Are You Making This Subtle Email Marketing Mistake?

If you’re like most people, you started using email for personal reasons. It was a cool and convenient way to keep in touch with your friends and family.

And that’s what makes e-mail such an effective marketing tool-it’s personal!

So to get your emails opened and to avoid instant deletion you need to follow this simple rule: Make your ‘from line’ FRIENDLY and RECOGNIZABLE.

1) To be FRIENDLY, put YOUR NAME in the ‘from line.’ (A pseudonym or the name of your company ‘figurehead’ will work as well.)

Why does this work? Because people want to hear from you-not from your company!

If you put anything that smacks of a cold, hard, corporate company – you’ll turn folks off. None of us want to get email from ‘Corporate America’ anymore than we want corporate telemarketers phoning us during dinner, trying to sell something!

What do we want? We want to hear from our friends.

So be friendly in your ‘from line’! Any overt “branding” (even your company name) in the ‘from line’ will send your response rate tumbling…

…and leave your customers feeling like you had your assistant draft a memo to send out while you were doing something more important.

You want your readers to feel like you personally took the time to send out some valuable information that was so important it just couldn’t wait.

2) To be RECOGNIZABLE you need to choose a name and be CONSISTENT with it. This means using the same name over and over again. You’ll notice we send our emails to you ‘From – Justin & Callan’.

If you decide to switch names in your ‘from line,’ don’t make the decision lightly. It will take substantial effort to make sure every one of your clients recognizes the ‘new you’. Imagine if your best friend called you from a new number that you didn’t recognize on your Call Display. You might just let it go to voice mail, right?

Remember, your ‘from line’ is sacred. It makes you a friend in your client’s in-box. And changing it will make you a stranger all over again.

Callan on September 23rd, 2009 in Time-Tested Tactics | No Comments »

Finding Joint-Venture Partners is EASY!

As I mentioned yesterday, finding and creating great Joint-Venture partners is one of the most important and most leveraged strategies in building a successful workshop and seminar business.

The biggest question that obviously comes to mind is, “Where do I find potential Joint-Ventures?”

I like to start by asking 3 questions…

1. What does my Specific Audience (ideal clients) buy… directly BEFORE buying from me?

Once you identify products/services/programs these people are purchasing BEFORE they’re in the market for what you offer, you want to get in touch with the companies that are offering THOSE products! Approach these companies about sending you referrals.

2. What else does my Specific Audience buy… WHILE buying from me?

Again, once you identify what products fit this description, it’s just a matter of approaching the companies that are offering them. Now you have an opportunity to both send referrals to them and to receive referrals from them… this type of relationship has even more opportunity than the first one does.

3. What does my Specific Audience buy… directly AFTER buying from me?

This one may seem a bit more limiting, as it really only has the potential for you to send referrals… but there is more potential here as well, for you also have the option of creating and offering these products to the market!

I have one last great little tip that will help you find potential Joint-Venture partners. Using Google, search for keywords related to your topic, and try adding words such as…

‘book’, ‘ebook’, ‘seminar’, ‘coach’…

… and simply see what pops up! Pay special attention to the paid advertisements on the right-hand side of the page… these are businesses that are making a profit in a similar market to you, so it’s likely they could be a great potential Joint-Venture partner!

Justin on August 28th, 2009 in Time-Tested Tactics | No Comments »

Marketing Can Be HARD and EXPEN$IVE… So Let Other People Do It!

Perhaps the most difficult thing to do in this business is to create a loyal following of paying clients… from scratch. It’s so difficult, in fact, that I don’t recommend you put a lot of effort into it.

Instead, try asking yourself this simple question…

“Who already has access to large numbers of my ideal clients?”

One of the most important Strategic Objectives for your workshop and seminar business is to create and maintain Joint-Venture Partners. Often I’ll refer to these as Strategic Alliances, or Super-Affiliates. Whatever you choose to call them, it’s important for you to create mutually beneficial, financially lucrative relationships with other people and other businesses that have already done the work of attracting YOUR ideal clients…

… and LARGE numbers of them.

You’ll want to have an active process that is solely dedicated to recruiting and maintaining these Joint-Venture Relationships. Just like you would have one person solely dedicated to doing administration for your company, or one person dedicated to setting up the room at your workshop… you also want to have one person or role in your company solely dedicated to finding, contacting, setting up and maintaining Joint-Venture Relationships.

You may be asking yourself, “OK, great, but how the heck do I find people to Joint-Venture with?”

For the answer to this question, you’ll have to read tomorrow’s post!

Justin on August 27th, 2009 in Time-Tested Tactics | No Comments »

How to Help Others Help You Fill Your Workshops! (Part 2)

A few days ago, we started a conversation about the BEST WAY to help others, help you fill your workshops and seminars! (See Aug 12 / 09 post).

Specifically, we were speaking about setting up an, “Affiliate Program” that motivates the graduates of your workshops to become ‘Raving Fans’ and promote your programs on an ongoing basis to everyone they know.

This tactic works really well because the graduates of your programs almost always socialize and interact with people in their life who have similar interests as they do (i.e. their friends will very likely be interested in the content of your workshops). So why not encourage them to share the wealth in their social circle?

In our last post, we mentioned the main objectives of an Affiliate Program. One of the keys was to offer REWARDS to folks who spread the word for you. But there are 3 common MISTAKES people make when people try to implement the reward part of their Affiliate Program.

 
1) NO CERTAINTY: They don’t have a system that keeps track of rewards efficiently and effectively so affiliates are never sure IF or WHEN they’ll get compensated for getting people to sign up for a program. Make absolutely sure your affiliates know for absolute certain they’ll be getting rewards each time they successfully promote.

2) NO IMMEDIACY: They don’t reward their hard working affiliates immediately upon obtaining a result (i.e. getting someone to sign up). You’ll get the best result if you give your affiliates a reward immediately after they’ve sent you a referral. Don’t wait! In fact, a small reward right away will often do more to motivate someone to continue to promote, than a big reward later! Counter intuitive, but true.

3) NO SIGNIFICANCE: They don’t choose a reward that is meaningful and motivating over time. There are many, many ways to reward people for helping you. From discounts on programs, to thank-you cards and trinkets, to a personal phone call expressing your gratitude. Cold, hard CASH is also a significant reward for most people – but there are many situations in which money isn’t appropriate or called for. For example, if you lead Relationship Workshops – why not reward your affiliates with movie tickets (for 2 people of course) or dinner certificates? They may cost less, but mean more to your affiliates.

Certainty. Immediacy. Significance. Miss even one of these foundational elements in your Affiliate program and watch your ‘raving fans’ quickly become ‘disgruntled clients’ who not only stop promoting for you, but get upset and tell other people about their experience. Implement them like clock-work, and build a promotional sales force that will pack your events for you! Fill your workshops with ease? That’s how you do it.

Justin on August 14th, 2009 in Time-Tested Tactics | No Comments »