You've spent weeks pouring your heart and soul into creating your new information product, a new program or a new coaching group. Your outline is done, your handouts or teleseminar exercises are ready and you've finally created a catchy title.
All that's left to do is sent out your email announcement.
But if you send the typical, yawn-producing, "Announcing my new...whatever" email you'll be quite disappointed with the results.
The thrill of reading someone's announcement has been gone since the turn of the last century.
Instead, what will get your readers' attention are compelling, emotional, and thoughtfully-formatted letter-style messages. And not just one of them, but three, four or seven.
Here are four email campaign blunders you can easily avoid so your next email promotion is authentic, powerful and does its job – which is to connect your readers to their longing for your products, services or teleseminars, then to inspire them to click through to your sales page.
Blunder #1: Subject lines that are as dated as skinny neckties and leg warmers.
The job of the subject line is to get your reader to open the email. Be as provocative as you possibly can. One technique I share with my marketing coach clients is to be ultra conversational.
For example: "Dave, have you seen this yet?" or "Sue, I can't believe I did this again!"
Yes, these subject lines are slightly hokey but they ask a question that makes the reader want to open your email and discover the answer.
If you're marketing to a conservative audience, try subject lines that play on a sense of competitiveness, such as: "Nora, did this sneak by you?" or "Julie, if you're competitors knew this, they’d flip."
Blunder #2: Boring messages that yammer on about how happy and excited you are to announce your new information product, program or teleseminar.
I know this sounds harsh but honestly, most folks just don't care. They DO care about how well you know them and show that you know them.
For example, my Platinum Inner Circle client, marketing coach Helen Graves recently crafted an email offer that started with an eye-catching subject line of "What do you and Tony Robbins have in common?" In the body of the email, success coaching expert Helen wrote:
"Ever feel just a teensy bit jealous of the ‘big names’ like Michael Port, Tony Robbins and Jack Canfield, who get to rake in the bucks with all those passive streams of income?"
See how beautifully marketing coach Helen speaks to the emotions of her core success coaching audience? Of course we'll keep reading with an opening like that!
Blunder #3: Telling people to buy what you are selling.
The job of your email is to get your reader to click through to your sales letter page where the heavy lifting takes place.
In your email, paint a vivid, detailed word portrait of the pot of gold that awaits when they click through. (The pot of gold is what your prospective client dreams of either achieving or avoiding.)
Explain that by waiting, they'll be stuck right where they are, and how awful that will be. Be vivid and detailed in your portrayal of the consequences of waiting.
Blunder #4: Leaving your heart out of the message.
Successful internet marketing email campaigns that persuade the reader to click through are miniature pieces of emotional art.
The message must be written with your passion fully engaged. If you don't "feel the love" for your reader as you draft your emails, then neither will anyone else.
When I write my success coaching promotional emails, I feel an urgency that is palpable. I am dearly, deeply and utterly passionate about my reader getting what she wants and I let my emotions guide my choice of evocative, and yes, sometimes provocative sentences.
You must speak to your reader’s heart and be unafraid of extreme comparisons that you sketch upon the page. It's as if every sentence has an underlying sub-text that says, "I care about you; I understand who you are, what drives you and what you want; follow my lead and I'll show you the way."
My success coaching tip: putting your heart into email messages isn't about telling how happy you are to announce your newfangled whatchamacallit. Successful internet marketing is about connecting deeply with the soul of your reader and being willing to put what you see there into words that sell.
