Got this great email marketing question over the weekend:
QUESTION: I notice you send full emails to your list instead of sending out a short announcement that you have a new blog post like most people do.
Why do you do that when everyone else just does the short blurb?
BEN: That’s a VERY good question.
And besides Earl Nightingale’s advice of doing the opposite of everyone else… here are more reasons:
1. More Visible
Think about all the competition we have:
Ringing phones, instant messages, social media apps, cell phones, text messages, etc.
Every “step” (and a click IS a step) someone has to take to read YOUR message significantly decreases the chances of them seeing it.
And yes… I realize longer emails get flagged as spam sometimes.
But so can really short ones, too.
So I simply do what’s most likely to get read.
2. More Personal
In copywriting, the first “sale” is to bond and establish trust.
In other words, to be a FRIEND, first.
I like to think of y’all as my friends and even family in a “cyber” sorta way.
When emailing your friends and family, do you send them to a friggin’ blog?
Do you ask mom to click a link to read what you have to say?
Or do you write an email — warts and all — and push “send”?
Which looks more personal?
’nuff said.
3. More Convenient
Email delivery is like pizza delivery:
You can offer “take out” and/or personal delivery.
I do delivery (with the option of take out — i.e. my blog).
Reason why is because the chances of you reading are FAR greater if I deliver the “food” to you… than if I force you to come pick it up.
Plus, this makes my food hot, fresh and EASY to consume.
If you pick the food up, it could be cold and stale, easier to toss.
So I’m not anti-blogging (obviously).
I just believe in bringing food to you… instead of making you pick it up.
Anyway, that’s my take on it.
You can learn more about making moolah with your emails (including how Terry Dean — the “godfather of email” — does it) at:
Ben Settle
P.S. By the way…
Here’s a comment about the book & CD that just came in:
Ben,
1 word:
THANK YOU…okay, that’s two words!
I took my lunch break and just popped in the cd to see what was on it…dude…freakin awesome. I literally did not want to come back to work, I wanted to finish it.
Even just the way you put the book together…the chapters read like copy…I feel like I am ready to buy something!
You write to the emotions…even though you are teaching…it just flows.
I’m just FEEEEEEEEEEEELIN this book!
And I don’t say this lightly, I have been getting tons of information over the past couple of weeks, classic books, seminars, mp3s etc.
-Joe Swopes
BEN: Joe, I’m very glad to see your name in the ever-growing “fraternity” of Copywriting Grab Bag readers.
I hope you get at LEAST as much value from the info as I have!
