Intro by Skip Cohen
In the previous post, we shared ten different ideas for an email campaign to promote your business. Just because everyone is hunkered down, doesn’t mean you should as well, especially when it comes to ideas to rebuild your business.
Bryan Caporicci continues sharing ideas to help you create more effective campaigns, and in turn, develop new building blocks for business as a wedding and portrait photographer. He shares seven tips for writing a successful promotional letter, but in all honesty, as you read each tip, you’ll see they apply to many different aspects of your business.
Bryan’s talking about thinking outside the box – I’m going to suggest you go one step further, think like there is no box!
By Bryan Caporicci
Here are the strategies that went into our email campaigns.
Be proactive.
Don’t put a Facebook post up or write a blog post and hope that people will find it. Be active with your marketing and sales efforts. Reach out to your clients and make sure there’s no chance that they miss the opportunities.
Be human.
It’s ok to be a little bit vulnerable. Now isn’t the time to publish a “message from our President” email, but instead, it’s the time to be relatable. You don’t need to go into a sob story or throw a pity party, but it’s ok to explain how this crisis has affected your business. Empathy is at an all-time high right now, and if you help them, people will understand and want to help, especially if that means they get something out of it, too.
Give a reason.
The #1 rule in sales is to answer the question – why now? Why is now the time to act vs. last week? Last month? Next month? Next year? You have to give them a reason. The obvious one, now, is the current worldwide crisis. That gives you a reason to be reaching out. It gives them a reason to be listening. It then allows you to make an offer that benefits both them and helps keep your business afloat.
Agitate the pain.
In sales, sometimes, you need to pepper in a bit of pain. But – note – I’m not saying that you should fear monger. Never. And especially not now. But there’s nothing wrong with helping people see the symptoms of a problem that you might be able to solve for them.
Be specific.
What is the opportunity you’re offering? Be very specific. Don’t make your clients waste mental calories, trying to figure it out. Be clear. Be specific and make sure they know what the opportunity is.
Speak in terms of them.
Everyone wants to know WIIFM – what’s in it for me? Make sure you speak in terms of them. Talk about benefits and help them visualize how they’ll be affected if they take you up on the opportunity. What will their life look like afterward? You don’t need to be overly dramatic, but help them see a positive result or transformation.
Be the guide.
Take your clients by the hand and walk them through what they need to do. Answer the question – what’s next? And what’s after that? And then what? How exactly can they take advantage of the opportunity? Again, don’t make them burn mental calories; make it simple.
The key is to think outside the box.
