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Just when you thought that you were ready to send your email into the world, there are a few more things we’ll need to cover in this lesson to make sure that you’re sending the right message at the right time to the right audience.
Creating an e-mail marketing document
We have looked at the content of the document in lesson 5 and the format the document in lesson 6. Now it’s time to turn our attention to the bigger picture.
Creating a series
A lot of care should be put into creating a series, even if you plan on sending out only occasional updates.
A series of email marketing messages should be intentional and well-defined; not haphazard.
As you decide on the content, you will have already started the consideration of how regular you want your marketing campaign to be. Obviously we’re not defining the occasional sales message here, but the more intentional and regular messages of newsletters and e-zines.
• Motley Fool, the investment advice organization, sends out newsletters fairly frequently… sometimes a few a day. If this is the route you want to take, be aware that it could take a lot of your time and effort which may potentially take away from other aspects of your business. However, you’ll be able to create shorter “bite sized” messages and you’ll always be at the top of your audience’s mind. Flylady.com is another organization that sends out several messages each day.
• Many email marketing campaigns send out messages once per week or once per month. Depending on your product and your audience, one might be more appropriate than another. If your audience is at the computer more often, they might want a single, shorter message each week. If they have less time but still crave helpful information, once a month might be more appropriate.
Would you ever do anything less frequently than once a month? That depends on who you are and what you do. Generally speaking, the larger the purchase you offer, the less frequently you have to send your message. For example, a car dealership should advertise more frequently than a realtor. An appliance dealer should advertise more frequently than a car dealership. A computer retailer should advertise more frequently than an appliance dealer. And so on.
Also, your message can determine what you send out. If you send out The Authoritative Buyer’s Guide to Stocks, you can probably get away with putting it out every quarter. More frequently would lower the worth of your message. Less frequently might make people forget who you are and confuse your occasional message with the spam in their inbox.
Ideally, you will probably want to create a mix of messages to send out. Here is an example for a car dealership:
• Weekly: highlight the 3 best deals on your lot plus money-saving car maintenance tips.
• Monthly: highlight the 3 most popular cars that month plus a coupon for an oil change and a free car detailing.
• Quarterly: Offer tips for traveling during that season along with a coupon for a seasonal check-up.
Here is an example from a financial company:
• Weekly: talk about some market movers and shakers and highlight one stock that seems to be doing well.
• Monthly: Highlight the top-moving stocks for that month.
• Quarterly: offer an authoritative buyer’s guide to stocks that could do well this quarter.
Here is an example from a company that provides online business consultation services:
• Weekly: highlight one customer with whom you’re doing business.
• Monthly: Analyze and industry that your clients use for vendors or customers.
• Quarterly: create a “state of the industry” document that talks about the industry in which your clients work.
As you can see, just from these examples, there are many exciting things you can do with your email marketing campaign and a campaign that mixes two or more frequencies can provide a variety of added-value services to clients.
Ultimately, you want to find content that they will find useful. That way, they’ll read the content and link its authoritative voice to you. And when they need the product or service that you offer, they will naturally turn to the authority on the matter… you. By providing a variety of messages at a variety of frequencies, you’ll be more likely able to stay at the top of their mind and enjoy “stickiness” which is a marketing term referring to how often someone views and returns to your message. Notice how the weekly, monthly, and quarterly messages in the above 3 examples are generally things that people might be interested in saving and going back to time and time again.
Creating coherence
You have decided on your frequency (and counted the cost, which you should have done in a previous lesson… just make sure the numbers are still the same if you’ve increased the frequency).
Now it’s time to assemble your message. In a previous lesson you started to put together a document that outlined the topics you wanted to cover in a year. If you want to publish weekly, make sure you have 52 ideas. If you want to publish monthly, make sure you have 12 ideas.
Some people feel that they should be fine starting with 30 or 35 ideas instead of 52, figuring that the other 17 to 22 ideas will come in time. Although you may want to do this, you are really taking a chance on it. The reason is that business often gets in the way of our best laid plans and before you know it, you’ve used up all of your planned ideas and now you’re faced with 4 or 5 months without any ideas to start you off. You will quickly fall behind. (We’re not trying to be negative here… just realistic from years of experience!)
Upon hearing our suggestion, some people may say that their industry is so news-sensitive that it doesn’t make sense to have the full list of ideas. This may be true, but Murphy’s Law suggests that those last 4 or 5 months will be “slow news months” and you’ll continue to struggle.
The best practice when developing a schedule is to come up with the full list of ideas. Then, if news does strike, you can always move one of the ideas to next year. However, if news doesn’t happen, you will have something to talk about.
In addition to creating a list, take note of the day it will fall on. Sometimes you may have to (or want to) adjust your message according to that day. If you are sending out messages on the 1st of every month, you can gear your message to New Years, and each new fiscal quarter. But don’t look JUST to the day… look around at days that are close by: In the US, Independence Day falls on July 4th and that may be on your audience’s mind during your July 1st newsletter… so mentioning it in your letter may make your newsletters seem timely. Also, be wary of who your audience is: if you are marketing to Canadians, for example, wishing them a happy Independence Day on July 4th isn’t appropriate. Instead, wish them happy Canada Day on July 1st.
Summary
In this lesson we talked about some of the frequency considerations you will need to think about when you’re developing your email marketing campaign. As well, you learned how you should build an entire year’s worth of campaign messages and appropriately organize them according to the seasons.
Watch for the next lesson…
You are Amazing!
-Dave
In this lesson we’ll look a little further into how you can create the perfect email marketing document. Before you send it out, you’ll want to make sure that you hit all of these bases first. Then – and only then – will you be ready to press “send” and release your sales message into the world.
Creating an e-mail marketing document
The first consideration you want to make is in what format you will be sending it:
• Text
• Html
• Link-based
• PDF
Undoubtedly there are others, but these are the most common.
Text-based email marketing documents are one of the simplest to create. You simply type something into a document-creator like Notepad… or directly into your email content window. Text-based messages were very popular for a long time because most people used a dial-up system to access the internet and text-based messages were small files and could be loaded to the screen quickly. They are still popular, but are falling off, as people prefer something a little more visually appealing. You should consider, however, offering a text-based message as well, in case someone prefers that method. If you want to think of an offline comparison, you might think of a newspaper article: colorless but filled with information.
Here is an example, including the text and an embedded advertisement and link:
It’s almost time for spring gardening!
We’ve developed a comprehensive list of things you want to do to prepare your garden bed for planting. And later, you’ll discover the 3 tips that can help you determine which ones are weeds and which ones are plants you want to KEEP in your garden. And if you check out our website, we’ve provided a regional analysis of fertilizers so you can get the right fertilizer for your area of the country.
But first, a word from our sponsor:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
DISCOUNT TULIPS. It’s time to get those tulips in the ground. We sell the cheapest tulips. Credit cards accepted. Click here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *How do you prepare your garden bed just after spring thaw? We outline the 6 steps you need to take to ensure that your garden
HTML-based email marketing documents are much less text-filled. They are more highly designed. They can use color, pictures, moving images, hyperlinks animation, and sound to convey the message. Many email marketing service providers (like the ones we covered a couple lessons back) offer html templates to help you build your message. You can also use Microsoft Word to build one, too, since later versions of the program will convert your documents to html for you. If you want to think of an offline comparison, you might think of a brochure: it combines text and images to convey the message.
Link-based. Although technically this email marketing type can be either a text-based or html based message, we have included it here under its own heading because it plays a different role than a text-based or html-based document. Text and html documents may contain links, but a links-based document has far less content within the document itself and far more links pointing someone elsewhere. If you are looking for an offline comparison, you might think of a menu: it describes an item and allows you to select that item.
We’ve included an example of a text-based linked message.
Spending too much time under the hood?
If you’re a mechanic, you get paid per job… rarely per hour. So you need tools that can do the job fast.
Make faster oil changes with this package of products.
Change a tire more quickly with this new tool.
Remove spark plugs AND clean them with this unusual device.
PDF document. This email marketing document sends little in the way of content within the document itself but rather sends an attachment – most commonly in PDF, although it could be in other formats – and the PDF document is meant to be downloaded and viewed at the audience’s leisure. The PDF document can be more like a catalogue or a newsletter or some other type of document that your audience might be inclined to save and refer back to again and again.
We haven’t included a PDF example simply because it can take so many forms.
How do you decide which one to choose? Choose the one that works best for your products and audience. Here are some thoughts to get you started
~ If you have an audience that doesn’t have a lot of time to read, don’t bother with a wordy document; consider a short text or html document or link-based document.
~ If you have a product that really needs to be seen in action to be appreciated, consider a linked based document that can take them to a page with an animation of your product in action.
~ If you have a product that looks good and there are plenty of great visual of people enjoying it, consider an html document or PDF file.
~ If you have a message that is very helpful to people and can be referred to over and over, consider a PDF file.
Summary
Your message can take on different forms (including more than one from the above list) depending on who your audience is and what kind of message they’d be most responsive to. Feel free to create a few different versions of your newsletter and ask around for opinions on which one is more effective.
Remember to take action…
You are Awesome!
–Dave
In this lesson, we’ll begin to explore the basics of creating an email marketing document. Email marketing has some similarities to other types of marketing, but it also has some differences. We’ll elaborate those differences and give you a chance to start creating some of your own excellent email marketing ideas.
Creating an e-mail marketing document: The fundamentals
The most important thing to know is the basics of building a powerful marketing document. It doesn’t matter if you are writing a newsletter or you are writing an occasional sales update… or some other kind of email marketing content. Generally speaking, these are the things you will want to accomplish in every single outgoing marketing document.
Benefits versus Features
There’s an age-old adage in sales: “features tell, benefits sell.”
Features are the things that describe a product. The benefits are the good things that come from using a product. The truth is, people simply don’t buy products based on the features they offer. Instead, people buy products based on the benefit it provides them and on the way that product fulfills their needs.
Think of the last time you bought something. Did you buy it because it had a an inline locking mechanism or because it made your life easier?
Consider this example in which we compare two fictional advertisements for the same product:
XYZ Clocks Traditionally designed gears turn at various speeds, based on your winding, and those gears turn other gears that ultimately move a second hand, minute hand, and hour hand around the face of a clock. The face of the clock contains 12 numbers. The gears are made out of metal. The clock itself is burnished and the face is white with black numbers.
Pretty boring stuff, isn’t it?!? Compare that to this ad:
XYZ Clocks Never be late again with this accurate, easy-to-read clock. It’s also easy to maintain.
The second ad is simple and full of benefits. Write ads that are benefit laden and you will sell more products. People never buy something because of a feature. They will always buy something because of the benefit it brings them.
AIDA
AIDA is an acronym used in sales and marketing writing. Standing for “Attention, Interest, Decision, Action,” it provides a powerful technique to help you write great copy each and every time.
Attention. Your email marketing material needs to grab their attention effectively or else they will pass your message by as they scan their already-full inboxes. Typically this needs to occur in the subject line, since that is what people usually see first. Marketers try to use a variety of tricks to get people to read their messages. Some less-than-legitimate attention-getting devices include all caps, plenty of exclamation points, or a subject line that doesn’t seem to actually be from a business, but rather from a friend. Here are three examples:
~ BUY BLUE WIDGETS TODAY
~ Widgets. You want one!!!!!!!!!!!
~ It’s been a while, buddy.
While these methods may have been unique and attention getting long ago, they are now tired and old and often over-used by businesses that are more closely linked with spam. If you want to get someone’s attention today, here are two better approaches: ask a question or give the title of your article.
~ Want to live the good life?
~ 3 reasons why everyone needs a blue widget.
Be sure that your article answers the question asked in the subject line.
Interest. Once you have their attention – likely from the subject line – it’s time to keep it with your message. If you have a newsletter, you’ll want the first few paragraphs of your newsletter article to highlight a problem and then the second last paragraph should show how your product or service solves the problem. We’ll get more into writing newsletters in the next lesson.
Decision. Although you should provide helpful information in your email marketing newsletter or e-zine, there is nothing wrong with asking people to make a decision to buy your product. This should be done in the last paragraph of your message. Although they may have read some high quality, helpful information throughout the article, the last paragraph can bring home the point that they need whatever it is you’re selling.
Action. It used to be that marketers would have to put in a memorable phone number or address into their direct marketing in order to get people to respond. Now, you can simply put the words, “buy it here” (and “here” would be linked to your site) and people can click on it to be taken to your site if they want to purchase it. The Internet has made it so much easier! Even though it’s so easy, people still need to be told what action to take. It reminds them why they’re getting the newsletter in the first place. And, if they save the newsletter, it’s an easy visual reference they can use if they ever decide later to buy the product.
Summary
This lesson seems to be a fairly basic “marketing 101” lesson to remind you that the rules of marketing don’t change for email marketing campaigns. If you create great marketing content that is filled with benefits and uses the AIDA method, you’ll be sure to create strong, highly effective marketing campaigns each and every time. In the next lessons we’ll look at specific ways you can incorporate these principles into your marketing.
Keep Moving Forward!
–Dave
Introduction
In this lesson you’ll learn about the basics of email marketing: what it is and who does it. This lesson will build a good foundation so that you can enjoy maximum success when you develop your own email marketing system.
What is e-mail marketing?
As its name suggests, email marketing is the method businesses use of marketing to their prospects and customers through email. (For the purposes of this e-course, we call “prospects” the people who have never bought from you and “customers” the people who have bought from you… although sometimes it gets redundant to say that. In general, we may refer to one or the other but mean both and if we want to highlight one of those groups, we’ll let you know. Some businesses only market to prospects, others only market to customers, and some market to both).
And, for the purposes of this e-course, we are referring to your email messages as sales messages and to your audience as prospects and customers… but that doesn’t mean that only for-profit organizations can use it! On the contrary, many non-profit organizations use these same ideas too. The only difference is in semantics… otherwise, everything else (including how you write the message) is exactly the same.
What types of email marketing are there?
Generally speaking, there are two types of email marketing.
• Unsolicited.
• Permission-based.
Let’s look at each of these right now.
Unsolicited email marketing
Unsolicited email marketing is generally referred to as “spam.” Spam is a huge and growing concern on the Internet because of the amount of time it wastes: it fills drive space, it’s a vehicle for scams and viruses, and it reduces productivity. More importantly (from a business stand-point) it increases the amount of “clutter” in someone’s inbox and thereby reduces a prospect’s or customer’s appreciation of your sales message… even if it’s important.
We do not endorse spam-style email marketing.
Spam marketing is largely ineffective and is one of the things that have become a hassle on the Internet. We want to promote an enjoyable, healthy, safe, and trouble-free Internet experience and that starts with each marketer choosing against sending unsolicited email marketing.
Clarification: There are different kinds of spam out there.
1. There are the ubiquitous “Nigerian scams” that fill our inboxes with all-caps messages from some low-level banker or public servant.
2. There are less-than-family-friendly messages about anatomy enlargement or some other sensitive topic that you don’t want your young children reading. These often have subject lines designed to get past your spam filters that read “v1agra” or “enlargem3nt.”
3. There are legitimate businesses that try to sell legitimate products or services but send messages to purchased lists that include everyone and anyone.
The first type of emails is illegal and part of something called a “419 scam.” Don’t send them. Don’t answer them. Just delete them or report them to the authorities.
The second type of emails is debatable. Their methods of trying to counteract your spam filter and their subject matter make their legitimacy debatable. (Which is why we separated them out from the third type of emails). Moreover, they are often inappropriate for a family inbox.
The third type of emails is the “least worst” of the batch. However, if you are an email marketer, you will still want to avoid sending unsolicited email.
How do people get your email to send these? Often, your email may appear in a list if, for example, you signed up for something on the Internet. To counter this, more and more companies are posting privacy statements promising to NOT sell your email address to anyone. However, just because that posting exists, doesn’t mean that you should feel completely free to give your email address out… recently, one company was fined for posting that privacy statement then turning around and selling a list of emails three times over! Of course, not everyone who asks for your email address is bad; we’re just mentioning this to you for two reasons:
1. First, so you will be cautious and judicious in where you leave your email.
2. Second, so you will know what other consumers are thinking about before they leave their email with you: you’d better do a good job of appearing legitimate!
Other ways that people get your email address is by using computer programs that scour the Internet for email addresses. That’s why many people now post their email addresses like this:
myname(at)mydomain(dot)com rather than myname@mydomain.com.
Another way people can get your email address is by those increasingly annoying forwards that seem to circle the globe three or four times. Perhaps you’ve received one from a friend or family member. The subject line usually looks like this:
Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd: You HAVE to see this!
It’s usually a humorous or heart-warming message promising luck or good fortune to someone who passes it on. When you open it up there are usually huge lists of email addresses in there of people in the past who have received it and sent it to someone else. This is a veritable goldmine of email addresses to scammers looking to send unsolicited sales messages to people.
That’s unsolicited email marketing. Not recommended. For the purposes of this book, please realize that the type of Internet marketing we are referring to is the second kind… permission-based marketing.
Permission marketing
Permission marketing is very simple and straightforward: rather than merely blasting your sales message to whatever email address you have, you gather email addresses and send your message to those people.
To collect those email addresses, the most common (and legitimate) things to do are…
• Invite visitors to leave their email address at your site.
• Ask people for the email address during the sale.
The first kind of invitation is very common and you’ve probably seen many websites that do this: they have a line where you can “sign up now for a free newsletter” and a place to input their email address along with a button to submit. That is permission-based marketing because the act of them putting their email address into the line gives you permission to contact them.
Asking visitors for their email address during the sale serves a very similar purpose. As people transact with you, they may be quite willing to leave their email address with you for future updates. It’s another way of asking for permission.
Summary
Many businesses and non-profits use email marketing to advertise their business. Ethical, legitimate companies use permission-based email marketing to get the job done effectively. Now that you know some of the details about permission-based marketing, let’s look at how you can use it effectively to build your business!
Watch your email for lesson 2 in a couple of days…
You are Awesome!
–Dave
