Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

Marketing Coach: 6-Step Secret Sauce for Awesome Email Subject Lines

Guest post by Corey Eridon

How many emails do you receive every day? And across how many accounts? The Radicati Group reported that 1.9 billion non-spam emails are sent every day. Most people aren't reading every one of those emails (do you?), and the way people determine which ones to open and which ones to trash is by looking at the email subject line. It may be one of the smallest components of your email marketing strategy, but it's the keeper between the reader and your message. That's a pretty hefty 50-something characters.

As one of the most crucial parts of your email message, you should dedicate serious time to crafting that copy. But if you know the secret sauce for writing an awesome email subject line, you'll find you need less and less time as you practice and learn what resonates best with your audience. Next time you draft an email message, use this recipe to formulate a great email subject line that will help you get your message in front of more eyes.

The Ingredients

• Deliverability
• Actionability
• Personalization
• Clarity
• Brevity
• Consistency

The Recipe

Step 1 - Check for deliverability. There are two kinds of filters you need to get past: actual SPAM filters, and your readers. Readers have a BS detector up when checking their inboxes, and it's as sharp as a bloodhound's nose. Avoid spammy words like "free," "act now," and "limited time." Don't yell at the reader by using all caps, like "REMINDER," which is another spammy word that should be avoided. Also, steer clear of excessive use of punctuation marks such as dollar signs and exclamation points at the end of sentences.

Step 2 - Make it actionable. To have an actionable subject line, ask yourself one thing: does the reader know what he or she can do in the email? An email subject line is similar to writing a call-to-action; using verbs helps create the sense of urgency and excitement you want them to feel when reading your subject line. For example, a well written email subject line reads, "Meet the Legendary Ming Tsai at Blue Ginger," versus the less actionable "Ming Tsai at Blue Ginger." With the first subject line, I know I could do something in this email to help me meet Ming Tsai, as opposed to the second, where for all I know, Ming Tsai just went to Blue Ginger last night.

Step 3 - Personalize. The only way you can provide value to your email recipients is by knowing them...even just a little bit. And if you've segmented your subscriber list like every email marketer should, you do know something about your recipients! Your email subject line should reflect that you're sending something thatthey want. For example, a realtor may have a segmentation just for renters looking for an apartment in a certain zip code. Reflecting this knowledge in your subject line, such as "View a Vacant 2 Bedroom Apartment in Muskegon" will drive up the value of that email for the recipient.

Step 4 - Scrub for clarity. You know what your recipient will get if they open the email, but try to step out of your own shoes for a moment. Is it clear to an outsider? If your subject line is too broad, it won't resonate. This often happens when email marketers try to be witty with subject lines. If you can find a way to be clever and straightforward, go for it, but never at the expense of clarity. Can you further help recipients identify what the email is about by putting identifying keywords in the beginning of the subject line, alerting someone that their favorite item is on clearance? Include it at the beginning of the subject line.

Step 5 - Edit for brevity. You could write a haiku to your recipient, but it's to your benefit to keep the subject line as short as possible. A good rule of thumb is 50 characters or fewer. Not only do you want as much of it as possible to display in the email pane (especially on mobile devices), but people are quickly scanning their inboxes to decide what to read, and what to delete. The shorter your subject line, the less likely you are to get glossed over.

Step 6 - Ensure consistency. What the subject line promises should correspond with what is delivered in the email. Think about getting an email with a subject line that promises 75% off men's clothing, only to find out that it only applies to men's socks. The old bait and switch frustrates people and leads to lower open rates, lower click through-rates, and higher unsubscribe rates.

As with any recipe, testing is required for best results. Experiment with different verbs, reorder your words, and try different offers to see which ones resonate the most with your recipients.

Have you tested your email subject lines?

Use the COMMENTS are below to share YOUR email subject line secrets of success!

It's OK not to blog daily. 

It's OK to blog daily. 

It's just NOT OK not to blog. 

Ya dig?

Tags: Marketing coach, blogging for business, marketing for speakers, marketing for authors

Leave a COMMENT below with a link to YOUR blog and let's send some Google juice your way. (Fair warning: No spam links or Gucci handbags or MLM offers please.)

If you are looking to write a book, produce audio, video, or online assets, package a coaching or consulting program, or otherwise "productize" your expertise, keep reading... you'll like this post. 

You're getting a simple, repeatable process for guess-free product development that ensures you only create products that your target market will be eager to buy.

Here is your 7-step process in a nutshell: Scan, Survey, Analyze, Productize, Test, Package, Deliver.

Scan is step 1 and it's simple – do a competitive scan and see what else is out there that solves – or claims to solve – the same pains, problems, heartaches and headaches as your brilliant product or program. We’ll come back to that “claims to solve” issue a little later. But you have to know what alternative and competing products are out there. Otherwise, you’ll have a very hard time with articulation and distinction.

Survey is step 2 – you must survey members of your target market. When I work with folks individually or in groups, we do a very detailed survey step and you get models and templates of surveys that I’ve used and my clients have used with great success. The questions are simple – which of these aspects of the problem are most urgent for you? What are you looking to solve? What have you tried to solve it so far? Why hasn’t that worked? What would a “dream solution” look like that addresses everything you need solved?

Analyze is step 3 – this is where you collect and collate all the data you’ve received using simple tools like Survey Monkey or Zoomerang.com. I also strongly recommend more personal interviews during the analyze step where you can spend quality time with folks in your target market and learn more intimate details of what they are up against when dealing with your area of expertise. You need to go deep here – find the issues behind the issues. Surface the deeper needs that lie beneath the waterline of the iceberg that everyone else is claiming to help them with. This will put you miles ahead when it comes to offering what I call the “Ah, at last” solution.

Step 4 is Productize – this is where you start to put the pieces together. There are 2 parts to productize – one is writing zero-draft marketing copy. This is the skeleton of bullets, sound bites and short phrases that capture what your product does, what it means to them, why it’s FSB – faster, smarter, better than anything else out there. The second half of productize is to put the skeleton product out there – what I call the bones of your product – the snippets, scripts, tools, templates, worksheets, checklists, forms and other raw material – powerpoints, pdfs, whatever you have to throw at this thing, just make a big folder and put it all in there. Just do THAT, and your product will be between 50%-80% done.

All that’s left is editing, pruning, organizing and sequencing. Again, we have a system and a method for doing this, which you’ll gain access to if we work together. You’ll get more details on that later. (No pressure - I'm not selling it to you. It just happens to be awesome.)

Step 5 is Test. Testing is critical for 2 reasons – first, you’ll test your beta product with real, live prospects. The sound bite is this – "I’m in the process of developing a new product to address problems X, Y, and Z. Because you’re someone whose opinion I respect, may I send you the beta or draft product? I’d love to get your advice, insights and recommendations on how to make it better and more valuable."

You’re doing two things in this step – you’re doing live ammo testing AND you’re doing pre-marketing to folks in your exact target market. Sweet!

Step 6 is Package. The packaging step is both internal and external – internally, you are packaging up the final product. Edits, revisions, improvements based on your surveys and feedback. You’re making important enhancements that will make your product both more saleable and more valuable.

Externally, you’re working on the physical packaging if it’s a product (things like book cover design, CD or DVD packaging, graphics, and so on) and the marketing packaging. You’re revising your Zero-Draft marketing copy and making adjustments to what you’re promising to solve based on the feedback and the urgencies and priorities you’ve uncovered in your target market.

Finally, Deliver is Lucky #7. It’s game time – you’re primed, your pumped, your packaged. This is where you begin to offer your product for sale. It’s back of the room sales, online sales, you start to bundle and supersize your product with other products or programs you’re already selling. And, of course, if it’s a coaching or consulting package then you are literally also starting to DELIVER the program with your first batch of clients and customers with whom you’re working.

This process is simple – but not easy. Each step can take you anywhere from a week to a month, or sometimes more. You may need various people on your team to help speed the process. A ghostwriter, editor, graphic designer, web master, audio or video editing folks, a fulfillment company. When I work with people in the Product Development Toolkit, we work through all of this together to take away the overwhelm.

Another bonus that you’ll often find is that as you work through this process, you’ll sometimes come out the other side not with ONE product but possibly with TWO or THREE products.

The process lends itself to that. Maybe you end up with a version for men and for women. Or for salespeople and sales managers. Or for leaders and team members. There are often two or more sides to any type of product or program and these naturally emerge from the product development process as you’re going through it.

I’ll give you an example from my world.

When I wrote my first book, it was called Relish. It was a book about success in different areas of life - personal, professional, business, career, relationships, etc. As I was writing it, it started getting very top-heavy on the business side. I then realized I had enough content for two books, not one – so I published Relish and Relish for Business.

Same thing happened a few years later when I wrote my book Unconsulting. It was written for consultants, entrepreneurs and executives. Then I realized, I was writing and talking a lot with executives who hired consultants. So the second book project emerged, and this was actually my first book with a real publisher, HRD Press. That collection of advice to executives became The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Using Consultants. So just remember to be open to that possibility of your second or third product naturally emerging from your work on the first one.

Good news - and shocking coincidence: The next Product Development Toolkit group program begins February 5.

But it's not for you.

You wouldn't like it.

So don't even bother going over there to that page.

It is meant for OTHER people, not you.

Seriously. 

Whew - that was close!! Now please feel free to LEAVE A COMMENT below to share your experiences with developing high-value information products that package and promote YOUR expertise...

Snappy.

Concise.

Quick.

Here's a video to demonstrate: 

The awesome Yosef Klein who works at Click and Market in my old stomping grounds of Brooklyn NY sent me the following picture of the poster he created from my blog post titled 101 Success Tips in 3 Words. 

Check this out: 

Isn't this what we are all after when it comes to marketing YOUR awesomeness? 

Don't YOU want people putting posters up in their offices of YOUR ideas, tips, content and inspiration?

Damn... I know I do... 

I know Yosef does...

And you probably do as well. 

So here are 11 observations, learnings and ideas for YOU to make this happen in YOUR business.

1. People love lists. 
2. People love encouragement.
3. People love brevity.
4. People love audacity.
5. People love connection.
6. People love visuals.
7. People love quirkiness.
8. People love insights.
9. People love personalization.
10. People love specificity.
11. People love fun.

And thank you, Yosef. 

Dude - you made my day, my week AND my month.

You rock.

I appreciate you. 

_______

Tags: Marketing Speaker, Marketing Coach, Word of Mouth Marketing

What do YOU think? Use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on how YOU create content that is more shareable, more spreadable, more findable and more poster-ific!

Here's the first in a series of marketing and business book reviews - but not just any old business books.

Fire starters...

Game changers...

Show stoppers...

Books that will transform the way you think about your work, about your business, and - yes - about your life.

Ready? Take a look...

What do you think? Please leave a COMMENT below to share your experiences with this book, with this author, or with other game changing books that YOU recommend...

Two quick things for you:

1. NEW Group on LinkedIn for "Professionals Who Speak"- if you're a speaker, author, independent professional, corporate executive or entrepreneur, the conversations, resources and people you'll connect with here are top-notch.

We are up to over 300 members in just over 5 weeks. Great community and great content is being posted and discussed daily.

Join us here: http://bit.ly/LI-ProSpeak 

2. We still have a few seats open for next week's zero-cost teleseminar called "Product Development Roadmap." If you or someone in your circle is looking to write a book, produce audio, video, or online assets, package a coaching or consulting program, or otherwise "productize" your expertise, this may be worth a look. Especially because it's FREE...

Register here:

http://www.doitmarketing.com/product-development-roadmap 

Have a great weekend!

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, my clients often ask me for advice on sales.

Naturally, this makes a ton of sense because the MORE and BETTER marketing you do, the FASTER and EASIER your sales process becomes. 

BUT... 

Nothing frustrates me more than when my clients DO a lot of the great marketing we work on together ONLY TO BLOW IT during the sales process!

So... don't let this happen to YOU. 

Let's talk about what you need to close the deal: the steps you need to get from the first solid marketing conversation to the final signed contract.

Depending on your particular business, this could take anywhere from 10 days from first contact all the way up to a year or more. The sales process can be a long and winding road.

BUT there are several factors totally within your control that make it go faster and easier.

The most important one - by far - is asking smart questions early and often.

Think about it: delays in your sales process come from one main source...

Surprises.

You don’t want surprises on their end - and they don’t like surprises on your end.

Each surprise or question or unexpected element can add anywhere from a week to a month to your sales process - and you don’t want that.

Understanding this, you’ll want to ask them some key selling questions early on in your conversations and throughout at every major step and milestone.

Let’s cover them together now so you can begin using these 21 killer sales questions to close more deals - more easily and more often.

1. If you were to decide this is a good idea, how do you buy things like this?
2. How do you implement?
3. What should I know about your timing? Signoffs?
4. When do you budget for things like this?
5. Do you think this deal is going to work?
6. What’s missing or what should we add?
7. Are you going to pitch it?
8. What else do you need to see from me?
9. Can I help you put together some numbers?
10. Do you have some numbers I could include?
11. Who else besides you will be making this decision?
12. Are “they” going to like it?
13. WHAT are they going to like?
14. WHAT are they going to push back on?
15. What else is going to be in our way?
16. How would YOU respond to that?
17. What answers do you need from me to so you’re prepared to answer their questions?
18. How much detail do YOU want?
19. How much detail will THEY want?
20. Are there any surprises we should be prepared for?
21. If this were just you and me, how excited would you be to move ahead on a scale of 0-10?

Hint: If they answer 9 or 10 - you’re good; If they answer 7 or 8 - ask, "What would need to change to get us closer to 10?" If they answer 6 or less, you have a problem. Go for no with “I don’t think we can make this work. Do you?”

Be relentless and follow up like a friendly bulldog.

Never let an active prospect get more than 10 days away from you.

Always show up in their world like a happy squeaky wheel: Circle back. Send more value. Ask more questions. Offer more engagement. Invite further dialogue. Come back with more ideas to genuinely help them. 

More and better and faster sales will follow.

I guarantee it.

And then leave a comment below with your questions, thoughts, and advice on the ideas above.

Are you a DO IT freak? Welcome to the club!! Please use the social media buttons at the top of this post to share it with your network. YOU are a rock star!

In Part 1 of this article, I shared the seven challenges that most speakers, authors, experts AND thought-leading corporate executives face when trying to boost their visibility and credibility as professionals who speak. 

Here are a few recommendations to upgrade or fix any gaps in your speaker and expert brand so that you are positioned and ready to approach more and better speaking venues to showcase your expertise.

1. Do a website makeover. Hire a pro from Elance.com and ask them to work on a new header graphic for your website and do a graphic overhaul to make your site more visually appealing and professional. This should cost you less than $500 - sometimes as little as $300.
2. Need more testimonials? Look to your Linkedin profile - you may have some recommendations there that could easily be copied/pasted. Look in your paper files for written evaluations or letters/notes you’ve received. If you’re low on all of these... simply ASK people who know your work to write a few lines. Or help them out by writing it for them and inviting them to edit/tweak.
3. To get quoted in mainstream media and industry publications, you must, MUST join PRLeads.com - it is the fastest, cheapest and most reliable way to get quoted and interviewed by the media. You may also want to look into PressReleaseSender.com which guarantees online placement in over 100 high-traffic mainstream media sites.
4. For your blog, the simplest recommendation I can give you is - start. Your blog is truly the centerpiece of your online presence. Without it, you’re a nobody. Blog frequently - 2-3 times per week is ideal. Blogs can be short, medium or long. Doesn’t matter - just share insightful information, make smart recommendations, engage your readers and have fun with it. There’s no shortcut here. Do it now and you’ll thank me later.
5. Social media accounts are something that buyers are looking at more and more. Even though at the same time, people are starting to question the true ROI dollars-and-cents value of social media, it IS a metric and (like it or not - valid or not) buyers DO measure your credibility by it. So start using some social media automation tools like Hootsuite or TweetAdder and your numbers will start to increase more quickly and consistently.
6. Speaking is another must - as you know, a big part of my life is to work with both professional speakers AND professionals who speak to increase the quality and quantity of their speaking engagements. Buyers look at your speaking schedule as part of your overall platform - if you’re not getting out there, they’re going to think, “Houston, we have a problem.”
7. Interviews and profiles by other experts is easy - instead of seeking the media, spend part of your time BECOMING the media. In other words, YOU start to invite the thought-leaders and experts whom YOU respect to be interviewed by you. You can do these by phone or Skype or even email. The more you feature and leverage other people, the more your own "thought leadership platform" will grow.
8. BONUS: Creating and publishing original research, surveys and reports. This is so much easier than many people think. The bottom line is that experts do research. Something as simple as a LinkedIn poll or your own SurveyMonkey survey to collect and gather statistics, analysis, trends in your industry or in your topic expertise. It’s also a great excuse to get on the phone and reach out to your perfect prospects - not to sell them anything but to interview them for your research project. Rapport builds from there - relationships grow - and soon you’ll have the top 20 decision-makers in your field knowing your name and willing to take your call. THAT is the power of original research.

As you know, most of my work is dedicated to boosting the success of entrepreneurial and executive speakers - meaning, both professional speakers AND professionals who speak. 

Whether you are a professional speaker, author, or high-fee expert OR a thought-leading corporate executive, your marketing success depends on developing a personal brand with some pretty serious horsepower.

Not necessarily superstar celebrity status, but you also can’t look like you’re fresh off the pumpkin truck.

So what does that mean?

Let’s do a quick audit of your assets and resources:

1. Is your website strong and credible with bold graphics and professional design?
2. Do you have an abundance of testimonials and third-party endorsements?
3. Are you regularly quoted in the mainstream media and industry publications?
4. Is your blog top-quality and updated regularly? (You do have a blog, right?)
5. Are your social media accounts current, updated regularly and growing?
6. Are you speaking regularly at local, regional and national events?
7. Are you getting interviewed and profiled by other experts in your field?
8. (Bonus) Are you creating and publishing original research, surveys and reports?

Now at this point, I’ve scared almost everyone... Sounds like an awful lot of work, doesn't it?

My encouragement to you is this - DON’T give up.

ALL of these assets and resources can be beefed up and made ready for prime time with a little bit of concerted effort and perhaps some outside help and guidance.

Tomorrow, I'll give you step-by-step guidance on how to get started on each of these.

Until then, please us the COMMENTS area below to share your insights and experiences building up your own levels of speaker marketing success...