Two Hat Marketing -- Would YOU Do Business With YOU?

How to get your emails opened & read

I'm betting the email I sent to my subscribers for this post gets a high open and click-through rate.

Why? Because I asked a question that we ALL want the answer to. And that, I've learned, is the primary motivation for getting my emails opened and read.

I should back up a bit and also state that for me a 30% open rate and 20% click-through rate is pretty good. You might do better than me, but I doubt it. You see, whether somebody opens, reads, and clicks through to my blog is impacted by a number of factors outside my control.

Timing has a lot to do with whether you open my email. Are you in the middle of a really important project or proposal? Are you distracted by a personal issue? Are you on vacation? You'll probably skip it.

Did you receive it late in the day? Did it arrive on Monday or Friday? Did it arrive with a huge batch of other emails? You'll probably skip it.

Does it come from someone who's tricked you before? You'll probably skip it. For example, yesterday I received an email from someone named Bibba Valenza with the subject line, "Radio TV Interview Request." Hey, I want interviews, so naturally I would open it! But it's bogus (you already figured that out, didn't you?). This dweebo doesn't want to interview me. He/she/it wants to sell me an ad listing in a directory. Yeah, deception ALWAYS makes me want to business with you.

Does it ask a stupid rhetorical question like, "Would you like to make $100,000, GUARANTEED?" You'll probably skip it.

Or does it address a problem you've been wrestling with? Does it ask a question that you've also been asking? You'll probably open it.

Does it spur genuine curiosity? Does it sound like a quick, but valuable read? You'll probably open it.

And most important of all, does it come from someone you know, like, and trust? You'll probably open it.

Oh, and lists work well, too.

Your subject line must be informative, interesting, urgent and specific to the person reading it. It makes no difference whatsoever whether YOU find it interesting. If you don't get what I mean, go watch my YouTube video about Two Hat Marketing. 

And, as examples of my own, here are the subject lines of my all-time top five most opened and read emails:

1. I'll bet you don't know the answer to these three questions

2. Nine reasons your marketing doesn't work

3. The three most important words in marketing

4. Can we learn a marketing lesson from a bank?

5. Do not make this stupid marketing mistake

BTW, you may not notice this, but all five have been in the last four months. I've been writing my blog for almost four years, so you see, I'm learning, too.

As an extra thought, I've also learned your From email should be friendly and seem like a real person. I know I've been guilty of not following this myself, but coming from steve@twohatmarketing.com is way better than from enews@twohatmarketing.com.

And, if you've got some other helpful, non-deceptive tips for getting your emails opened and read, please comment below!

Would your customers be shocked to learn what you do?

I am embarrassed to say this, but you probably don't know what I do.

I received an inquiry last week from a reader who wanted to talk about having me speak at his company's annual sales meeting. In the course of our conversation, he said, "I didn't know you gave speeches until you wrote about speaking in a recent post."

Aaargh. I wanted to kick myself. I knew I fell into the same old trap that most companies fall into.

I ASSUMED that my current clients, prospects, and readers knew what I did. And I was dead wrong.

Now before I attempt to correct my own situation with you, let's look at this from your perspective.

Do your customers and prospects know what you do? Do they know about all the products and services you provide? My guess is they don't. I've learned over the years that most companies do a lousy job of communicating this to their marketplace. And even though I KNEW this, I still fell into the trap.

It's an easy trap to get caught in. We beat the bushes for new prospects and then look for the quickest path for creating new relationships. And what do we typically try to sell in the beginning? We sell what's EASIEST to sell. This might be something different for different clients, depending on what seems to fill their need. But then, after getting them on board, a lot of salespeople and marketers (including me) get lazy. We keep on selling them what we've always sold them.

Have you ever had the situation where a long-time client found out about a different product line or service your company provides and said, "I wish I knew you sold this a long time! I had no idea you had  this capability." If you've been around for a while, I'm guessing you have.

You know what? This would be an excellent time to correct that situation. We're still a long ways away from the economy getting up a head of steam. Now is the time to meet with your current customers and bring them up to speed on your complete product line and/or services. Now is the time to make sure all your prospects are aware of your full capabilities. Then when things do get chugging again, you'll have a leg up on capturing a bigger share of their increasing budgets. Don't fall into the same trap I did.

So  with your permission, can I tell you a little about what I do?

My focus is marketing, strategy, and innovation. That's the one thing you probably already know. Here's my "product" line:

• I give speeches and workshops. Since my first professional speech in 1982, I've given over 1200 marketing presentations to several hundred thousand corporate executives. If you're ever in the market for a really good speaker, I'd appreciate the consideration. Oh, and I'm also a very good MC or program moderator.

• I'm a corporate gunslinger. Gunslingers are brought in to help with a unique problem. If it has to do with marketing, strategy, or innovative thinking, I'm your guy. I regularly facilitate strategic planning projects, marketing workshops, research programs, including focus groups. I advise CEOs, boards of directors, staff, and committees for small and large businesses and trade associations. (OK, I'm a consultant.)

• I have presented and facilitated hundreds of webinars. With my background in broadcast media, as well as a successful marketer, I have a unique ability in a difficult medium.
  

• I have products for businesses:

• For trade show exhibitors

• For speakers and consultants

• For all marketers and salespeople

If you need help in any of these areas, I'd be honored to talk about it with you.

Now that you know a bit about what I do, it's your turn to make sure your market knows what YOU do.

Why Does Word-Of-Mouth Become Viral?

Click on this photo and you'll be taken to the Surprised Kitty YouTube page. Obviously, it's cute. Very cute. Cute to the tune of 21,601,946 viewings as of this posting.

I really doubt Rosa B. has 21,601,946 friends she shared this with, so I'm taking a leap of faith and guessing this is an example of a viral video.

Ever since Dancing Baby hit the World Wide Web in 1996 (Remember that? I do.), people and businesses have pursued that elusive Holy Grail of marketing -- the viral message.

Hundreds (thousands?) of so-called Viral Marketing Agencies and consultants foist their "We can help you go VIRAL!" to entrepreneurs and big businesses around the globe.

The problem I have with these organizations is their methods and results aren't really naturally-driven viral occurrences, as with the Surprised Kitty example. Their campaigns are manipulated versions of viral marketing. I don't have anything against these manipulated versions, but I think they should have a different name.

Viral occurrences are natural happenings -- without prodding or seeding. I see something, like Surprised Kitty, and I think, "This is SOOO cute, I HAVE to share it with my entire email address book!" This is the perfect storm version of word-of-mouth. And we all love word-of-mouth.

I've never talked about viral marketing before. Why? Because I didn't have a good definition and roadmap that would help you to understand and, possibly, build a naturally-occurring viral marketing campaign. But I do now.

I just read Merritt Colaizzi's write-up, "Live from SXSW: Viral Video How-Tos From The Pros," about a panel discussion at the recent SXSW Interactive event. It's excellent and required reading for anybody interested in viral videos. Her six components of creating such compelling videos are the best I've found and you should read and digest each one. I particularly like points 1, 2, and 4 -- excellent examples for ANY business that wants to get talked about.

Now if I can just find a surprised dog.

Well, maybe not.

I'll bet you don't know the answer to these three questions

I've asked hundreds of business owners and marketing these three vital questions and almost 2/3 didn't know the answers! Do you?

I just returned from a twelve-day, six-city speaking marathon sponsored by the Association for Manufacturing Technology. AMT owns and manages one of North America's largest exhibitions, the International Manufacturing Technology Show.

Along with nine other presenters and support staff, we bounced from Chicago to Los Angeles to Detroit to Columbus, OH to Providence, RI and, finally, Charlotte, NC. Much like circus performers, our little band of merry misfits worked and played together pretty much the entire time. And, surprisingly, most of us were still talking to each other at the end.

I spoke about marketing strategies. (Duh.)

At the beginning of each presentation, I polled my audiences with five questions. The first two related to their experiences with the 2008 IMTS and were easy to answer. Questions 3 - 5 were pure day-to-day marketing focused and, frankly, not so easy to answer. In fact, in all five cities, roughly 2/3 of all attendees did NOT know the answers to these questions.

But, IMNSHO, every business must know the answers to these three questions (and I'm talking all the way from the too-big-to-fail behemoths down to the push-cart-on-the-corner solo-preneur). Let's see if you do.

    1. How much does your average customer spend with you each year?

    2. How many new prospects does your company identify on average every week?

    3. What is your closing rate?

Why do I feel these are so important?

If you don't know the answer to these questions, how are you supposed to project corporate revenues for your next fiscal new year? For example, let's say your projection is $10 million. If your average customer spends roughly $25,000 per year, I'll know we need to find 400 customers.

Now let's say you have 360 current customers, of which you expect 80% will continue to purchase from you next year. That means 288 customers will stay with you, spending $25,000 each for a total of $7.2 million.

In order for me to help you generate $10 million, we need to uncover 112 new customers to fill in the additional $2.8 million needed. Follow me so far?

Now let's add to the analysis the fact that your company currently averages five new prospects each week and you average a 10% closing rate. At that current pace, you will generate roughly 260 new prospects and close 26 new customers. If something doesn't change, you will fall 86 customers and $2.15 million SHORT of your goal.

Knowing that, we can then create a marketing strategy that does one or more of these three things:

    1. Generate 860 new prospects (approximately 17 more prospects each week), thus closing 86 new customers and covering the $2.15 million needed.

    2. And/Or increase the closing rate.

    3. And/Or increase the annual $25,000 average through either bigger or more frequent sales.

Makes sense, right? It's not rocket science.

But what if you DON'T know the answers to those questions? Well, then it's actually harder than rocket science. You can't accurately (or at least as accurately as possible) project future numbers, nor can you create a marketing strategy that really fits. Do you need 86 new customers or 860? Different objectives can require very different strategies.

Do you know the answers to those three seemingly simple questions? If you do, then pat yourself on the back! You are in the minority. If you don't, I'd recommend you go find the answers.