It Worked Before

September 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Change Vs. SameWe’ve all done it. We do something that works really well once, so we figure we can pull it off again and again. We start to think the gravy train will never end.

One company I know thought it would be a great idea to send out a post card to their existing clients announcing signing on a new client. They felt it would reinforce their credibility and let their clients know they weren’t the only ones who had made the smart choice to work with them.

The first couple of cards were relatively well received – multiple customers called in to congratulate the company, so they figured they would keep doing it for each new client they got. Unfortunately by about the 5th or 6th card, the company started receiving multiple complaints – especially from the customers who were getting multiple cards (the mailing list had duplicates, and no one cleaned it.) Yet, they sent out several more cards, before finally bowing to pressure from several key customers, and protests from employees fielding the complaints. Instead of customers seeing the company as a smart choice, customers saw them as annoying and unprofessional. Pretty much the opposite of the impression they had hoped to make. Imagine the reaction today if that had been email!  The unsubscribes would have shot up, and probably a few spam complaints just for good measure.

This example may sound extreme, but look at what is ending up in your inbox or mailbox every day. How many of the same-old, same-old messages do you just automatically trash without opening? How many of your messages might be meeting the same fate?

“It worked before” is a cousin to “We’ve always done it that way.” It is lazy marketing. Rather than trying to be creative and change things up regularly, we will sometimes look for the easy out. The thing that worked before that won’t require any thought, and especially won’t require any risk. At least no risk until it blows up in our face, or simply stops working. The truly interesting thing is how so many businesses when confronted with the reality that what they are doing has stopped working, blame it on outside forces – some new player with lower prices, or the economy sucks. It couldn’t possibly be what they are doing, after all, it worked before!

Take a look at your marketing. Are you doing the same thing over and over again, hoping that the old magic will suddenly reappear? Maybe it is time to say, “Well it worked before, but it is time to try something new.” Change can be scary, but it can also be incredibly profitable.

 

Filed Under: Change, content, sales Tagged With: , ,

When is Internet Marketing NOT Internet Marketing?

August 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Internet Marketing

“Watson, I would like you to consider a statement, and tell me what it makes you think,” The Effective Detective wasted no time in starting out the conversation.

“Go ahead, sir, I shall endeavor to do my best,” I replied.

“I’m sure you will Watson,” The Detective said before continuing on. “The statement I would like you to consider is that just because you market on the Internet does not make you an Internet Marketer.’

“Just because you market on the Internet, does not make you an Internet Marketer. My first impression is that it is a contradiction, sir,” I said, giving my honest first impression.

“Just so, Watson, but think a little more on what that statement is saying,” The Detective urged me.

I furrowed my brow and turned the phrase over in my head before I felt a sudden flash of inspiration. “Wait! I think I see what you are saying. Just because say, a brick and mortar store that sells confections sends out an email occasionally to its customers and has a website, does not make them an Internet Marketer – they are not truly trying to make a living from selling on the Internet, yet they are using the Internet to market!”

“Precisely Watson.  Why do you think this distinction might be of some consequence in our dealings with small businesses?” asked The Detective.

I thought for a minute, but at last had to admit that I was stumped. “I am not sure sir, the distinction is plain once you give some thought to it, but I am not sure I see what use it is beyond that.”

“Ah, Watson, we need to work on your skills a bit yet. You are thinking merely of the words instead of the what the words imply,” The Detective began.

“Imply sir?” I interrupted.

“Hush Watson, let me continue. You see you are merely looking at a play on words, I am thinking what is involved to actually be one of these two marketers.

“The key here is the tools and methodologies. When I review my daily bombardment of emails from the various lists I am on, I tend to see some common threads. One common one is using a funnel. In Internet marketing the end destination of the funnel is almost always the sale. However, if I am a consultant, I may want my end destination to be a complimentary analysis. The focus on an end sale tends to distort how to make use of the tool.

“I find it interesting that so many jump on a particular Internet Marketing bandwagon, only to jump off when they realize the tool doesn’t fit their situation. The shame of it is that in many cases some minor tweaks to the process might actually yield the results they desire, but they don’t look beyond the seemingly broken promise of purchases that don’t require the hard work of actually speaking with a prospect.

“Alternatively, a brick and mortar store misses out on the opportunity to use email because they know for their market email doesn’t work well as a direct sales tool, but completely forget that the backbone of their business is the true rapport they develop with their customers; a rapport that cannot be replaced by email, but can be supplemented by it,” The Detective paused briefly, and I decided to get in my usual interjection.

“So you feel people need to be more creative in using the tools that are out there, rather than blindly following a guru, who uses the tool a certain way that works well for them,” I ventured.

“Very good Watson! The secret is to not try to be an Internet Marketer if your business is not suited to it – which is really moving into a new business area, but to use the Internet and the various tools and methodologies in a way that suits your marketing style and market. Look to the Internet Marketing  experts for interesting techniques, but beware following them exactly if it doesn’t fit your market. At the same time, don’t discount the methodology if you can tweak it to fit your needs,” The Detective concluded.

“Excellent sir, I take it we should move on then?” I asked, letting The Detective have the last word.

“Quite so Watson, quite so.”

 

Filed Under: content, Marketing, sales Tagged With: , , ,

Looking For A Place To Speak?

June 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment

speaking“Sir, are we in for another dismal recitation of what is wrong with the marketing world today?” I asked, hoping beyond hope that I could start a positive discussion today.

“Why Watson, you sound exhausted. Does debunking myths, and correcting half-truths bother you?” The Effective Detective asked in a way that I first thought was sarcastic, but quickly realized had a humorous tone to it. His tone gave me hope as I answered his question.

“Hardly sir, but I think that people would like to hear something hopeful or even helpful,” I said, hoping I had not misread his tone.

“Quite right, Watson! It just so happens that I have stumbled across just such a tool, and depending on your circumstances it can accessed and used for essentially no cost,” The Detective said, raising an eyebrow, and gauging my reaction.

I gave my best encouraging smile and said “Please continue, sir.”

“As you wish Watson. As you might have heard from multiple sources, another excellent way to generate leads, and to strengthen your credibility is speaking and to a lesser extent, writing. However, for some fields it is not as easy as it sounds to get speaking engagements. Since everyone has been told that they should speak, many local organizations are booked out 6 months or more, and some organizations only allow members to speak. And as I said for some fields or niches, it is hard to find your audience at some of the more generic local meetings, so you may willingly bear the waiting only to find your target market is nowhere to be seen at the meeting. But before you start griping that I am being negative again, let me give you some good news,” The Detective paused, and I, in the middle of taking a breath to chastise him for just such an offense, shut my mouth. The Detective grinned.

“As I was saying, Watson, there is a tool that almost everyone should have free access to that can greatly expand your speaking opportunities,” The Detective started up again. “The Gale publishing group has several references related to various organizations and events that they put on. I suspect a large number of public and possibly even college libraries have copies of the ‘Encyclopedia of Associations’ which is indexed both by geographic location – so you can locate what organizations are headquartered near you, as well as by keyword so that you can pick the ones that relate to your subject. The information included should get you started in researching what local chapters there might be, and how to reach them.

“Another similar resource is ‘Tradeshows Worldwide’ which lists many trade shows from the previous year so that you can contact the organizations about the current or even future years shows where you might be able to present. The Gale group also has the ‘National Directory of Non Profit Organizations’ which seems to be similar to the ‘Encyclopedia of Associations’. They even have a ‘Gale Directory of Publications and Media’ so you can find various outlets for your writing related to your field. Ask your local reference librarian for help finding these directories.

“So you see Watson, I am capable of providing resources as well as merely directing people towards or away from certain modes of operation,” The Detective stopped and looked at me expectantly.

“It is quite the miracle sir!” I exclaimed.

“Your virtuosity with sarcasm remains intact, Watson. Shall we get back to work?” The Detective sighed, while trying to hide a smile.

“Of course sir.”

Filed Under: content, list building, Marketing, Networking, providing service Tagged With: , ,

Relevance – The Key to engaging prospects and customers

March 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment

relevance_meter“What is relevant to you Watson,” The Effective Detective asked me before I could even sit down.

“Sir? I am not quite sure I understand the question,” I replied hoping to gain some time to get my wits about me.

“The question is quite simple Watson, what is there to understand or not? What is relevant to you?” The Detective responded doggedly.

“Relevant in what way Sir, my business, my life? I require clarification to answer such a question,” I came back started to get a tad irritated.

“Ah, thank you Watson, therein lies the problem. You are over thinking this; just as so many of our fellow marketers do. Always looking for the precise question to answer in their content. What is relevant to my prospect and customer base? Still looking for that silver bullet of brilliance that will convince them to follow you – or even better, buy from you. Of course there is no single answer to the question, because unless you live in a cave and the only thing that concerns you is survival, there are many things in life and business that are relevant to you,” The Detective took his traditional pause here and waited for me expectantly to respond.

“I understand how the question could be answered now sir, but I’m still unclear as how this can help our readers,” I blurted out, still dazed, and waited for the blistering rejoinder I felt sure to get.

“Watson, we must work on your tedious tendency toward denseness. My query was simply meant to make you see the true possibilities of content marketing. The plaintive cry of ‘I don’t know what to write’ that we hear so often, is because we don’t think this through. We know that unless people are truly interested in us as people, that making ourselves the focus of our ezines and posts won’t be accepted, but relevance to any person can span business and personal.

“Personal anecdotes, or outside events or information can sometimes be related to a business point, and sometimes they are just plain interesting. Remember that people love stories. Content does not continually need to be tips and tricks. Sometimes it can be a story that reinforces a previous lesson. Or maybe it can simply be entertaining.

“My friend, coach, and mentor Ruth Sherman  critiques the presentations of various presidential candidates as the election comes near. The content is interesting and entertaining even though few if any of her clients like me are contemplating a presidential run.  However, some of the points she reviews can be related to speaking for business. She maintains relevance!” At this point the Detective stopped and gave me a sharp look, encouraging me to try and have an interesting rejoinder.

“So using not only pure information relevant to the business at hand, but also thinking of your content consumers as people and mixing in, for the lack of a better word, stuff, that might be simply interesting or entertaining can maintain relevance. with your list Sir, one’s content library would be infinite!” I responded, with a growing sense of excitement.

“Watson, one thing I do enjoy is your ability to condense my ramblings into one short and coherent statement. We must continue our discussions.”

“Thank you, sir,” I replied not sure if I had just received a compliment or not, but decided that retreat is the better part of valor for the day.

 

Filed Under: content, list building Tagged With: , , ,

The Power of Your List

December 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Composite image of blonde businesswoman standing with hands on hipsI noticed that The Effective Detective looked particularly contemplative, and more out of curiosity than concern, I asked about it. “Sir, you look very thoughtful. Is there a particular insight you are considering?”

“Eh? Oh Watson, sorry. A particular insight yes, but interestingly it is coming from a discussion I had today that taken at face value, could have been considered quite depressing. A friend and colleague was feeling rather cynical today. The trajectory of their business life was not quite what they had hoped for. In particular they have found themselves rebuilding once again,” The Detective began.

“That does sound rather depressing sir,” I agreed.

“Yet from that dreary beginning came a rather illuminating insight Watson. You see, they had started reaching out to connections, and even at this time of the year, when most people are not thinking much about business, had arranged some meetings to discuss some new opportunities,” The Detective continued.

“During the holiday season and so close to the end of the year sir? That is quite surprising,” I interjected.

“Quite so Watson, but the true insight comes from the phrase reaching out to connections. There is an old quote attributed to Andrew Carnegie, I am not sure of the exact wording but the basic idea is that even if everything is taken from you, if you still have a list of contacts, you can rebuild it all. My colleague down in the dumps as they might be, is leveraging their contacts to rebuild. How easy it is for us to forget the power of our lists, be it a contact list build through years of networking, to a list built through patiently speaking to people, and advertising. If you nurture that list, what you can create from it, no matter what has happened in the past can be astounding. The two keys of course are building and nurturing. It does one no good to sit and wait for people to realize our genius. We must go out and proclaim it to the world, and build a tribe. But then we must nurture that tribe, feed it if you will. Those who are willing to do that, reap amazing rewards,” The Detective concluded.

“Sir, I must admit, I have nothing to add to that,” I replied, surprising the Detective and myself for admitting it.

“Well then Watson, let us pour ourselves drinks, and salute the holiday season, and in particular the new year!” The Detective exclaimed as he smiled at me.

“Happy New Year sir!”

Filed Under: content, failure, list building, List Management, Marketing, Networking Tagged With: , ,

A Bad Copy

November 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Bad copy or originalThe Effective Detective seemed to be in a particular foul mood this day. As I entered his study I could see him hunched over the keyboard cursing softly to himself as he deleted several email messages.

“Is there a problem, sir?” I asked gently.

“What? Oh hello Watson. Nothing serious, just my daily frustration with a variety of marketers that I respect, doing their usual pitches. I glance at each one to gain insight into their sales letter techniques, but I have decided I need to keep my email box a little cleaner so I now have to decide whether to delete them or not,” The Detective replied, before turning back to his task.

I watched him for a minute or two, noticing the intense look on his face never wavered. Suddenly he smiled for a brief moment as he opened another email, then his face darkened, he clicked on a link within the email, again on the web page he was sent to, then the intense look returned as he went back to more emails. Curious about the change, I interrupted him.

“Sir, you looked so focused, then one of those messages elicited a different reaction. May I inquire as to the content of said message?”

The Detective looked up, seemed to gather his thoughts, then replied.

“Quite so Watson, your powers of observation improve with each passing day.” Not sure if he was being gracious or sarcastic, I did not respond. “The message that you correctly noted caused a different reaction was from a relatively new marketer, whose list I had recently joined. I had high hopes that the lad would be providing some refreshing new insights, but alas, it was merely a pitch… again.”

“I noticed you clicked on a link in the email sir. Surely there must have been something that caught your eye,” I observed.

“That was the unsubscribe link Watson. If the lad chooses to bombard me with solicitations rather than his thoughts, I am better off without his emails,” The Detective explained.

“I’m confused sir, I saw you delete the messages of several of the major lights in the industry, but it was only a delete, not an unsubscribe. How are they different?” I exclaimed.

“Ahh Watson, I hold all of those major lights, as you put it, in high esteem. I can tolerate their sales tactics for a much greater time simply because they have proven themselves to me. There may be new products at some time that do spark my interest. I would like to able to continue to get notices of such products or programs. So I remain on their lists. However, so you don’t need to ask the question, the person I unsubscribed from did not prove themselves to me. They merely assumed since I had expressed enough interest to join their list, I would tolerate their incessant advertising. They assumed incorrectly.”

“I sense a moral approaching,” I said with a smile.

“Perceptive again Watson. Until you have gained someone’s trust and belief in you, don’t go sending steady streams of offers at them. A person needs to believe in you. They want to believe in you. They want to trust you. If you immediately begin pounding them with requests to buy something without giving them some indication that you understand their issues, and their pains, you violate that fragile trust and never give them an opportunity to believe in you. You must nurture before you sell,” The Detective concluded.

“Eloquently put sir,” I said as the Detective turned back to his email review with a slightly dismissive wave of his hand.

Filed Under: content, Networking Tagged With: , ,

They did NOT say that

November 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment

I can't believe they said that“Watson, have you ever had the strong desire to punch someone in the face with no warning?”

This was a start to the conversations between The Effective Detective and I that was quite unusual. Curious, I gave an answer that I thought might elicit a further response.

“I suppose occasionally sir.”

“That is a non-answer Watson, but rather than spar with you verbally, I will merely assume you have had such a feeling, and move on to my story and point,” The Detective answered, before continuing on as promised. “You see Watson, what brought about this question was an exchange I was witness to between a young marketer concerned about the marketing of their company’s product, and a presenter on the topic of digital marketing, whom I feel should have known better.”

“A start that does not indicate the necessity of violent action, sir,” I interjected.

“Hush Watson, you are interrupting. there is more. The young marketer was trying to grasp the concept of a lead capture form on their website. When what this could actually do for them finally broke through the fog, they exclaimed, ‘So they fill out this form and give me permission to hound them!’ I of course was appalled. I turned toward the presenter waiting for him to perhaps break into an indulgent smile and explain to this poor confused young marketer the error in using the word ‘hound’. To my shock and dismay, he instead agreed with them! Something to the effect of ‘Yes, hound them.’ The Detective paused while he placed his face into his hands.

“Perhaps sir, you are over reacting. Perhaps, they said such a thing in jest,” I jumped in, eager to come to the defense of two people I had never laid eyes upon.

The Detective shot me a look before responding. “Perhaps Watson, perhaps. Luckily I contained my first impulse which was to roundly curse both of them out. I then contained my second impulse to stand up and noisily walk out on the presentation. Even if they were joking, there were 40 or so people in the room that based on their questions, were, for the most part, totally uneducated on the subject of digital marketing, and especially email marketing. For them, that statement could have very well been considered as validation of the deed. Hound them indeed!”

“What might you have said differently, sir?” I asked giving The Detective an opening to provide an alternative.

“Obviously Watson, if said young marketer had made such a stupid statement to me, I would have politely informed them that people do not give you permission to hound them. Hounding them is the surest way to make nary a penny via email, and to develop a reputation as a spammer. No, people give you permission to start a conversation, a relationship with them. It is that initial trust that allows you to deepen the business relationship, to position yourself as an authority, and, once that trust is deep enough, to consider doing business with you as a trusted advisor. Pursue the people that have asked to do business with you, that tiny fraction that are ready to buy now. But your list? Treat them patiently, and they will reward you. Treat them as property, or cash-cows, and they will punish you, leave you, and they certainly won’t do business with you.”

“Sage council indeed, sir,” I responded, knowing the discussion had come to an end.

“Just so, Watson, just so.”

Filed Under: content, Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

Another Cart, Another Horse Before it

January 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Confused businessman sitting on a solid rock with so many question.“Watson, what do you think the best marketing tactic for a business is?” The Effective Detective asked, as he turned away from his frost encrusted window.

“Sir? I think I am missing some data here,” I replied, feeling like I was being led into a trap.

“Excellent Watson! There is hope for you after all! Pray tell, what is the missing data?” The Detective exclaimed.

Well…” I started out slowly, watching The Detective’s face for indications that I was going in the wrong direction, “what kind of business are we talking about, sir?”

“A good start Watson! How can you possibly know what tactics to use if you don’t even know the business? Every Door Direct Mail would be a horrible choice for an online business, no? There is another piece of missing data though, is there not?” The Detective responded, almost gleefully.

” Even if you know the business, the market could easily vary, even within a certain business type,” I ventured.

“You’ve hit the nail on the head, Watson! Who the market is, where you can meet them, and how you can reach them, these are the true drivers of your marketing tactics. It sounds obvious and yet, how often have we seen people creating Facebook pages when their market doesn’t use Facebook, networking at events where neither their market, nor good referral sources are in attendance, and of course, sending out emails with content that has no appeal to the people they are sending to. It pains me to admit I’ve done the same occasionally,” The Detective ended with a sigh.

“I think this is a landmark day then sir, you, admitting a mistake?” I pushed gently.

“Careful Watson, of course I admit to my mistakes, since they are so few and far between, it does no harm, but back to the point at hand. We could end the discussion here since the point is so simple, but there is a bit of nuance to using mis-directed tactics,” The Detective responded, then gave me my usual lead to ask him to continue.

“OK sir, I’ll bite. How could you possibly make using the wrong tactic work to your advantage?” I asked.

“Ah Watson, the trick is in knowing what you don’t know,” The Detective began, “if you are certain of your market, then using the wrong tactic, simply because it is popular or cheap is simply bad business. But what if you aren’t sure of your market, or at least you aren’t sure where they are or how to reach them? Then, running small controlled tests with some of these tactics may actually help you identify where your marketing should be focused, and certainly where it should not.”

“Taking baby steps before you start running sir?”

“That is one metaphor Watson. Another one, although I despise sports metaphors, would be how a football team starts out a game with a few running plays, and a few passes to see where the defense might have a weakness, before committing their game to runs or passes, or risking the big play that could backfire on them.”

“An interesting concept, sir,” I said, not sure I was supposed to come up with a new metaphor or to just put the game to rest.

“The important thing is that you must analyze the results. As usual Watson, the clues are there, but you need to get and look at the data to find them. Now let’s get back to work shall we?” The Detective finished.

“As you wish, sir.”

Filed Under: building the road, content, Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Marketing Lessons From Ancient Rome

October 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

ostia“Watson, I had the most interesting insight when visiting the former Roman port of Ostia Antica a few days ago,” began The Effective Detective, taking charge of our conversation at the start, as he has done a few times in the past.

“Former port, sir?” I asked, dreadfully ignorant of Roman and Italian history, I had no idea if Ostia Antica had become a former seaport in recent or ancient times.

“Ah, Watson, I see we need to work on your classical education,” The Detective jabbed at me, then continuing on before I could respond, “Ostia Antica was abandoned by the Romans some 1,500 years ago when the path of the river Tiber changed after some particularly bad flooding. Remarkably it has sat relatively undisturbed, and intact for centuries.”

“What caught my eye was one section of the town described as the Piazzale delle Corporazioni or Square of the Guilds. This was where the importers and exporters would ply their trade. Some of course advertising goods they had brought in, some buying goods to transport outside of Rome, and some advertising the transport of such goods. Nothing out of the ordinary you might say, being that Ostia was a port. There were two things that I found interesting and of course a lesson for today,” The Detective paused, obviously hoping I would inquire as to the content of the lesson. As always, I decided not to disappoint.

“So what was the lesson we could learn from the traders of 1,500 years ago?” I asked.

“As I said, two things that I found interesting. The first was the competition, ringing this square were 60 “booths” – for lack of a better name. Imagine slugging it out on a daily basis when your competition was not just in the same town, but physically right next to you trying to entice customers. Those merchants must have been able to express why they were better than the guy next to them with no hemming and hawing. Either you could make a concise and compelling case or your prospect moved over 15 feet to listen to another pitch. They had no choice but to be able to make their case in a matter of seconds, and make a compelling one at that. Today, how often do we hear people who expect you to listen to a message that goes on and on? Definitely something to be learned there.

“The second and even more interesting lesson was the other way that they marketed their products and services. With pictures! They knew that not all of their prospects would be literate, so they not only would spell out what they offered in Latin, but in mosaics inlaid in front of their booths. Of course they sometimes indulged in a small bit of exaggeration: showing their boats protected by Neptune himself or how they can overcome sea monsters, but I imagine like exaggerations today, such things were taken with a grain of salt by the prospective buyers. The point was they made sure that anyone coming into the square no matter what class or level they came from would understand what they offered. Simplicity of message!” The Detective concluded.

“A most fascinating history lesson, sir!” I exclaimed.

“And an exhausting one as well, Watson. It was quite the trek around Ostia. Let us continue our discussion at another time,” The Detective said, ending our conversation for the day.

Filed Under: branding, competition, content, Marketing, sales Tagged With: , , , , ,

What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?

August 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

satdish“Sir, is there a hard and fast rule for how often one should send out content?” I asked The Effective Detective.

“Watson, you of all people should know by now that there is only one hard and fast rule: there are no hard and fast rules; certainly when it comes to marketing,” answered The Detective.

“My apologies sir, so any frequency will do?” I asked in return, certain that the absurdity of  my question would be answered with a devastatingly sarcastic response.

The Detective raised an eyebrow and gave me a look intended to wilt flowers. I braced myself, but then he smiled, and responded in a surprisingly mild manner.

“Clever, Watson. Let us actually examine the question you have raised. The question of how often you should send out content is a real concern for many marketers. Sadly, I have noticed an unfortunate tendency on the part of some to fall into an age-old trap: trying to please everyone,” The Detective paused briefly, long enough for me to interject with another question.

“I am confused sir, what does the frequency of contact with one’s list have to do with pleasing everyone?”

“Ah, Watson, now that is a more appropriate question for someone of your intellect and experience,” he replied. I sat back, realizing the sarcastic response had just been delayed. At this point I figured that retreat was the better part of valor and shut my mouth and listened to his response.

“The frequency of contact is a balancing act: too infrequent, people forget you, and either unsubscribe or simply ignore your emails. Too frequent, people are annoyed with you, and unsubscribe, and even worse, may report you as spam.

“We are all afraid of being labeled spammers so we err on the side of less frequent. Nothing wrong with that decision, per se, but then some of us make that fatal mistake: we try to please everyone, so we opt for the lowest possible reasonable frequency – often once a month, and end up pleasing no one,” The Detective paused here, waiting for my response, but I stubbornly remained silent.

“This is directly related to our belief that bigger is always better, so we take anyone on our list instead of aiming at our true market, which would welcome our emails,” The Detective paused again, and raised his eyebrow. I realized he would not stop until I asked a question so I relented and obliged.

“So there is no hard and fast number, but is there a range?” I asked.

“Bravo Watson, you have hit the nail on the head! If you are truly developing a high quality list, touching them much less than once a week is not advisable, once every other week if you are truly paranoid. Remember, not everyone opens every email! If you send out only once a month and someone misses one or two, they may perceive that they haven’t heard from you in months! You may want to include an offer once a month or so, and depending on the offer, you could include it in your regular email, or send a separate, in which case you would send two in one week.

“Here is the truly interesting point Watson. The real trick is not so much frequency, it is the content. If you cannot keep your content interesting and fresh, then any frequency won’t be right,” The Detective concluded. “Let’s move on then, shall we?”

“As you wish sir.”

Filed Under: content, list building, Marketing Tagged With: , , ,
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