Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Revealed: Why email marketing doesn’t work

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success doesn't care

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 is 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.

Marketing in a hurry

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marketing blogs

I shared the following idea with a group of very smart entrepreneurs. They found it useful, so I thought I’d share it with you.

It’s simply this:

“Marketing isn’t something you do in a hurry, when business is sluggish. It’s an ongoing part of running a successful business”.

Successful business owners already understand this. As a result, there is a growing awareness of them in their marketplace. And because successful businesses use content marketing, their prospective clients (or customers) will regularly receive useful information from them. This useful information not only informs their prospective clients, it helps build trust.

Awareness and trust are essential. And ongoing, content marketing achieves both. Here’s how it works.

The rest market sporadically. Usually, when business is sluggish. So they take their need for sales to the marketplace, via special offers or out-of-the-blue advertising.

Because they fail to market on an ongoing basis, their prospective clients have no real awareness of them. And no awareness means no trust. So, even if the prospective client has a requirement, the marketing fails.

It has to fail. That’s because people buy from providers they trust. And a competing provider, whose marketing they regularly receive and whose brand they know, already has the prospective client’s awareness and trust.

In short, make content marketing an ongoing part of your business. Not something you do when times are tough. Get it right and you’ll find you never have to market from a position of need again.

1 Essential word your marketing needs. Plus 1 you absolutely MUST avoid

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business growing, how to

Here’s a very quick tip, to help you improve the sales effectiveness of your marketing. It’s all about a word you use regularly, which is negatively impacting how people feel about your business.

That word is change!

People are hard-wired to fear change.

We know that change, good or bad, is a source of stress. Even something as positive as the change that comes from getting married, buying a new home or setting off for a week in the sun, is a cause of stress. In short, change is a trigger word, which places the prospective client or customer in a suboptimal state.

Because of the negative way people feel when confronted with change, it makes sense to remove the word from your marketing. Don’t worry, I am going to give you a massively more powerful, motivating alternative!

Improve, rather than change

Whenever possible, use the word improve, rather than change. Improve, is a positive word. It’s an attractive word too, because we are always looking for something better.

For example, look how the phrase below becomes far more powerful, when change is replaced with improve.

“This copywriting tip will change your marketing results.” (It could make them worse)

“This copywriting tip will improve your marketing results.” (It will make them better)

Your prospective clients or customers fear change, but want things to improve. So, stop offering them what they fear and give them what they want.

A little known tip that helps service providers attract massively more clients

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Before someone decides to hire you or buy from you, they need to feel confident. So they start looking for clues. Clues that will tell them whether they should hire you or avoid you.

Why?

marketing tips

Because your prospective clients have all made bad decisions before.

They’ve been let down.

They’ve had promises broken.

Some will have even been ripped off.

This time they want to get it right. And that’s why, before they invest in you they need to know:

  • If you’re reliable and likely to keep your promises.
  • If you’re experienced at solving whatever problem or problems they have.
  • If you offer value for money.
  • If you’re approachable.
  • If you offer the flexibility they need.
  • If you make it easy to do business with you.
  • If your fees match your promises. (Promising great service for an average fee is the main way to scare them off).
  • If you seem to love what you do.
  • If your customer service is up to their standard.

You get the general idea.

They’re looking for clues that help them build the right picture. And here’s why this matters. If it’s a picture they trust, you’re hired. If not, you lose. People are making these decisions all the time, based on the clues you have left. Let that sink in for a moment.

Where do your prospective clients look for clues?

Almost all will do the following as a bare minimum. They’ll visit your website. They’ll check your social media profiles. They’ll search for your name and company name on their preferred search engine, to see what others are saying about you. If they speak with you, they’ll obviously be looking for clues in what you say. Most will go several levels deeper. This is especially the case if there’s a lot of trust involved in the services you provide.

Depending on your industry and how cautious the prospective client is, they may dig even deeper.

What kind of picture do your clues paint?

For example, every small business owner claims to offer a professional service. However, as you know, many operate from a cheap looking, outdated website. This instantly turns prospective clients a way.

Does it really matter?

Yes. It’s extremely important. And here’s why.

I’ve met with some superb service providers over the years, who leave lousy clues. If you didn’t already know them, you’d never hire them. Even if people recommended them to you, after checking them out online for a few minutes, you wouldn’t consider contacting them. They just don’t look like serious professionals. And it’s costing them a fortune.

Here’s the thing: No small business can afford to leave money on the table like that. You know you’re a capable professional. You also know you care deeply about your clients and deliver an excellent service.

But unless your clues leave prospective clients feeling confident about contacting you, you’ll lose a fortune. And it’s 100% avoidable.

Now what?

Try looking at your business through the eyes of a stranger. A stranger who eagerly wants to hire a service provider in your industry. Unless you’re fully confident that your clues paint the right picture, start leaving better clues. Make hiring you easy.

When hiring you is easy, more people will do it.

10 Proven ways to get free publicity for your business

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word of mouth, referrals

Here are 10 motivators, which inspire people to spread the word about you. See which ones you can adapt and apply into your business.

  • People will share your message, if it’s baked into your product or service. When you see someone using a laptop in public, the logo is visible on the lid.
  • People will share your message, if it makes them look clever. This is why social networks are packed with Einstein quotes.
  • People will share your message, if they care about you and they believe sharing your message will help you.
  • People will share your message, if they want you to notice them.
  • People will share your message, if it makes them appear generous to their friends.
  • People will share your message, if they think it will make them look ahead of the curve or cutting-edge.
  • People will share your message, if it’s remarkable. Extremely satisfied customers tell their friends when they receive an amazing service. Read more here.
  • People will share your message, if they are part of your community and want others to join them.
  • People will share your message, if it says something they aren’t brave enough to say for themselves.
  • People will share your message, if they believe it’s of great value and that their friends need to know.

Here’s an additional tip.

Think about the last time you freely gave positive publicity about a company, product or service. Now consider what it was about your experience, which motivated you to spread the word. Then, spend some time looking for ways to adapt and incorporate your version of that motivating factor, into your own products or services. This can be really effective, so give it the time and effort it deserves.

With the unique challenges facing business owners right now, the ability to generate earned publicity, rather than paid, has never been more valuable.

Stay strong my friend.

Taste your words before you spit them out

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taste words spit out, Marketing words power,

Photo: Shutterstock.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received, was taste your words before you spit them out. The idea is that we should pause and think before we say something to someone, especially if we don’t know them well. It’s easy to be misunderstood otherwise.

The same idea applies to the information we share via the written word. And I’m going to share 2 quick examples with you. One was embarrassing and the other expensive.

After you

Very recently on Twitter, a service provider was forced to rethink the snappy, 2 word profile he created. The profile simply read: After you!

  • His intention with those words, was to suggest that he’s the kind of person who puts others first.
  • He then figured out that people were misunderstanding it to mean he was after them… in pursuit of them or pestering them. That’s not a good look.

There was no real harm done as he had just started the account and had very few followers. So, he switched the profile to something clearer and laughed about it as he told me.

Crushing defeat

The second example is regarding a seminar that had to be cancelled, largely because of the seminar’s title. The crushing defeat seminar was all about how to crush defeat and come out winning. It seems when people saw marketing for the seminar, the title was misunderstood to mean the event was all about defeat that crushes you. A place to feel sorry for yourself. Obviously, that was the exact opposite of the desired impact.

In both of these examples, the problem could have been completely avoided had a little more thought been applied. The first example didn’t cause any real issues. But the second example had been advertised for a week, before he figured out what was happening. Even if the trainer had shown the seminar’s title to some people and asked what it said to them, he’d have been aware of the problem.

Tip

Those examples may seem obvious. But sometimes the errors we make are more subtle and harder for us to spot. That’s why if you’re not an experienced marketer or copywriter, it’s important to think hard and also get some feedback, before you publish a title (The crushing defeat seminar) or strap-line (After you). The same is true of the calls to action you use, the wording on the buttons or tabs on your website, your newsletter title and the name you give to your services, etc.

A great place to start is with marketing you have, which isn’t generating the response rates you need. Sometimes a better name, title or strap-line can make a massive improvement to your results.