Month: April 2018

When I was a dumb kid, I feared my IQ would drop if I had my wisdom teeth pulled.

I was over that by the time I was 19 and dating Kathy.

She had her wisdom teeth pulled the summer we dated. She couldn’t stand the pain.

I suggested she rinse with warm salt water. I had a tooth pulled, and warm salt water helped.

Her reply: “We don’t have any salt water around the house.”

Hmmmmmm.

“Do you have any SALT around the house?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“How about WATER?” I asked.

Long pause. And then she said, “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. Yeaaaaah. Thanks. I’ll make some salt water.”

Maybe she once knew you don’t have to buy salt water at the Salt Water Store — but she forgot when her dentist yanked that wisdom from her.

Maybe she never knew…

We often have the ingredients. The recipe is easy. But we don’t realize how simple it is to put it all together.

So it goes with marketing and content creation.

I hear it all the time:

“I understand the benefits of email marketing, blogging and other content strategies. But I don’t have any content around the house. And it’s such a pain to create it.”

I used to think the same…

…Until I found the ingredients in my Gmail “Sent” folder.

Before I ever launched a blog or sent an email newsletter, I covered key topics — in individual emails to prospects and clients.

Here’s an example…

Over the years, multiple clients have asked me whether it’s OK to purchase an email list for their marketing. That’s a great topic for a blog post or an email newsletter.

If I search my “Sent” folder for “purchased list,” I find multiple emails in which I answered the question.

Cut the answer from my “Sent” folder. Paste it in a word processor. And I have a rough draft for a post or newsletter.

Sure, it needs some tweaking. But that’s a lot easier than starting from scratch.

What’s in your “Sent” folder? You may have the ingredients to make some great content.

That’s just one simple recipe for overcoming the pain of content creation. If you want some other recipes or generally need some tips or help with content creation, click here and see the “p.s.” below.

Thanks for reading!

Tom
MarketVolt

p.s.  MarketVolt helps businesses overcome the pain of content development so you can garner the benefits of email marketing, blogging (etc.) without the headache and hassle.

Shoot me an email (tom@MarketVolt.com) if you’d like to:

• Figure out what topics will resonate with your audience and help your business. 
• Discover simple recipes for creating effective content. 
• Have someone create and deliver/post content for you — quickly and affordably (we have a team of marketing experts who can do it for you). 
• Get some free advice on how to make your existing content marketing be more effective. 

The meeting went off the rails when I asked, “How are you going to build your email list?”

The nonprofit executive director replied, “We’re going to borrow lists from some other nonprofits we partner with.”

“I recommend against that,” I said.

“But we do that all the time with direct (postal) mail,” she said.

I tried to explain the difference between direct mail and email. I tried to explain the difference between SPAM and opt-in email.

But she wasn’t listening. I lost her at “I recommend against that.” She didn’t invite me to meet again.

I was thinking about that meeting yesterday when the news broke about Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. Before running for Governor, he founded and ran a nonprofit called The Mission Continues.

Greitens allegedly “borrowed” the nonprofit’s enormous email list — without permission — and used the list for his political campaign.

I’ll presume the Governor is innocent until proven guilty.

But for the sake of a marketing lesson, let’s imagine that thousands of people who opted-in for email from The Mission Continues received unsolicited emails from the Greitens Campaign.

I don’t know whether the nonprofit with which I met borrowed those lists from partner agencies. But for the sake of a marketing lesson, let’s imagine that the nonprofit sent unsolicited emails to thousands of people who didn’t ask for them.

Most people don’t like to receive unsolicited email. It frustrates and angers them, and it reflects badly on the sender.

Like it or not, that’s more the case with email than with postal mail. Sure, people don’t love getting piles of junk postal mail. But they tend not to hold it against the companies that send it.

More importantly, the United States Postal Service doesn’t have filters to block future deliveries from those who send junk mail.

SPAM filters will flag you and block future deliveries if you send emails to borrowed or purchased lists.

List-building is a quality-over-quantity game. Communicate with people who know you — existing clients, prospects with whom you’re already conversing via email, subscribers who give you permission to contact them.

Your list may be smaller than the one you borrow or buy, but your results will be better.

Here’s a free resource from our site that will help: Nine Proven List-Building Techniques.

Thanks for reading!

Tom
MarketVolt

The last time I ate a Red Delicious apple, I thought, “Hmmm. ‘Red Delicious?’ That’s half-true. Red? Yes. Delicious? Not so much’?”

Bad texture. Bland taste. All beauty. No substance.

How can something so pretty and shiny be so terrible?

I discovered the nasty secret in this great article in The Atlantic.

Reds used to be delicious. But a chance genetic mutation “made the apples redden earlier (and) also given them a deeper, more uniform color,” according to the article.

“The cosmetic changes were a boon for industrial agriculturalists: Apples that turned rosy before they were fully ripe could be picked earlier and stored longer, and skins with more red pigment tended to be thicker, which extended shelf life and hid bruises. But as genes for beauty were favored over those for taste, the skins grew tough and bitter around mushy, sugar-soaked flesh.”

Apple growers opted for beauty over substance.

So it goes with too many marketers, too.

I’ve seen so many marketing pieces that are prettier than a Grand Canyon sunset but otherwise bland and ineffective. Red Delicious marketing.

Business people spend big bucks and countless hours making their stuff bright and shiny while often neglecting the more important stuff:

Are you targeting the right audience?

Is the copy concise, compelling and persuasive.

Are there good calls-to-action?

In general, is their good marketing strategy in place or is it just a bunch of mush behind a shiny red facade?

I’m not suggesting you have to deliver ugly emails or launch dull-looking websites. I’m saying focus first on the substance: Great marketing strategy, strong copy, calls-to-action, etc.

Then add the sparkle and the shine if you wish.

Want some tips on how to add the substance? See below…
April

Tom
MarketVolt

p.s. Want to add substance to your marketing? Check out MarketVolt.com/Resources. Tons of free downloads, including tips to:

• Improve your website.
   
• Make your marketing messages more persuasive.
   
• Get more referrals.
   
• Increase email open-rates with better subject lines.
   
• Build your email list more quickly.

On April Fool’s Day 1998, Burger King ran a full-page advertisement in USA Today to introduce the new “Left-Handed Whopper”

The ad proclaimed: “Finally, after years of neglect, left-handed eaters will no longer need to conform to traditional right-handed eating methods when enjoying America’s favorite burger.”

Highlights:

• “Whopper rotated a full 180-degrees to ensure better grip on bun…” 
• “Rearranged orientation of condiments, allowing left-handers to have it their way.”
• “Sesame seeds meticulously placed to ensure least amount of loss during consumption.”

Good joke.

Here’s the funniest thing: Thousands of lefties visited Burger Kings that day and asked for the new sandwich.

“Many others requested their own right-handed version,” according to Burger King’s next-day news release. 

Some hear that story and think, “stupid people.” I hear that story and think “smart company.”

Sure, the left-handed Whopper was a joke, but it still promoted the idea that you, the customer, should “have it your way.”

That’s a good idea. That’s the essence of hospitality.

And it’s a good model for all businesses…

Know your audiences and cater to them. Your customers value you more if they think you’re on their side. That should happen in your business transactions. That should happen in your marketing.

When marketing, that means we deliver the right messages to the right people at the right time.

That means messages that are pertinent and valuable.

That means messages that are customized for different audiences — kind of like a left-handed email for lefties. 

I know this may sound a little pie-in-the-sky or difficult to master, but it’s easier than you may think.

If you want to discover how, attend one of my upcoming webinars (details in the p.s. below…)

Thanks for reading (reply with feedback if you want to share some thoughts) and see you next time…

Tom
MarketVolt

p.s. They’re back: 5in25 Webinars — Five Powerful Marketing Lessons Delivered in Less than 25 Minutes. 

We’re offering left-handed and right-handed webinars (just kidding).

We ARE offering separate webinars for B2B and B2C businesses (also webinars for nonprofits coming soon).

Discover how to put the right messages in front of the right people at the right time so you can build connections with your subscribers and grow your business. Webinar times and registration here…