“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

~ Mark Twain

News Loves Death and Scandal

One of the things about Melbourne’s news reports is that there aren’t many sensational happenings most of the time, so our reporters need to squeeze every ounce of drama out of anything – and we frequently have to look at car crashes in the US to fill out the hour (even with a substantial portion of sport and weather).

This is unfortunate for our public figures and even regular citizens who do something unusual – in some cities they’d be quite anonymous, with a scarcity of news they receive unwarranted attention.

It’s important to keep this in mind when you hear the reports of the demise of

• Email
• Cold calling
• Direct mail
• Print newsletters
• Radio & magazine advertising
• Websites
• Long-form copy and sales letters
• Long videos
• … And many more key marketing media.

The ‘Death of Email’ garners greater attention than:

“Your unsolicited marketing emails are getting deleted.” Or

“Retailers who sign people up to their lists for a discount are finding that people unsubscribe.”

We’re being trained to accept this kind of sweeping statement unquestioningly for fear of being thought a ‘conspiracy theorist’ or worse, but we all need to resist the pressure and ask more questions before we accept these assessments. When you do, you’ll probably find they’re dead wrong.

The Real Truth About Email

Most of the metrics that people focus on are false. When you are told about the declining open rates and similar scary statistics that presage the death of email, it’s worth stopping and asking how you deal with email yourself.

Some of my devices are set so that I can read most of the email without opening it. Others show a few lines which is enough for me to decide whether to continue reading, or delete it.

I’m signed up to some lists via two different email accounts, so I rarely read it in both and those first few lines are enough to show me if I’ve already read the same email with a different subject line (a common trick by used even by ‘reputable’ senders).

Even just on this basis, it’s easy to see why open rates would be marginal.

This is why you’ll see some people only put the first part of their information in the email and force you to click through to read the rest of it. Part of this is to measure engagement, it’s also to let their email provided see that people are engaging. Personally, I consider this to be self-defeating and a sign that the sender is using it as click-bait rather than relationship-nurturing – unless they are sending you to watch a video.

Honestly, many emails are not worth opening and if the senders didn’t use tricks like this no-one would read them. However, if your emails are entertaining and nurture relationships with readers, then you can measure response by:

• Email replies and questions;
• Response to your calls to action;
• Sales and money in the bank.

If your emails aren’t generating a substantial result for your business then rather than sweepingly dismissing email as a vehicle for sales, ask yourself if the problem might lie in the way you are doing email, rather than the platform itself.

This same argument applies to the other methods of outreach that have been condemned to the trash heap as not worthy of your attention. Before you throw them out, ask about your implementation.

YOUR List is Gold

Over the last two months alone, clients have sold multiple times as much through their list as they have through micro-copy and micro-video (30 seconds to 3 minutes), advertising, social media, etc – and all the popular and trendy methods that make you work harder to earn less.

John, who is in financial services discovered that…

“We know our market so well that we can sell appointments for high-end financial packages to cold prospects over the phone… Then close them in the first appointment. We’ve even got our identification process refined to the point that we can find 10 qualified prospects in under 21 minutes. In addition, we spend time finding other prospects to nurture and attract them to our mailing list which we’ve grown from 45 non-clients to 3,500 highly qualified prospects + our client-base.”

Ellen, who is a TCM practitioner has also realised that…

“When I started sending a print newsletter for the clinic rather than an e-newsletter my days went from slow-to-moderately busy to booked out with a waiting list. What I love most about this is that I don’t need to charge cancellation fees. Especially these days people will cancel because they’re not feeling 100% and they’re conscious about contagion. My waiting list for appointments means that I can waive the cancellation fee and not worry about my expenses.

I’d always thought that print was just expensive, but between emailing regularly, creating longer videos and articles for my website and social media (rather than just being ‘catchy’) and mailing my print newsletter business is booming. I even had someone come in off the street and ask to be put on the mailing list, then becoming a regular client.”

It all starts with getting the right people on your list and then building a relationship with them.

The truth is, you don’t need thousands of people on your list (although there’s nothing wrong with that if those people are highly engaged) – and once you have a list of engaged prospects, then creating a cash surge on top of your regular income whenever you need it is quite simple.

Dynamic Direct Response Copywriting provides an insight into how to research and write powerful advertising copy that irresistibly attracts your ideal prospect and pre-disposes them to work with you.

Purchase your copy today at https://hiltoncopywriting.mykajabi.com/offers/vLy6oYgm