Providing Value For Effective Email Marketing
Effective email marketing was one topic in a recent forum discussion regarding various sales strategies and the problems that can result. I added my 2 cents and elaborated on a change in my marketing focus because of what I learned in my Internet Profits Courses.
I would say that an ongoing issue is the amount of email solicitations I am in competition with from my fellow marketers. Many receive numerous messages a day and to get noticed is a challenge, though not necessarily a struggle. Obviously, some messages are better than others and getting a high open rate is a goal I strive for in each post I send out.
If you are reading this, you may also have the same competition issue to contend with. True, you may even be using the same swipe files as everybody else promoting your particular niche. But I’m not necessarily talking about other marketers that are promoting the same product. I’m talking about marketers who are promoting similar products and the deluge of messages many potential buyers must sort through each day.
This is one strategy and it’s the one most commonly employed. Another effective email marketing strategy – the one I use – is to be continuing to offer value – simple suggestions, free advice, useful personal reflections and anecdotes. All of these message have a link under my signature. It could be to your website or landing page, but I only add a ‘click here’ tag line in my actual sales messages.
If you were selling laundry soap, say, you would be writing about why some detergents are more effective than others, why the aroma is important, why you should avoid certain ingredients, what to look for on the label, why some detergents are not what they claim to be, etc. I’m sure you get the idea.
The continuously offering value strategy (a rule of thumb is 80% value, 20% direct sales) is working better for me than a more aggressive approach. Though it takes more work to write these kind of emails, I get a better open rate and fewer unsubscribes and more visits to my sales pages.
I don’t rule out other methods for effective email marketing and, as mentioned, there are many successful practitioners of a harder sales approach. But if you are somewhat disappointed in your marketing efforts, I do suggest you might want to try changing course and see if you get better results.
The bottom line is that you should be providing value for the most effective email marketing results. On a recent Black Friday I was inundated with a steady stream of 50% OFF promotions on the same products I was encouraged to buy on the previous Wednesday at a higher prices. These bait and switch campaigns are an everyday occurrence and generally do not require a festive occasion to generate a daily reminder.
That, as they say, is business. I get it. But there are better ways, in my humble opinion, to generate sales.
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