Quote:
..."getting position among your readers" as the primary purpose. Below is what I see as the purpose of this email series or "free report." Is this aligned with what you are saying?:o
To me, the purpose of this email series (or free report) is:
1). To educate...because I am selling a web marketing package to small business owners (pizza shops, small retailers...etc.) who often have all kinds of crazy ideas and misconceptions about having a website. My experience has been... the more they know, the better my product looks!
2) To show common obstacles of website marketing and to slant the sales text at the bottom of the email to illustrate how WE offer solutions to those problems.
3) To make them comfortable and familiar with RM, so they will feel safe giving our service a try.
4). To create a new subscriber.
2, 3, and 4 are exactly aligned with what I'm saying. But I disagree with 1 from a strategic vantage point.
Here's why. Although you certainly know your stuff and readers can learn from you, I disagree with the part that says
"... the more they know, the better my product looks!" I believe that
the more that they agree with you, the better your product looks.
So projecting
your stylish, interesting, innovative, entertaining, and informative persona into expository writing will give you a better opportunity to capture those in agreement with you.
There is a fine line here--but it is a critical one in personal marketing.
Specifically, you and I know that most small business web sites are ineffective--and that's being kind. You could list 12 reasons or 200 reasons but what the interested person is going to say is
"Hey--this person RM hit the nail on the head! I'm not getting anything off my site." Deliver your message in the right language and the attention, and positioning, will come from the fact that they found somebody they can agree with. Do you think that if you gave a quiz to your most devoted readers or respondents, that that they could rattle off more than three of those 12 mistakes the very next day? But chances are they will remember you and your company enough to bookmark you, request more information, or contact you to discuss your product or services.
With that said, I'm going to go take a dip in the pool. Have a nice weekend! It's been hot here. -Gary Boye
I am going to offer a free email series through my website called: "TOP-12 Marketing Strategy Mistakes That Keep You From Making Money Off Your Website: And How To AVOID them!
1. I want it to be meaty (not just fluff), but I don't want the emails to be too long out of fear that lengthy text will keep them from being read. How long do think an individual email can be without being "too much."
2. I could keep them short and sweet by offering 1 mistake per day, but do you think the subscriber will feel cheated (like he is being strung along?) or that he will lose interest before reaching #1?
For instance: "..That Keep You From Making Money.." can be removed because your market consists of those attempting to make money on the web. You're not going after family reunion sites.
"...And How To AVOID them!" can also be removed because they already know you are going to cover that.
How about: 12 Ways to Make Your Website a Complete Flop!
Think about it, RM.
I don't think the "one mistake per day" idea would give your series shelf life. You can overcome your very real concern about lengthy text by constructing your message in bullets rather than essay form. Bullets work! The most important text will be your headings so I think that's where you should be the most creative. -Gary Boye