaging and emotionally resonant experience for listeners.

Voice Synthesis and Modification: The Frontier of Customizable Audio

Voice synthesis and modification is not just advancing; it’s on the brink of revolutionizing how we perceive and interact with audio content.

With cutting-edge AI technologies, we’re witnessing the creation of hyper-realistic, AI-generated voices that are increasingly becoming indistinguishable from human ones. This leap forward is not merely about producing any voice but about customizing voices to suit specific needs and contexts, thereby making narration more accessible and customizable than ever before.

Companies like ElevenLabs, MurfAI and Voices are at the forefront, offering a suite of voice synthesis services that can mimic emotion, tone, and even specific accents. Descript, which uses AI-generated voice cloning to create natural-sounding voices from text, allowing for easier script writing and editing, is another audio AI tool worth watching.

The implications of this technology are vast and varied.

Voice cloning, for instance, allows voice actors and actresses to upload their voices to various audio AI marketplaces and be paid on a usage basis. This can be especially useful for ad creation, as it saves time and resources compared to a human having to go into the studio and actually record.

The rise of artificial intelligence in audio content is here.

AI-generated content and assisted content are providing improved efficiencies and inclusive listening experiences, as well as becoming a threat to the jobs of many. Audio AI presents marketers with a huge opportunity and brands with the ability to do things that were, at one point, nothing more than a dream.

Summed up:

It’s complicated.

On one end, I think it’s great that I can log into an audio AI tool and create an entire podcast episode for Create Like The Greats without saying an actual word. But on the other end … I know that with this type of technology comes the threat of bad actors and bad outcomes. My hope is that humanity will come through and that we’ll all be better off because of this technology.

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