How To Make Email Marketing Work For You

Hi Everyone,

One of the advantages of being a professional copywriter, is my work is always so varied. One day I could be writing a sales letter, the next a video voiceover script and the next day a marketing email. It's this latter task that I'm going to help you with today. Now when I say "help you" I really mean I'm going to help you because so many people struggle with this, as my spam filterand yours will testify.

Email marketing is a great way to get your marketing message out to your prospects... isn't it? Well yes and no... Yes because it's fast and free, and no because if you don't do it right it can have an adverse affect on your business and you as an individual, or sender.

We all receive emails every day, some are welcome and some are not. Those that will receive our attention will generally have some relevance with things that we are interested in. It could be a new business system, formula or some great business advice. It could be a new way to make easy money online or it could be about a new software program that could save us time or money.

Warm Up Your Cold List

Whatever... it has to have... no MUST have some relevance to either our business or personal interests. Otherwise it is just junk mail. Now, that's your first lesson. Decide whether the product or service that you want to promote by email will be considered as junk.

I should mention at this point, that when sending out emails you are either sending to a "warm" list, which is a list of people that either know you or have had some business dealings with you in the past. Or a "cold" list, in which the recipient doesn't know you from Adam. It's this cold list that I'm concerned about here. 

You can generally relax when sending to a warm list because most of the recipients will open and read the email. I have already dealt with sending email to your own list in an earlier blog so if you missed it then check out, The Money Is In the List.

It's cold prospecting that scuppers most people's marketing campaigns so I want to concentrate on that right now.

Okay, first make sure you have a list of recipient email addresses that are going to be relevant to what you want to promote. If you think you can just blast out millions of emails to everyone regardless, then you can expect absolutely nothing in return or at best some abusive replies.

 Cold Email Recipients Are People Too!

Next, don't try to sell anything to anyone in a cold email. Any chance of getting that prospect interested will be lost forever if you try to sell to them. Instead, simply introduce yourself or your company and explain what you do or what you are involved with. Then ask them if they might be interested and if they are, then to contact you for more information or visit your website.

Don't be pushy! 

You might want to offer them something for free like a free trial or a free sample but don't assume they will want it just because it's free.

I have gained many new clients with email marketing, or prospecting as the case may be, simply because I was courteous and polite, offered them a free consultation or a free article. It costs nothing to be polite and always remember this... your email, if it gets opened will be opened and read by a real person. That's of paramount importance.

People are sensitive creatures and have feelings so treat them with respect. 

Now because email recipients are real people, a fact that many email marketers sometimes forget, remember that everyone is busy and time is a valuable resource. So you'll have to get your polite introduction over in a positive way but don't beat about the bush. I think 300-350 words is generally long enough for this type of email.

Getting Your Email Opened

So you've written a polite and friendly introductory email... what next?

The subject line... This is the most important aspect of any marketing email and is especially important if sending to a cold list. If you don't get this part right then the email might not get opened and read, which means you have completely wasted your time and efforts.

Remember, email recipients are people and people are curious creatures. People can get drawn in to mystery and intrigue so think along those lines. For example, I was recently asked to write an introductory email for a heating and plumbing company, who wanted to send out cold emails to North London Estate Agents. 

They wanted to introduce themselves and offer the Estate Agents a commission for every client they sent their way. Here's the subject line I wrote for them:

Confessions of a London Estate Agent

And here are the first 2 sections to give you an idea about how to follow on from the subject line and gently introduce yourself...

 

“You can never find a reliable plumber when you want one”

Yes, the above statement is often true especially for many households in the UK but because you manage an estate agency, finding a qualified and reliable plumber for your clients could be very simple.

We are domestic and commercial heating and plumbing specialists and we service all Central and North London areas, which means we cover the very same areas that you do.

There will undoubtedly be times when you or your house buying and selling clients will need plumbing or heating services and we are prepared to offer them a priority service, on your behalf. 

Reasons to partner with us…

Partner with us and we will ensure your clients receive the very best service possible, in terms of response times and emergency repairs and servicing.

You already arrange surveying and legal services on behalf of your clients so why not get ahead of your competition by making your clients aware of our essential services? 

We would be more than happy to discuss terms with you, regarding you recommending our company as a preferential services provider, and we’re sure we could come to a mutually beneficial agreement between us.  

We offer everything your customers need…

Our engineers are fully trained, qualified and Gas Safe registered. We can offer...
 

Can you see how the email leads the reader to the reason for contacting them?

Email marketing is a great way to generate leads if you do it right. If you'd like me to help you with your next email campaign, then just contact me here: bill@knight-writer.co.uk

That's all for now guys. 

See ya soon,

Bill
www.topcopywriter.co.uk
www.busyvids.co.uk

Now You See Me... The Power of Video

Hi All,

When I first started out as a freelance copywriter I was writing sales letters and sending them through the postal service. That usually meant it would take 2 days for the letter to get delivered. Can you believe that? Two whole days... 48 valuable hours, and then you would wait and hope that someone would fill out the order from, enclose their cheque and send it all back to you. A total turnaround of anything up to 7 days on average.

Compared to today it boggles the mind as to how anyone could make a living out of mail order. However, they did and some marketers went on to make millions from mail order. I know a couple of them and I know exactly how they did it. Alas! Today those mail order marketing methods would not work, or certainly not work anywhere near as effectively. The simple reason for this is because we have all come to accept, adopt and embrace the new technologies that have driven us forward and far away from the marketing methods of yesteryear.

Where once it was commonplace to write or type letters, put them in envelopes, stick stamps on them and then post them, it is now common practice to send and receive emails instantly. It's far easier and much faster to log onto Facebook or Twitter and let all your friends know what you're up to, and from a marketer's point of view it's just as easy to get your marketing message across in the same way.

Now all is not equal when it comes to online communication and the dissemination of information. If you send a marketing email to someone explaining what your product or service is about and how you can help them for a price, or whether you use the various social media channels for the same purpose, you are just sending out text. In all cases you are sending the recipients bunches of words arranged in a way that hopefully will interest them, inform them, amuse, them or charm them out of parting with some of their hard-earned cash for your products or services.

This is the way it has been done for years. Just like the old snail mail before it was religiously done for years. So how much longer before we move on yet again? Well, it's not long... in fact we're almost there. Many marketers can now see the real value in the latest marketing communication methods. Quite a few businesses can see that this new method easily beats the old methods of email and social media, and many website owners are beginning to understand that the best content of all is... VIDEO.

Video is the perfect medium for getting your message out there, whatever you want to say and to whomever you want to say it. With video you don't have to expect people to read your message, instead they can listen to it. With video you don't have to try and paint a picture with words, you can use real pictures, which eliminates any possibility of your message being misconstrued or misunderstood.

Video is very engaging... it appeals to the senses (vision and hearing)... a video can manipulate people's feelings and actions... it can better educate, inform and... sell products and services. Products and services can be demonstrated with video. Real people can give real video testimonials. Video can better capture the imagination, it can be entertaining, amusing and visually stunning. Video can do more for a marketing campaign than any amount of email marketing, web page content or social media communication could ever do.

However, from a writer's point of view video still need scripts. Screenplays, voice over scripts and storyboards need to be written. And many an email still works as a courier for video. So copywriters will still be required, but copywriters who make videos are surely worth their weight...

That's why I do both. I could see where it was all going with video many years ago and so I set up BusyVids. So my message in this post is... no matter what you want to sell and to whom... get involved with video. Never under-estimate how powerful video can be. It's the only tool that can make you an overnight sensation... just ask Justin Bieber. :)


All for now.

Bill
www.topcopywriter.co.uk
www.busyvids.co.uk