Every day when I open my Outlook and check my email I am flooded with messages… some are important, some are interesting, some are deadly stupid… and some jump out and get opened immediately.
Ah, but which emails get opened right away… and why?
(Hey… I’ve got a great opportunity for FREE email marketing training to tell you about in a minute… if you’re in a hurry, click here ).
Email marketing is my specialty… and I’m passionate about it because email today is the lifeblood of communication in our modern world.
Email has become what the personal letter was a generation or two ago.
When you send out a message to your list… you’re arriving right in the same Inbox as emails from mom, their buddies, and important work or business emails. You’re in the ‘inner sanctuary’ of their lives where they keep in touch with their most important contacts.
If there is ONE thing in Internet Marketing to master, I believe email is it (hey, gotta confess my bias, right?)
I know, spam is today what junk mail always has been, and it certainly has made email marketing more challenging… but that is true of any new technology or trend. Fact is, you may have a full inbox or have sophisticated filtering that clears out most of your spam, but either way, you wouldn’t be reading this blog post if my email didn’t get through.
Even if you use RSS feeds to learn of new posts on this blog, at some point you were probably introduced to me by email.
So… for the record… email marketing is not dead. Not even close. The only people that say it is have some RSS package to sell you or don’t know what they’re talking about.
Today, direct mail companies still mail millions of letters and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon, regardless of how high first class and bulk postage costs rise.
Why? Because successful mailers make money doing it, pure and simple.
So it is with email marketing… those who know how to do it the right way make money like clockwork… but there is a big difference: cost.
It still is very affordable to build a targeted opt in list of subscribers to send your messages to… and I don’t know any more important asset for your business than a responsive list.
A list is what I’ve dubbed "Captive Traffic". You can drive traffic to any site or affiliate link you chose with a simple email to your list. So, if you’re going to focus on traffic generation, don’t get distracted with one time bursts… send traffic to an opt in page to build a list you can contact over and over again.
It’s that simple…
Yet when I speak at a seminar or workshop and talk with attendees the feedback I get every time is that building a list and knowing how to convert subscribers into customers simply leaves most people stumped.
On the path to profitable email marketing, there are a number of potholes and wrong turns that can really slow down your journey… but the good news is that there is a clear way through the obstacles if you follow what works.
Here’s the biggest problem with email (or any other) marketing today: getting the attention of your prospect.
And the biggest mistake marketers make is to write emails that don’t stand out. That was the original vision behind Maverick Marketer… to teach you how to stand out from all the noise and get response rates most marketers only dream of.
If your subscriber is like most people, the amount of email that comes in exceeds the available time to read them all. That’s the challenge… how to become one of the few that get opened and consumed.
This is really no different than what direct mailers or television shows, for that matter, face.
You probably have access to over 500 television stations if you wanted through your local cable or satellite provider… but you can’t watch all that programming.
Don’t even get me started on websites… I don’t even bother counting them all… but you would have to be immortal to visit every site online today… and by the time you got through that list… there would be new ones so you’d never finish.
My point is, don’t fall into the trap of worrying about ‘all the email’ or ’spam’ that your subscribers get.
We’re all overwhelmed with choices so you just have to understand how people decide what to pick.
Well, how do YOU make that choice? Here’s three common categories…
1) What emails are relevant to what’s on your mind today… your problems and opportunities?
2) Who do you like to read emails from (exisiting relationships)?
3) What emails gets your attention or tickles your curiosity?
Last week I sent out an email about my blog post with pictures of my new truck… The subject line was "Of Rednecks, Roadtrips, and Getting Real".
I got a lot of response to that email… including this comment:
Craig,
I read your blog and left a comment there, I wanted to thank you for being a voice I listen to.
I get many offers in my mailbox and I appreciate being able to listen in and learning from free seminars.
I have found a better understanding from certain people and I count you in the list of people with something to say. As I looked over the box with the 21 new emails, yours was the one I opened first.
Thanks,
Lea(Thanks, Lea! I appreciate your kind words… )
I’d submit to you that we all are just like Lea… we have a certain group of ‘voices’ we listen to out there in Cyberspace, our virtual community, and you’ll cherish the day you get emails like this one from your subscribers.
Question is… HOW do you get to the coveted position where people around the world eagerly open your every message?
My number 1 secret? I’m just me. What you see in the blog is pretty much what you get if you know me in person. The upside there is that when someone opts into my ecourse or signs up some other way, they get to know Craig and we connect… OR… they decide that I’m a lunatic and unsubscribe.
THAT’S what everyone’s afraid of when they won’t be themselves. They don’t want the rejection… ‘What if nobody likes ME if I put myself out there?"
Fuggettaboutit (I can’t believe I just said that… definitely NOT me in real life… but it’s a nod to my friends who are big Soprano’s fans, lol).
With the whole wide web as your marketplace, simply by sheer force of numbers, if you target a niche you are going to meet people who identify with YOU personally.
(Hey, Howard Stern’s pretty much made a career of being ‘unlikeable’ and yet has legions of loyal fans! I think you’ve got some room to wiggle here)
Too many marketers fall down in their email campaigns by adopting personas that are simply unbelieveable. Their messages are too similar to spam for anyone to ‘bond with’ or take seriously.
How does this happen? Well, people are largely self taught. They get into ‘internet marketing’ and start to imitate the stuff they see in their own inbox… and unfortunately the ‘training’ is lacking, to say the least.
My number 2 secret is empathy. I have worn a lot of different shoes in my life, lived many places and traveled around the world… and that helps me see things from other’s point of view. If you can connect one to one with your subscriber and show them that you ‘get’ their problems, then the rest of the process is much, much easier.
But you have to actually care, I think, for it to truly work. The times in my life when I’ve been self absorbed and lose sight of others have been the darkest times of my life… whereas the times when I focus on others first and accept our infinite differences and common bond, I’m usually happiest.
Want my 3rd biggest secret?
I study masters.
My mind is a sponge. I learn from those who I like and have done what I want to do. Over time, I seem to have just absorbed stuff that works, hardwired into my brain (I don’t really feel any smarter, lol). I’m always learning and constantly on the hunt for fuel for my marketing ideas.
One of the masters I’ve studied closely is the dynamic marketer of Big Seminar and Generator Software fame.
He’s a guy who regularly fills up a room with upwards of 300 to 500 people for his seminars largely with email promotions… so you can imagine how excited I am to be interviewed tomorrow night (Tuesday March 28th) by my friend and mentor Armand Morin.
Armand is doing a preview call for his Big Seminar (April 7,8,9) and because I’m speaking about email marketing you get an invitation to this special call.
If you’ve got any interest in email marketing go http://www.maverickmarketer.com/big and opt in (if you haven’t already). You’ll get the call in details and a reminder tomorrow.
A few weeks ago I did a call with Armand on list building for a different seminar I’m speaking at later on in April… and it was chock full of great training. Armand knows how to interview someone and draw out the good stuff, let me just tell you.
If you’ve signed up for Armand’s preview call series already, then you’ll get notification automatically about the call.
If you have any questions about getting on the call, email me (reply to my email) or leave a comment on my this blog post (it will be kept private).
Seriously, don’t miss this free training call.
Email marketing IS Internet marketing. I have yet to meet anyone who makes a living online who doesn’t have some kind of list. If consistent profits have eluded you so far or if you are looking for ways to boost your business this year… in my humble opinion THIS is the topic to focus on.
My clients and projects keep me pretty busy and as my business has grown my rates have gone up… and up.
I honestly wish I could work with everyone but the catch 22 of having a list is that there’s not enough of me to go around.
That’s why I feel so strongly about doing these free training calls.
If you’re strapped for cash or if you are looking to decide what to invest your time and marketing education budget in… get yourself on these calls. All it costs is an hour or so and some long distance… but what you gain can change your business forever.
I practice what I preach… I listen to audios, go to seminars, and I devour home study courses (have for years). It’s a lot cheaper than the semi-useless Bachelors got 
and the pay off continues to grow each day.
Success truly is a journey… and I started out at square one. If that’s where you are, let me show you a faster way than the ‘trial and error’ learning curve I endured for many years.
Join me on this very special call where Armand Morin will extract my email marketing secrets for you.
See you there… (and if you can’t make it, sign up here anyway because you’ll be alerted to the number for the replay line… but hurry and listen because it will only be up until Thursday).
Craig
P.S. Thanks for all the great feedback on my new truck… I’m loving it more every day Didn’t even mind the $60 it took to fill ‘er up the first time. Hey, FREEDOM comes at a price, after all.