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Email Marketing 101: Top Ten Reasons Why Your Email Marketing Sucks

When it comes to email marketing 101, you could probably find opinions on how to “do it right” all over the internet.

So I’m not saying this is the “Golden Key” and ignore everything else.

What I AM saying is these are what I personally believe to be super important…

And because I’m constantly training my coaching clients to be ultra different than everyone else so they stand out, you’ll see how all of these relate.

So, IF you’re not getting engagement (read: clicks, responses, etc) from people…I’m gonna bet there’s something in this email marketing 101 list that will help you:

Email Marketing 101 Top 10 Reasons:

#1 – you’re not talking to the right audience.

Ahem. If you build a list of “names” to email, are they the right FIT for your business? Source of prospects are super important. It doesn’t matter how big or small your list.

What matters are the PEOPLE on that list.

What matters is the RELATIONSHIP with those people.

What matter is the RELEVANCY they have to what you offer.

#2 You’re BROADCASTING most of the time.

This means you’re just blasting your entire list of people with stuff (and “email blasting” as a verb is still used today).

So you might be asking me (yes, I can hear you 😉 ) why NOT broadcast?

That’s not what I’m saying.

What I AM saying is to broadcast to specific segments of your list about specific stuff.

There IS a place to broadcast to the ENTIRE list…but that’s when you’re giving valuable content and / or you want to have them segment themselves out by clicking on a link or something.

#3 You’re using a TEMPLATE

In other words, you’re boring. They’ve seen it before. You don’t have individuality. This is especially true in industries like Real Estate.

Agents are sending out the same “newsletter” as the next agent.

No individuality.

copy – paste.

You wouldn’t take someone’s billboard and just swap out the contact info right?

#4 You’re boring

OK, so it’s kinda like #3, but I want to take this a bit further.

If you’re messages are always about “sell, sell, sell”…or they are just plain boring without any spice to ‘em, nobody’s gonna want to engage.

What’s spice?

How about some open loops?

Such as “Hey Joey, hope you like these 5 tips on keeping your carpets clean…

Tomorrow I’ll send you my favorite tip on how to remove the nastiest stains using a simple household fruit…”

Of course, for the sake of space, that was just a quick example, I’m sure you get the idea and can leave some open loops from time to time. (and by the way, I don’t know if you CAN remove a nasty stain with a household fruit LOL)

#5 You’re ONLY SELLING

This one should probably be #1 on this email marketing 101 list… But I didn’t promise these would be in order….did I? (uh-oh)

Anyhoo…if ALL you’re doing is sending out emails that SELL, SELL, SELL…without giving pure value that is relevant to your customers…you’re not going to have engagement for very long.

#6 You’re not telling stories

Yea. People love stories.

Stories will influence people to buy eventually.

Stories bring us together as a community

Stories ‘humanize’ you and your business. People do business with people – not brick and mortar

Tell your customers / prospects about challenges, struggles and resolutions you’ve discovered.

#7 You treat your customers as a commodity

Your email list have PEOPLE on it.

Not 10,000 names and IDS.

You have REAL people with REAL problems and challenges.

Identify with them – CARE for them enough to SOLVE their problems first and the money comes naturally.

Remember: “people don’t care how much you know (or offer) until they know how much you care” – John C. Maxwell

#8 Asking for too many actions

I see this A LOT.

Emails with TONS of information, links, pics, ads, directions, offers and so on.

If you're following along with my email marketing 101 tips, then each email should be about ONE thing you want them to do.

You can insert a few links in the email, but they all relate to the ONE thing you want them to do.

Click here to watch the video
here’s the video
Go watch the video now

#9 No SOS automation

SOS stands for Soap Opera Series (learned it from my boy Andre Chapron)

This is where open loops really come in handy.

You want to have some sort of automation built that keeps people engaged.

SOS is about delivering some really cool stuff over a few emails.

Those emails might last a few days…even a few weeks.

You can use them to have people engage and lead them up to a sale, or launch….

Or, you can have the SOS set up as a simple goodwill content campaign.

Sending out manual emails week to week is important…

But there’s usually not connection from email to the other.

And even though there’s a place for the manual “current event’s” email, SOS is equally important.

#10 They have a corporate ‘feel’.

Ever get an email that starts… Dear Joey / To Whom It May Concern…

That screams corporate all the way.

you’re not talking to your audience like a friend, or even human being when you’re starting your emails with “DEAR”.

Who talks like that?

NO-ONE.

So “friend-up” : “Hey Joey” or even “HI Joey” is better than “DEAR Joey”.

Avoid being “buttoned up” in your communications because when you’re using corporate speak like Dear, Best Regards and so on, you’re unique voice is missing.

End your emails like you would end a live conversation.

“Talk to later”, “See you soon”, “Take it easy” whatever it is you feel comfortable.

Of course, if you’re reading these email marketing 101 tips thinking “there’s NO way my boss, corp etc will let me write like this – I get it. You’re already stuck in the “buttoned-up” world in my opinion…

And that sucks – because there are real people in those organizations.

I suppose this post is for the entrepreneurs, small business owners, marketers and free spirits who want to break free and really communicate with their prospects and customers.

Hope you liked it!

Let’s get a conversation going below on your thoughts about my email marketing 101 tips…

Spark Entrepreneurship

Strategic Commitment in Business

~begin transcript: strategic commitment in business~

I talk a lot about “strategic commitment” rather than plain ‘ol commitment because I’ve found over the years coaching and talking to so many entrepreneurs…that they are WILLING to sacrifice a LOT in order to “commit”.

The way I look at it is you and me DON’T have to sacrifice anything…

Maybe ten, twenty years ago things were different…

In fact, I can admit they WERE different.

But the world has opened up to us.

We have so many possibilities to delegate, have virtual teams and so on.

Ten years ago it was a dream to “only do what we do best” and leave everything else to the rest.

Today, that’s not so crazy..is it?

The first thing I would suggest in your “Strategic Commitment” is to have achievable goals.

It’s cool to “dream big” – but at the same time, let’s get realistic and just focus on building a block at a time.

I’m not suggesting you LIMIT your mindset, but if you need to make $10,000 a month, shoot for 15 or 20 rather than 50…

The ONLY reason I’m saying that is because if you put a high expectation on yourself to deliver those results…and you don’t come anywhere close…that’s the point where I see a lot of people jumping off and chasing another opportunity elsewhere.

But hey…IF you’re one of those entrepreneurs that wants to really go for it and can stay focused and true to building that business goal…don’t let anyone stop you.

Key though, is FOCUS!

Next, DEFINE THE RIGHT OUTCOME

This comes down to saying “no” way more often than “yes”.

Here’s the thing – we tend to over-estimate what we can do in 12 months.

So if you have a big goal, focus on that and nothing else.

Problem with a lot of us entrepreneurs (me included) is we have too many ideas and don’t block out the time to get one of ‘em completely done before moving on to the next one.

Lastly – CHANGE HABITS

Establish new positive habits.

Eliminate old negative / destructive habits.

Yea. I know.

You’ve heard it before.

But are you actively DOING THAT?

And what I mean by actively doing that is measuring and focusing on the one or two good habits you want to insert in your life as well as completely eliminating another 1 or 2 bad habits.

It’s not easy – I’ll admit it.

From all the dudes I know who are brain experts, I would say the average time it takes for you and me to INSTALL this brand new habit is about 56 days.

I’m not a brain expert or anything like that, but if you take the average of about two months for each new habit you want – you can see it’s going to take effort right?

But that’s what this is all about.

Effort.

Success doesn’t come without effort.

But my job here is to help you do it with strategy and focus so you’re no longer bouncing around.

~end transcript: strategic commitment in business~

Market Your Product, Spark Entrepreneurship

How to Create a Unique Value Proposition

You’re more than likely familiar with a Unique Value Proposition right?

The UVP has been around for ages…

However I’m really amazed at how many don’t use it in the right context.

Here’s the simple formula to figuring out your own Unique Value Proposition

Describe your customer’s TOP two or three problems in one sentence.

Here’s an example:

Fresh Hot Pizza Delivered in 30 Minutes or Less or it’s FREE.

EVERYONE knows that UVP.

EVERY other pizza company ripped off the same thing from Dominos…

But let’s analyze that for a second.

How many “problems” can you spot in that simple 12 word sentence?

Here’s how a survey result for Dominoes could have gone…

“I want a pizza delivered FAST”

“I’m not willing to wait any longer than 30 minutes”

“If it doesn’t get here fast enough – I want a discount”

“And I want it to be FRESH & HOT”

That could have been the sum of all the people Domino's surveyed.

Can you see how they tweaked their UVP statement to address ALL of the wants and frustrations of their target market?

Brilliant.

So what’s yours?

When I work with coaching clients on this, the first thing we do is go back to the market and ASK questions.

We ask what frustrates them – and what they want – we’re actually looking for the IRRATIONAL stuff…

Then we look at the product or the service and see if it actually SOLVES those problems.

And here’s where many entrepreneurs get messed up…

Because they’ve BUILT something BEFORE asking the market what it wants.

Guilty here.

But if you actually take a short focused time to survey your market, you’d be surprised how quickly your UVP comes together…

And people will be telling you “wow, sounds like you’re talking directly to me..”

Market Your Product, Spark Entrepreneurship

Definition of Customer Value

The definition of customer value can be summed up with three questions you should be asking yourself…

Before I do that, half your battle is won when answer this question first:

What does your customer CONSIDER value?

Before you stop reading and click away – (because it’s so simple)

Let me ask you this…

Have you asked your customers what they perceive as value?

And I’m talking besides “best price”…

Whether you have or not, your job is not done in my opinion…

Because you want to be known as the expert, am I right?

So what do you think is going to make your customer see you as that expert?

Your “lowest” price?

Your “market standard” promise?

I doubt it.

Here’s what will:

When you can explain the problem / solution BETTER than your customer can.

Write that down. Because it's part of the definition of customer value.

And the only way you can do that is by knowing EXACTLY who your customer is…

(read: your target niche – not “everybody”)

When I’m doing this exercise with a coaching client, believe me, it’s not easy to answer if you’ve never dug deep enough…

So don’t feel like you’re alone if you can’t answer the questions right away.

Let me share a case study example of my definition of customer value:

I asked a realtor client “what does your customer consider value?”

“Highest sale price” & “Lowest commission” she told me.

“is there anything else?” I asked

“Nope – that’s it – I’m competing with all the other agents in the area for the listing.”

I asked “WHO is this client? Can you tell me a bit about them?”

It wasn’t even 5 minutes later of specific direct questions that I helped her discover who her client REALLY was.

For simplicity sake here, I knew her client:

was a young couple (early 30s) moving because they just had another baby.
already had a toddler running around.
wanted to up-size for the normal stuff – more room – more bedrooms etc.

Anyhoo – I said “of COURSE they want the most for their home, and the best commission…ANYONE can sit at the kitchen table and ‘sell’ that”. “But are they moving BECAUSE they just want to make money on a real estate transaction?”

I continued…“I know they don't want to LOSE money, but besides that, now that you know their situation, what can YOU help them achieve, avoid & protect?”

I helped her along by with a guided question:

“Don’t you think it would be VALUABLE for any showings to be scheduled AT LEAST 2 – 3 hours ahead of time?”

Here’s the madness to my thinking…

If someone has a newborn and JUST got them down to sleep, the LAST thing they want to do is clean up and disturb the infant because they have to scoot out of the house for a quick showing when the agent calls with “I’ve a couple interested in the property…we’ll be there in 20 minutes.”

Is that “protecting” the client?

I dunno about you – but a VALUE add in this situation is that my realtor client promises to never call in a panic showing like that.

Now, I also understand it takes two to tango.

The client MUST understand they could potentially LOSE a “hot” buyer if they’re unwilling to accommodate these quick showings…

However, even if they do not go for this ‘value’ add – don’t you agree that the realtor bringing this up has positioned themselves as an expert and shows compassion and understanding for their customer more than anyone else?

Read: they understand the problem BETTER than their customer.

This is just a QUICK example of looking at your business and asking these three important questions:

1. What do I help people Achieve?
2. What do I help people Avoid?
3. What do I help people Protect?

In my mind, this is the definition of customer value

Like this? I hope so – and I hope it helps you with your business!!! Let’s get a conversation going below !

Spark Entrepreneurship

Habitual Procrastination Facts

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/3757894/height/360/width/480/theme/standard-mini/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/” height=”360″ width=”480″]

Download This Episode

Habitual Procrastination Facts [PODCAST episode]

~ begin transcript~

I find a lot of people are habitual procrastinators…

not taking action right away on the info they learn at a seminar or from an online training course they’ve purchased.

They second guess themselves and what it really comes down to is they are afraid to fail…

But it goes deeper than that…

Afraid of failing is just the TOP level fear, there’s another one beneath it – which has to do with RECOVERY TIME.

We all know that time is NOT on our side…

So we make try to make sure we’re not making a HUGE mistake that will set us back years…

For the average entrepreneur or even someone who has not started a business yet, most of them are still working somewhere else…

And they want to build a business to first supplement their income…

And then finally replace their job’s income with their business.

And that’s the reason they’re out there trying to figure out what’s going to help them do that.

Todays’ broadcast is not about “WHAT” do to, we can save that for later shows…

But instead, to cure the procrastination that is doing you no good whatsoever.

Because if you’re working part time and want to build your wealth within the ‘boundaries’ of your life…

Your job, your spouse, kids and so on…

Procrastination Facts

One of the reasons you’re procrastinating is BECAUSE you have very little time to work with…

Which brings us back to the underlying fear of failure…RECOVERY time.

And that’s what most people are doing when they do not believe in themselves enough to TRY and TEST what they’re learning.

This is a VERY COMMON thing believe it or not…

And if you’re in this ‘boat’, you’re not alone.

In fact I go through these cycles…

My high end coaching clients go through them…

EVERYONE I meet goes through it.

The trick is to identify that you’re going through the procrastination cycle as quickly as possible so you can stop it and get to work.

The question comes back to what you’re willing to do to get what you want.

If you’re procrastinating on trying something ‘new’ taught in a seminar…

the answer is not “I’m willing to do anything to get what I want” because you’re NOT DOING IT.

“Well, Joey , I don’t know if it will WORK”

Guess what, THAT’S doing ANYTHING to get what you want…even if it doesn’t work.

Because that gives you data and experience to move on to the next thing.

You’ll know that plan A didn’t work – so you don’t go out there and keep learning the same thing.

So I hope this helps you a bit today to move towards what you want…

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