Building Relationships
Never stop adding value
Here at EarthMonkey, we've always been fans of value-added marketing: the idea that if you make someone's day and share some wisdom along the way, they'll actually want to hear from you (instead of hitting the dreaded 'unsubscribe'!)
But times change. Today, the whole world is adding value and you have to try three times as hard just to give something away! So you can either give up and go back to the pre-internet hard-selling model, or adapt to the new order.
Obviously we suggest the latter! And here are half a dozen ways to make it work for you:
1. Up the incentive There was a time when your home page could say 'Join our newsletter' and people would give up their email address in a heartbeat. Today the simple promise of 'some content' is nowhere near enough – you need to get specific. So: - Add a trailer for your next edition. Sell the main features you'll be running, without giving away the whole story...just enough detail to tantalise - OR offer some kind of premium to kickstart the relationship. An indispensible tipsheet, a free consultation, a training video...
2. Act on click-through stats At the very least, your newsletter tool should show you who's opened your email and what they've read. But what do you do with that information? It's an insight into the mindset of each individual customer, so: - Re-send the email to people who don't open the first within 24 hours - Ringfence the people who read a particular feature, and add extra value by sending them follow-up tips the next day - If you link to a sales page, identify the people who clicked through. They're your best prospects for follow-up messages or phone calls. (Just don't tell them you know what they read – people really hate the whole Big Brother thing!!)