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size doesn't matter content

Size…Really Doesn’t Matter

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What size should my content be? How long should a Blog be – what about White Papers?

How long should my email copy be?  How often should I send them?

The answer is – there isn’t an answer.  Size and quantity IMHO don’t matter – QUALITY does.

My email subscribers get at a minimum of 2 emails per week.  Sometimes more depending on what is going on.  The length of those emails ranges from 250 words to over 1000 – to be honest I never look at the word count because I don’t care.

What I care about is the content.  Is it engaging?  Is it relevant?  Is it entertaining?

You will NEVER nail this for everyone – because everyone is different.  What is engaging to one may be boring as all hell to another.  What is relevant to one will be obsolete for another what is entertaining for one will ghastly for another.

My advice to content writers is to be authentic (you can read more on that there), be transparent and know your audience.  Write for the majority, write from your soul – write as if you are sitting down and drinking a glass of wine or coffee with someone face to face.  Write as you would speak.

How do you know if you are engaging, relevant and entertaining?  Look at your metrics.  What are your open rates on your emails?  Dive into your Google Analytics to see who’s reading your blogs (PS don’t forget to share them on social – that’s where we get our biggest engagement).  If your numbers aren’t where you want them to be – review your content.  Something is off – chances are you aren’t writing to your audience.  Take a step back are dive deep into your Target Client Profile – who are they REALLY?  Then regroup.  It may take you several iterations to nail it – so don’t give up!

Consistency wins each and every time.

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Personalize your Marketing efforts

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Everyone (well, most people) wants to be noticed, loved, accepted and validated. It’s human nature.  So many marketing efforts forget this very important fact when they are building out their strategies and campaigns.

Put YOURSELF into your CUSTOMERS and PROSPECTS shoes.  It’s the Golden Rule – do unto others.  When clients ask me if something they’ve done is good, or if it will work, I ask them what they would do if they were one of their customers and THEY got that email, saw that billboard, saw that ad?  When they tell me their response – I say “exactly” – good or bad.

So, what are top brands doing to increase engagement and conversion?  They are getting deeply personal.

  • Know your data, your audience, and their actions. You don’t need a multi-billion dollar budget to do this – you just need a system.  It’s important that you are looking at your email open rates, your Google analytics, and your social engagement on a consistent regular basis.  Know what’s working and what isn’t.  More importantly, you want to SEGMENT out your DATA.  Find the highly engaged followers or readers and give them more, more, more of what they are looking for.  Next, you want to do a deep dive on who those high engagers who convert to clients are – what is their demographic?  If you find commonalities, you are building your TCP – your target client profile.
  • Personalize your delivery. From simply adding a first name or company name within an email marketing campaign to redirecting email and social media campaigns based on behaviors and actions taken, to highly personalized website experiences based on previous actions or their demographical makeup.  Artificial intelligence will play a big part in all of this over the next 5 years – in fact, big brands are already using it.
  • Be real. Once again I’m preaching authenticity.  Your customers want to know that you “get them” – the only way to do that is to be on their level and connect with them.  You won’t appeal to everyone but you will appeal to those who love love love you – and don’t you want them as clients versus the ones that could give a rat’s ass about you?  Enough said on that subject 🙂

In the end, you have to connect with your clients and prospects on a deeply emotional level.  Heart and soul, transparency, storytelling, BFF personal kind of level. When you do – the magic happens.  Try to constantly be pitching and making assumptions – rarely works.

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Email in Her Forties and Going Strong

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In 2018, marketing email celebrated a 40 year anniversary – crazy to think this was happening when I was in high school – but it was!  The first mass email was sent in 1978 by Gary Thuerk of Digital Equipment Corporation to 400 potential clients. Mr. Thuerk claims that email resulted in $13 million worth of sales – more importantly it was an AHA moment.  Email marketing worked and well – the rest is history.

I’ve heard email marketing is dead.  For the 1000th time (or more) I’ll say “Nope, still relevant and effective” to the naysayers.

I’ll also tell people – the more the merrier.  I get looks, gasps, and OMG I can’t spam my clients with email.

If the content is GREAT, you aren’t spamming – you are bringing value. 

Not everyone on your list will read every email you send out.

Yes, some will go to spam.

Yes, some firewalls will block you.

Yes, you will get some opt-outs  Who cares?

How do you win?

  1.  Sanitize your lists. If they haven’t opened an email in 90 days – remove them.  They aren’t interested.
  2. Let them Opt in. We’ve all added folks to our email lists, and I’ve known more than one company who has bought lists.  The BEST ROI from your email marketing will come from an opted in list or lists.  If someone opts in – they want to get information from you.  It’s really that simple.
  3. People DON’T want to be sold to. People do want opportunities, they do want to solve pain points, they do want to add value and pleasure to their life. THEY want to make that decision based on information they’ve garnered and digested.  If you are constantly asking for the sale and offering no value in return – you will get deleted.  Go back and look at the emails you’ve read AND ones that you’ve taken action from.  WHY did you do it?  Your customers are no different.
  4. Tell a story. Your email marketing should be conversational.  People want to feel like they are sitting across a table from you at the little coffee shop on the corner, or sipping a scotch at the local country club – whatever that vibe is – they need to FEEL it when they are reading your emails.  The best brands make you FEEL, they pull you in, and they are masters at FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) as in OMG if I don’t have this I won’t be part of the inner circle or my life will never be the same.  Seems crazy – but FOMO has worked for as long as humans have walked the earth.
  5. Be Authentic. Damn if I haven’t preached this for decades… but I’ll say it again.  You can’t fake it – be authentic. Show your true colors, not the colors of your competitors – you can’t be a copy cat and win.  Just be yourself – you will attract the right clients and the right time and the right place.  Trust me on this one – just be you and let your team be them.

 Happy 41st Birthday Email Marketing – Damn we love you lots and wish you a long long life.

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