Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Exposed: Why email marketing doesn’t work

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marketing tips, email marketing

Photo: Shutterstock.

A reader shared an interesting observation with me.

She told me she had “found out the hard way that email marketing doesn’t work”.

She asked me for my thoughts on why email was so ineffective. I said I’d share them here, as I’m sure some of you will find it useful.

Email marketing works

In fact, it works extremely well. It works predictably, too. Just ask any business owner who’s using it correctly. What doesn’t work is ineffective email marketing. That’s because ineffective email marketing can’t work.

Here are just a few, very common examples of how small business owners get email marketing wrong.

  • A poorly written email won’t work. It will fail to motivate the reader to take action; to call you, email you, visit your website, whatever. And almost all small business marketing emails are DIY attempts.
  • A professionally written email, sent to the wrong people, won’t work. It will fail to reach those with a demand for your services.
  • A well written email, sent to the right people, with a dull subject line, won’t work. That’s because no one will open it.
  • A well written email, sent to the right people, with a compelling subject line, offering a generic service, won’t work. No one wants to switch to a service that’s no better then their current service.

You get the idea.

In short, before you reject any form of marketing as being ineffective, make sure you’re using it correctly. This is something to keep in mind, as you look to grow your business in 2020 and beyond.

Sorry to disturb you

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Marketing pester, don't bother

Photo: Shutterstock.

I received an email this morning, which contained an extremely valuable marketing lesson.

It started with the following 4 words: “Sorry to disturb you”.

There’s a lot of information packed into those 4 words. Enough for everyone who received the email, to form an opinion on the sender.

  • The sender knew what they were doing was wrong, which is why they opened with an apology.
  • The sender also knew that their email was a disturbance. An unrequested interruption from someone I’ve never heard of.
  • Knowing all this, they still decided to send it anyway.

Here’s the thing

Like everyone else who received that email, I stopped reading after the opening sentence. After all, a stranger just emailed us, saying they were sorry for spamming us. It’s an instant delete.

However, that email may have contained a great message. It might have offered an outstanding deal. It could have provided details of a wonderful opportunity. But their email let them down, so no one will know. The list they used. The copy they used and the tone of their opening line destroyed their email campaign.

Oblivious to this, the sender will be wondering why they received no positive response. Especially if they genuinely had something valuable to share. They’ll perhaps be pondering whether they need to lower their prices, or if email marketing is a waste of time, or if their great offer isn’t actually great.

If we consider this to be merely an example of ineffective email marketing, we totally miss the point!

It’s way, way bigger than that.

This example provides us with a powerful insight of how easy it is, for a business owner to offer an amazing product or service, only for ineffective marketing to let them down. It’s the difference between being inundated with enquiries from eager prospective customers, or being greeted by crickets.

I’m busy. You’re boring. And I’ve never heard of you!

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marketing busy, marketing noise

Photo: Shutterstock.

The most successful marketing is built on strong foundations.

And here’s one of them: Before you market anything to anyone, there are 3 essential questions your prospective customers need you to answer.

  1. I’m really busy. And I get pestered with sales messages all day. Why should I give you my attention?
  2. Everyone promises an outstanding service. Most fail to deliver on that promise. What meaningful reasons are there for me to risk buying from you (or risk switching to you from my current provider)?
  3. I’ve never heard of you. I’ve never done business with you. Why on earth should I trust you?

The most successful brands answer those questions fully in their marketing. And they answer them with clarity. In doing so, they capture attention, create a compelling message and build the trust required for their marketing to succeed.

In comparison

Now, let’s compare that with the marketing we see every day from small and medium-sized businesses.

  1. Instead of capturing the attention of their prospective clients, they pester people with uninspiring, needy marketing messages.
  2. Instead of providing a compelling proposition, they offer very little motivation why anyone should switch to their brand.
  3. Instead of building trust, they become instantly forgettable.

Failing in any one of those areas is enough to ruin your results. That’s why it’s critical to be as strong as possible in all three areas. Here are a few pointers to help you get it right, if you’re a DIY marketer.

  1. You’ll already know if your marketing is capturing attention, by measuring your response rates. If too few people open your emails, read your newsletters, respond to your advertising etc, see what you can learn from the vendors, whose material YOU always open. What do they do, which you can adapt into your marketing?
  2. Crafting a compelling message is a skill that takes years to develop. This is an area where almost every business owner, who writes their own marketing, has real trouble. It’s a skill that eludes not only business owners, but many marketing providers! It’s why you see at least one marketing provider at every networking event, because their own marketing sucks, so they need to network for leads. So, if at all possible, get expert help with this from a proven professional.
  3. Building trust is something I covered in my previous post. How to add  credibility to your marketing.

One of the big shifts in business over the past decade or so, is the speed at which great marketing can spread. A natural consequence of this, is that average marketing (the type that kind of worked in the past), is less and less effective. It becomes hidden under the marketing messages that get shared and talked about.

Yes, the advent of low-cost digital communications has opened up a world of opportunity. However, if you want to benefit from this amazing opportunity, it’s vital to create marketing that your prospective clients will embrace and share.

Copywriting Warning: Using an asterisk can ruin your results!

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marketing copywriting, copy writing

Photo: Shutterstock.

You’re reading about a product or service.

It sounds amazing.

Then you spot it!

You spot the dreaded *asterisk. And your heart sinks.

You know you’re about to be disappointed. You’re about to discover the exclusions, restrictions and conditions, which means that offer isn’t as good as they said it was.

They could have told you the truth without hiding it behind the asterisk. However, they deliberately chose not to. They intentionally concealed it from you. And in a split second, they’ve totally changed how you feel about them.

You wonder what else they’re hiding from you. Your guard is up. You’ve switched from eager buyer to sceptic.

Eliminate the asterisk risk

If a business owner feels they need to hide something behind an asterisk, there are always better alternatives.

The most effective alternative, is to make the product or service as good as you said. This eliminates the need for an asterisk. Plus, it simultaneously pumps more value into your offering, making it more attractive and giving you a huge competitive advantage.

Another powerful alternative is to state, in honest and clear language, exactly what you’re offering. And include whatever would have been behind the asterisk, out in the open.

For example.

Imagine it’s an introductory deal, offering your service at a reduced price for the first 3 months. Rather than quote the introductory price (and hide the fact it increases after 3 months, behind an asterisk), tell them up front. Let people know that you’re so confident they’ll love your service, you’re offering it at a super-low discount, so they can discover for themselves, why it’s outstanding value at the regular price.

Social networks give the marketplace a powerful voice. That voice can either be used to tell everyone how great a vendor is, or how disappointed they are by a vendor. Thankfully, business owners get to choose the kind of experience that’s being shared.

That’s why the smartest brands aim for honesty and transparency at every opportunity. And why they refuse to hide the truth behind an asterisk.

1 Word you absolutely must remove from all your marketing

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marketing content, copy

What is the main reason someone should buy from you or hire you?

That’s a question, which many small businesses struggle with. And it hurts their marketing. It means they are unable to provide their prospective clients with a clear, compelling reason to buy from them, rather than a competitor. And as I mentioned yesterday, clarity is essential.

The thing about solutions

This is why we see the word solutions used in amateur marketing all the time, to describe what a business does.

Note – If you’ve already, clearly stated the value you bring, it’s okay to use the word. I’m talking about when business owners use solutions instead of being specific.

For example:

  • HR solutions.
  • Email marketing solutions.
  • Cost effective solutions.
  • Training solutions.
  • Or “we offer a range of solutions”, etc.

They’re telling us nothing.

Their message is weak. There’s no reason for us to contact them. So their marketing is largely ignored. And it loses them a fortune.

I don’t want that to happen to your business, my friend. So here’s a far more effective approach.

The alternative is to get specific

Determine the core value you bring to a prospective client. Then, communicate it with impact and brevity.

For example, instead of saying you, “offer a range of email marketing solutions”, get specific. Tell them, “We can help you increase sales and boost your profits, with professional, proven email marketing.”

Back in the 1980’s, business owners were advised to develop an elevator pitch. The idea was to create a compelling 5 or 10 second business introduction. Commerce today, online and offline, is like a series of elevator pitch-type interactions. Your prospective clients are busy. Really busy. They’re being bombarded with emails, calls, social network updates, text messages… it’s relentless.

They don’t have time for long or vague marketing messages. They want answers. Fast! That’s why a specific, brief and well-crafted message has never been more important or more effective.

So get specific.

Look for the core reason why a prospective client should hire you, rather than a competitor. Look for the tangible value your service offers. Then, communicate it in a compelling way. It’s far more powerful than claiming to offer a non-specific “solution”.

10 Email marketing mistakes that can destroy your open rates

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email marketing

One area of marketing I often get asked about, is how to improve email open rates. So, I thought I’d share ten of the most common reasons for unopened email marketing with you.

In no particular order.

  1. The email subject line didn’t motivate the recipient to open it. Getting this right is trickier than it sounds. That’s because many of the words used to inspire people to open an email, are also triggers for spam filters.
  2. You sent the email at the wrong time of day or on the wrong day. This can have a huge impact. Despite what some people say, there’s no universally ideal day or perfect time to optimize email open rates. For example, different timing is required when you target consumers, than when you target businesses. Different times also work better for different industries; hotels work completely different hours than accountants. They also have totally different peak times, when they’re unavailable to check email and are least likely to see your message. One time doesn’t work for all. Test and measure until you find your email open rate sweet-spot.
  3. The recipient’s email address is on a list you bought, so they have no idea who you are. And the people on these lists get bombarded with tons of marketing emails. This means they’re far more likely to have aggressive mail filters.
  4. Your list is out of date, with lots of addresses that no longer exist or are no longer monitored. Non existent email addresses will register as ‘bounces’, and are easily cleaned with email marketing software. Unmonitored addresses will still be able to receive emails, so they don’t bounce. Depending on the software you use, you can either set things up so addresses are deleted after ‘X’ number go unopened, or remove unresponsive addresses manually.
  5. The content of a previous email didn’t engage the reader, so they were less inclined to open subsequent emails. Remember: You never have ‘a list’. You need to earn and re-earn their permission. So stay useful.
  6. You send marketing emails direct from your desktop software, rather than use a trusted email marketing provider (mailchimp, aweber, constant contact, etc). If you send large numbers of the same email from your own IP address, your address can become blacklisted. When that happens, your emails won’t even reach the recipient’s spam folder.
    Tip: You can check if your IP address is blocked, using Spamhaus. It’s free to use.
  7. The email content (or body) contained certain words, which trigger email filters, so the email is wrongly identified as spam or junk.
  8. The email contained too many links or images. These are also common spam filter triggers.
  9. You included an email attachment. Attachments are major sources of malware, so are often blocked.
  10. The recipient uses Gmail. Gmail has started to dump valid emails into the recieptient’s promotions folder. They get no notification when these emails arrive. As such, open rates plummet. I know from personal experience that my Gmail subscribers can miss up to 50% of my emails. This happens, even though they used gmail to double opt-in to receive my stuff.

Email is a spectacularly powerful marketing tool. And sometimes just a few improvements can lead to massively better results.