47 Elite Email Marketing Tips – Strategies to Earn $44 for Every $1 Spent

Forget the mobile and social media hype. Email is the sales powerhouse to focus your efforts on.

For every $1 spent $44.25 is the average return. With such a massive ROI, email marketing is the best way to convert leads and increase profits. It’s no wonder, 67% of marketers say that email is key for attracting and engaging prospects, and the best path to increasing marketing ROI.

But if you want to succeed, you can’t just blast out emails and expect results. You need a strategy.

Too many businesses use email in a haphazard fashion, with no clear idea on what to write, who to and how to get people responding. Even worse, most don’t collect email addresses at all. For this reason, they are losing money every single day from not having a smart, automated way of following up on leads, engaging with previous customers and promoting the benefits of their product.

The lack of an email marketing strategy means that, according to Adestra, only an elite 25% of marketers get ‘excellent’ results from email. With the right tactics, you can join them.

The 47 email marketing strategies in this report will help you to:

• Grow your list intelligently
• Enhance deliverability
• Write magnetic subject lines that draw in readers
• Create motivating email series that inform, seduce and convince
• Harness classic copywriting techniques to eliminate objections and trigger action
• Best practices for selling with lead magnets, trip wires and profit maximizers
• E-commerce tricks to increase the lifetime value of every customer

This is just for starters.

In fact, my report gives you all the parts you need to build your own email marketing powerhouse and to make bigger profits from the simple act of regularly contacting your customers.

I’ve given you the blueprint. Now use it to make money for your business.

Click on the image to download your copy:

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Homer Simpson, Donald Trump and Marketers Rattling Cages

To the uninformed, The Simpsons is a kids’ cartoon.

To those that know better, it’s been one of the best satirical programmes for decades, shining a mirthy light on what’s ridiculous or plain wrong with modern society.

In one episode Homer successfully runs for Sanitation Manager. He do so while ‘rattling cages’, bucking the trend and bringing straight talk to the cosy world of sanitation politics.

He wasn’t afraid to break some eggs or to prickle some egos. Nor was he about to apologize for doing so.

Oh, how the Simpsons’ writing team must chuckle watching Donald Trump’s megalomaniac like march in the polls.

While the wheels seem close to falling off (only to be abrasively hammered back in again), his refusal to tow the line has struck a cord with disenfranchised voters. It’s clear there are millions of people fed up of hearing political sound bites with no substance (not that I’m advocating any of his views).

What cages can you rattle?

Perhaps there is something marketers can learn from Homer and Mr Trump’s success?

With more content being posted and Tweeted about than ever before, audiences are overloaded with stuff to read. They have no time for mediocre.

If you’re not getting much traction or any bounce in the metrics, perhaps it’s time to consider what topics you can stamp your feet about and unleash some brimstone.

What topics can you take a stand on? What forth wall can you smash through, where others fear to knock?

Take a stand. Don’t just be a voice in the crowd

Like politics, people are tired of reading blog posts, articles and white papers which are just a rehash of other opinions and wishy washy in offering actionable conclusions.

Give them something to get excited about.

Take a leaf from Homer (if not Donald’s) book, and think what cages you can rattle that will get your audience’s attention and rushing to pledge their support.

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7 Sales Funnel Mistakes that are Costing You Money

Built a sales funnel for your website yet? If not, you’re missing out on leads every single day.

Let’s face facts.

Only about 2% of your visitors are likely to buy anything on the first visit (and that’s being generous). Without a sales funnel, you have no way of staying in touch with the other 98%, who may never come back.

When setup correctly, an email funnel can turn a weekly drip of 2 or 3 sales a week into a flood of 20 or 30. But get it wrong and you risk burning through your entire list from the first subject line.

So what would you prefer? To wake up to rocketing conversions or disintegrating subscriptions?

Thought so.

To help you succeed, here are 7 sales funnel mistakes to avoid:

1. No Planning

A properly structured sales funnel needs to coax, prod and pamper subscribers towards spending money. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that can derail if any message is out of sync.

This is why it pays, literally, to work out what you are going to say in each email and how each one builds on the previous one to present a compelling path to profit.

There are many ways to do this. You can follow this seven step strategy, create a weekly course or harness the power of storytelling in your emails, like autoresponder mastermind Andre Chaperon. Whatever you decide, consider how you can create a series which subscribers will eagerly await to see arriving in their inbox.

2. Doesn’t ask readers questions

If you want to keep your emails out of the junk (and gmail’s promotions) folder, your readers have to show they’re interested. A great way of achieving this is to ask them questions about what their biggest challenges are and how you can help.

Not only will this turn leads into friends, but it will improve the health of your list and its deliverability as a whole.

3. No empathy or sales psychology

You can’t hound someone into buying something they don’t want. They have to believe it is something they need and feel it in their gut before they’ll slap down the cash. This is why your emails need to build empathy and trust. You can achieve this by following time proven marketing and persuasion techniques.

Forget about ‘tripwires’ and ‘lead magnets’ for a second. The principles of writing persuasive emails are the same as those used by generations of direct response copywriters. These are techniques powerful enough to get people spending money based on a single ad they see in the newspaper. Imagine what they can do when you’re able to get your copy in front of eyeballs every week, or even daily like Ben Settle (who does a great podcast, by the way).

Re-read some of the copywriting classics to remind yourself what these techniques are.

4. Sells from the first email

Newbie marketers (and those who should know better) will typically start pushing offers from the first email. But email marketing is like dating. You need to build the relationship first. Dont pressure them too early, or you’ll just scare them away.

Use your first email to introduce yourself and to build anticipation for what’s coming up. Then ask them email you back with their biggest problem. This will create engagement and provide you with priceless insights on your market’s pains and hopes.

5. Doesn’t sell enough

You don’t want subscribers thinking this is one long freebie info ride. ‘Selling without selling’ is all well and good. But you can’t assume subscribers will naturally make the jump without a little push.

Start small with a low cost entry level product. Now while they’re feeling the the buzz from taking action follow it up with an offer for the upgrade.

6. No segmentation

Segmentation is something most marketers dont do but can have the biggest impacts on response rates. Remember, when you try to sell to everybody you sell to no one.

Segmenting your subscribers based on interest, buying history and other variables enables you to fine tune your message’s relevancy. This then keeps them engaged, subscribed and spending money for longer.

Even after they’ve registered, you can continue segmenting by offering new lead magnets, conducting surveys or getting them to visit specific pages on your website. You can track all of these actions and use them as triggers to switch them to another email series more attuned to their interests.

7. No tracking, testing or tweaking

Email marketing is hard work. When you’re feeling mentally drained after writing a 21 part email series, it’s tempting to just hand them over and wish clients the best.

But unless clients track, split test and tweak the results they’ll never achieve the massive ROI that email offers. Track and test everything to see which emails are conversion monsters and which are duds. Smooth down the funnel’s edges and remove any friction to create a slick path that increases the order value, buying frequency and profits gained from every customer.

These are my top seven email sales funnel mistakes, but there are plenty more. What would you add to the list? Please share in the comments.

If you’re struggling to get results from your sales funnel, drop me an email and I’ll get back to you with my suggestions on subject lines, body copy and bottlenecks that are blocking conversions..

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Why it’s Time to Ditch the Autoresponder and Build an Email Sales Funnel Instead

Don’t build your farm on rented land. That phrase continues to make marketers look sheepish who spent too much time on their Facebook page and not enough on a channel that works.

What am I talking about? Email marketing, of course. And I don’t mean just sending out a monthly newsletter or setting up an email autoresponder and thinking your work is done. Oh, no. That attitude won’t cut it in the midst of 2015.

Today’s savvy marketers are far more sophisticated. They’re using email to power ‘customer value optimization’ strategies that increase leads and the average order value of every customer. Autoresponders present just one path for leads to follow or to fall off. The new approach to email entails creating an obstacle course of ‘lead magnets’, ‘trip wires’, ‘profit maximizers’ and multiple funnels all delicately arranged to keep readers on their toes and spending money for longer.

Multiple paths to profit. Not just one

Creating email sales funnels (a.k.a. marketing automation) is a strategy used by e-commerce giants like Amazon, information businesses like the Motley Fool and the interwebs brightest digital marketers to run email campaigns that are optimized to within an inch of their life. They’re all earning handsomely from it too.

Want to join them?

If you click on the image below you can download my seven step guide to creating email sales funnels like the internet’s best players. By following this simple strategy, you’ll be able to use email to create a far more powerful path to profit than a well meaning but ultimately ineffective monthly newsletter. When setup correctly, and fed with quality fuel, email funnels act like a finely tuned sales generating machine, converting more of your visitors into leads into friends then into loyal customers.

Switch off the autoresponder. Build engagement paths instead

If you’re a copywriter or marketer, savvy businesses will throw money at you to implement this strategy thanks to its trackable ROI. If you’re a business owner, I recommend you stop wasting your website’s traffic and setup lead magnets and tripwires to convert visitors into leads as a matter of urgency.

Whatever you decide, not implementing a sales funnel means leaving money on the table. So turn off the autoresponder and ditch the monthly newsletter. Join today’s smart marketers and build profit driving sales funnels instead.

P.S. You can find out more about building funnels in Ryan Deiss’ book ‘Invisible Selling Machine’. He explains how many emails to write for each stage, what to say and a plethora of rock solid email tactics that work.

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7 Steps to Creating Exceptional Content

Is Content Marketing a Waste of Time?

Marketers are producing more content than ever before. But too often, what’s created is dull, unfocused and fails to get much interest from buyers:

– 30 companies scored just 12.8 out of 30 for the engagement value of their content – Forrester Research
– More than 60% of B2B content ends up in ‘content wasteland’
– SiriusDecisions
– Only 34% of tech marketers believe their efforts are effective – Content Marketing Institute

The gap between the elite marketers getting it right and those struggling is widening. Unless you want to keep wasting time and money on content that ends up in ‘content wasteland’ and never gets read, you need a strategy for creating content that’s exceptional.

Everything you produce must be interesting to read, actionable and so valuable that people feel compelled to read every word and then share it afterwards. This is the challenge every marketer now faces:

– 87% of marketers say “producing content that engages buyers to be a major challenge” – Forrester Research

This report outline a 7 step strategy for being among the elite 34% of marketers getting ‘effective’ results from their content marketing efforts. It also provides the basis for a long-term inbound strategy for turning your website into a hub of information that attracts more visitors and generates more leads as a result.

1. Get to Know Your Reader

How well do you know your readers? It’s easy to assume you know what their daily problems are and want they want to know more about. But unless you ask, how do you really know?

Creating a semi-fictional impression of your reader (mine’s called Frank) is a great first step in identifying who you’re writing to and why. Also known as a ‘buyer persona’’, creating an impression of your reader will help you to keep your content focused as you’ll be able to imagine them sat across the table from you when you’re writing. This helps stay you on topic and only writing about topics that match their interests.

“The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything.” – David Ogilvy

To create your buyer persona, list details such as their job title, how many people they manage, what frustrates them, what they hope for and even lifestyle details, like their hobbies and interests outside of work.

Creating a buyer persona will require some detective work. You need to do some digging to reveal what motivates or frustrates them. The answers might surprise you. Try conducting some email surveys, run polls on LinkedIn and see what people are talking about in forums. Picking up the phone and speaking to customers directly will also give you a clearer idea of who you’re writing to and why.

Tools

SurveyMonkey if you don’t already have a contacts a list
4Q for surveying visitors to your website.

2. Find a Hot Topic

Step one should have given you some ideas on what to write about. Finding out what are the most read, shared and linked to articles in your industry will also help to add some hot topics to the list.

These tools will help you discover the most popular articles in your niche:

Buzzsumo – Find out what content performs best for keywords or your competitors
Topsy – Allows you to find out which industry relevant articles get the most Tweets
Content Strategy Helper – This may look like a spreadsheet, but it’s actually a powerful blog topic creation machine powered by data from Google, Reddit, YouTube and other sources to find trending topics
Moz – Use to Iidentify the most popular articles on your competitors’ sites
SEM Rush – If you’re feeling devious, you can use this to spy on what content and keywords your competitors are targeting to get some pointers for your own.

“Stop Writing about Everything. So many brands create content and try to cover everything, instead of focusing on the core niche that they can position themselves as an expert around. No one cares about your special recipe… Find your niche, and then go even more niche.” – Joe Pulizzi

3. Take a Stand

Staying on the fence is boring. People want to read strong opinions, fresh perspectives and challenges to the status quo.

So dont just add your voice to the echo chamber. Take a stand. Rattle some cages. At the minimum, aim to go further in how you tackle a topic than anyone has gone before.

You want to ‘rip, pivot and jam’. In other words, cover all the normal bases on a hot topic then find a way to tweak it to add some spice and your own unique twist.

Find additional research, or conduct your own. Get some quotes from thought leaders and find other ways to create the definitive piece of content on a topic. This will give it the best chance of becoming a ‘go to’ resource and earning lots of juicy social shares, links and traffic to your website

This tactic is also known as the ‘skyscraper technique’, devised by SEO trailblazer Brian Dean at Backlinko. What works in SEO works in content marketing too, because they’re no longer separate disciplines now that it’s quality, not quantity, that earns higher rankings.

4. Say it Well

The business world is plagued with bad writing. Too often it’s infested with bland marketing cliches, confusing jargon and enthusiastic use of a thesaurus.

Rather than trying to sound clever, your aim should be to communicate clearly and concisely, Let’s face facts: you’re not trying to win a creative writing prize. Reading can also be hard work. So you want your writing to be easy to understand and make sense on the first read through. If you’ve done enough research to support your points, it’s your core argument that will keep readers engaged. Leave the flowery language to the novelists.

One trick is to simply write the way you speak. This will make your content sound more human and less like, well, marketing. You could try using speech recognition software., or record yourself talking about a topic and have it transcribed. You may be surprised how many highly paid copywriters use this technique.

“The first draft of anything is shit” – Ernest Hemingway

The advantage of keeping your writing simple is that it means you don’t have to worry about being a literary genius to create great content. You just need to know how to stay focused on the reader and to write clearly and with brevity.

Clear writing tips:

– Replace long words with shorter versions
– Vary your sentence lengths
– Aim for an average of 15 words per sentence
– Keep one thought or idea to each paragraph
– Break up your paragraphs with subheads
– Limit paragraphs to three or four sentences
– Read it out loud to hear how it sounds
– Review with fresh eyes
– Only hit publish after reviewing three times
– Use bullet point lists and subheads

Find out more – 15 punchy copywriting tips

Tools

Hemingway – Highlights weak passive sentences, gives you a readability score and tips on how to make your writing easier to read.
Grammarly – Alternative to Hemingway focused more on grammar.
Dragon – Voice recognition software.
Rev – Upload your audio file to get it transcribed for just $1/minute.

5. Make it Actionable

Reading your content shouldn’t be just a passive experience. You want readers to benefit from your advice. This in turn will enhance their impression of your brand, increasing the likelihood of them becoming a customer further down the road.

Create an actionable summary telling readers exactly what to do to benefit from your advice. You could also include a subtle soft sell by suggesting they get in touch if they need further help implementing what you’ve suggested.

“You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar

6. Promote It

One of the key differences between the winners and losers in content marketing is whether you ‘post and hope’ or ‘post and promote’. After all, you don’t want your content to rot in ‘content wasteland’ when you’ve invested so much effort creating a definitive, status quo smashing piece of thought leadership.

Ideally, promotion should begin during the research stage. You want to first identify then connect with thought leaders in your industry with a large following. Start reading their blogs, commenting and sharing their content. You want to get on their radar as a reputable contributor worthy of their attention with advice worth sharing.

The primary reason that content goes unused is that the topic is not relevant to the buyer (29 percent). Second us that the target doesn’t even know that the content exists (25 percent) – Sirius Decisions

Once you’ve earned some respect among thoughts leaders and in online communities, when you start a discussion with a link to your article you won’t get chased out with pitchforks. If anything, people will be happy to share your content if it contains valuable advice. Getting your content shared is a gateway into other people’s networks so you can grow your exposure, following and  traffic with every piece of content you release.

Tools

Buzzstream – Use to identify people to connect with to grow your network and exposure.
SocialBro – Guides you step by step on how to grow your following and influence on Twitter.
Tweetdeck – Keep track of all your social media channels in one place.

7. Track, Tweak, Repeat

Content marketing is a marathon. Not a sprint. Hubspot estimates it takes at least six months to get results. So after your content has been released, dig into the data to track your success. Check what feedback you’ve had, both internally and online, then use it to shape the next piece of content on your list.

It’s sensible to note down key metrics before you start. This includes the size of your social media following, the number of links to your website, daily traffic and other KPIs. You can then use this as a starting point for tracking your future progress in generating more traffic, leads and sales with the power of informative, problem solving content.

Conclusion

Marketers are creating more content than ever before. It’s getting tougher all the time to get attention with so many articles, reports and white papers all fighting for eyeballs. The good news is that most B2B content continues to be dull and uninspiring. Use this to your advantage by taking a strategic approach to creating exceptional content that helps your customers solve problems and differentiates your brand as being helpful and in touch with what matters to its customers.

Due to the resources online, it’s estimated that two thirds of the buyer’s journey is over before they contact you. Having a content strategy in place can also enable you to engage with people during the research stage and give you the edge when they’re ready to select a vendor.

So use this seven step strategy to turn your website into a hub of information that draws prospects in and then converts them with informative content. You can then take your place among the elite 34% of marketers getting effective results from their content marketing strategy.

Download this article in eBook format

7 Steps to Creating Exceptional Content is a post from: The Copywriter's Crucible - A Melting Pot of Punchy, Persuasive Copywriting by Freelance Copywriter Matt Ambrose Join the Inbound Marketing revolution and start generating MORE leads for 61% LESS than other methods. Get your FREE 14 Step-by-step guide now:

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Is Content Marketing a Waste of Time?

Content marketing. The campaign that never ends.

Never have marketers pumped out so many blogs, Slideshares, YouTube videos and reports to feed the unfulfilled appetite of buyers.

Or so we’re told.

The stats may suggest otherwise.

According to SiriusDecisions – ‘More than 60% of B2B content ends up in ‘content wasteland‘. 

In other words, it’s never read.

This is partly because buyers have too much to read already. But also because most of it is plain dull.

A Forrester Research study of 30 companies found that their content deserved a pitiful 12.8 out of 30 for engagement (that must have made some marketers cry).

It appears this measly score is no exception based on the numbers struggling to get results.

According to the Content Marketing Institute:

• Only 34% of tech marketers believe their efforts are effective
• 63% say their biggest challenge is creating content that’s engaging

So if nobody is reading it and creating engaging stuff is so challenging, is content marketing a waste of time?

Maybe you’d be better off spending money on Facebook ads?

Thankfully, there’s no need to throw away money so frivolously.

It is possible to consistently create content your customers will read and respond to. Content that positions you as the ‘go to’ resource on hot topics. Better yet, content that gets buyers enthused about owning your product.

As luck would have it, I’ve created a seven step strategy that explains exactly how to it. This brief report, which you can finish in a coffee break, includes advice on finding hot topics, how to stand out in your industry and how to get people reading it. Better yet, I’ve listed tools you can use to do the ‘heavy lifting’ we’re told to dread.

I’ll publish the whole seven step strategy on this blog next week. But if you can’t wait, you can download it right now in elegantly designed eBook form.

If you find it useful, I hope you’ll consider sharing it with others. After all, nobody wants to see their work unloved and left to rust in ‘content wasteland’.

Download Now

 

 

 

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This Week Only – FREE John Carlton Mini Copywriting Course

Last week I told you about the Copyhour copywriting course I’ve been studying. Writing out classic sales letters, emails and direct response ads is a proven technique for evolving your copywriting brain. It puts you inside the minds of greats, like Joe Karbo, Gary Bencivenga and Joseph Sugarman, and to get a feeling and a heightened awareness for the thought process that structured their writing.

As you tell, I think Copyhour is great. But it’s not for everyone. The only guidance you get is through the daily emails introducing each assignment. Sometimes you need direct feedback from an expert to really raise your game.

The Simple Writing System is one of the most highly respected copywriting courses on the interwebs for those who want to learn directly from the best in the business.

Why? I’ll give you three quick reasons:

1) It’s produced by John Carlton – One time partner in crime to copy legend Gary Halbert, Carlton is a 30 year veteran and one of the most sought after direct response copywriters on the planet. He’s generated millions of dollars for the entrepreneurs, internet marketers and traditional business owners who recognise the link between quality copy and an elegant upward curve in their profit line.

2) You get direct feedback from Carlton and his stable of conversion tested copy dogs – Want a copywriter of the caliber of David Deutsch (the genius behind many controls for Boardroom and Phillips Publishing) critiquing your copy? Then this is the course for you. You’d have to pay a minimum of $500 to get one of these folks to review your copy if contacted privately. You can get it without paying a dime more when you signup for the course.

3) The testimonials are a roll call of six figure marketers – Rich Schefren, Tom Venuto and Peter Marshall are just three high profile endorsements for the course. In fact, they directly attribute part of their success in growing six figure businesses thanks to the sales psychology and copywriting skills they developed through the Simple Writing System.

Sounds too good to be true, right?

Well, maybe it is.

Why the Simple Writing System Isn’t for You

If you’re serious about taking your copywriting skills to the next level, the Simple Writing System is indeed a staircase that can get you there. But be warned, as with Copyhour, it’s not for everyone.

If any of these sound familiar you might want to give it a miss:

1) Money is an issue – The Simple Writing System isn’t cheap. If you don’t have the budget to spend on training of this level, there’s no shortage of quality copywriting books on Amazon to keep you busy. Just remember that you wont get any feedback on your work or be able to tell future clients that you studied the art of copywriting under John Carlton.

2) You’ve an eggshell ego – If you’ve watched any of Carlton’s presentation on writing copy or listened to his podcast, you’ll know that Carlton pulls no punches. If you’re copy is limp, dull and best suited for curing insomnia, Carlton will tell you so. You can expect the same ‘no nonsense’ advice from the rest of his team, who all experienced the benefit of tough love in their early careers.

3) You’re happy with your current income – If you’ve already achieved the six figure with the simple act of applying fingers to keyboard, studying the Simple Writing System might not be necessary. It’s likely you’ve already devised a system for creating winning video scripts, sales letters and lead generating emails that smash every split test they enter. Congratulations! Maybe you should give Carlton a call to offer your services as a tutor for next year’s course?

As you can see, the Simple Writing System is a serious investment, in both money and effort. The good news is that for this week only Carlton is offering a FREE introductory mini course. It’s like an appetizer if you’re not ready to devour the whole thing.

In this mini-course you’ll discover a delicacy of Carlton’s copywriting secrets, tactics and techniques honed over three decades of generating millions of dollars for clients. What’s more, you’ll get a video of his now infamous presentation at Frank Kern’s Mass Control Summit and, best of all, you’ll get the same feedback from Carlton and his team as though you’d slapped down the normal entrance fee, paid in full.

Remember, Carlton’s FREE mini-course and introduction to his Simple Writing System is only available this week only. Then you’ll have to pay the full price to get direct access to Carlton and his team of expert copywriting tutors.

So stop reading this right now! Head on over and sign up now before Carlton’s closes the doors for another year:

Get John Carlton’s FREE mini-course

Disclaimer

Yes, you guessed it, being the smart Copywriter’s Crucible reader that you are, I’m an affiliate for the Simple Writing System. Should you signup for the whole course and prefer I don’t get any commission click on this link instead.

This Week Only – FREE John Carlton Mini Copywriting Course is a post from: The Copywriter's Crucible - A Melting Pot of Punchy, Persuasive Copywriting by Freelance Copywriter Matt Ambrose Join the Inbound Marketing revolution and start generating MORE leads for 61% LESS than other methods. Get your FREE 14 Step-by-step guide now:

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Frank Kern will kill me if he finds out I’ve told you this

B2B marketers can learn a lot from Frank Kern.

The thing is, most marketers in the corporate world have never heard of him. Funny when you consider that the world’s ‘highest paid direct response info marketing copywriter’ has made over $47 million for himself and his clients.

What’s more impressive is that no development labs, factories or TV slots were needed to make all this dough. Just words and smart marketing.

If you wanted to ask Kern how he does it, you’d have to hand over thousands of dollars just for an hour of his time. You see, Kern’s protective of his knowledge. So, I’d appreciate it if we keep what I’m about to reveal between us.

The secret to Kern’s success, and many of the fat digital cats plundering Paypal accounts, is having a sales funnel that’s been polished, waxed and lubricated to perfection, down which prospects slide waving their credit cards and whooping for joy at the promise of salvation that awaits them.

Before his lawyers get this post shut down, I’d like to reveal what Kern’s sales funnel for his consultancy services looks like:

1. Paid advertising that’s highly targeted and adorned with Frank Kern’s instantly recognisable ‘just left the beach’ visage, and not a conversion sapping stock image.
2. Sign up form (a.k.a squeeze page) with a remarkable offer. In this case, a free consultation or $1,400 of his money if you think it’s been a waste of time.
3. Follow up confirmation emails loaded with personality that build anticipation in the offer – help is on the way!
4. A sales letter that pre-qualifies whether you’re a good prospect for his services by explaining all the hoops you have to jump through to get the free consultation. This includes a $700 “real person deposit”. Putting barriers in the way ensures Kern only deals with business owners able to meet his fees, What’s more, creating obstacles just makes ambitious types even more determined to get what you’re dangling.

Kern’s sales funnel for his consulting services generates an ROI many times over what he fritters away on Facebook ads. This is largely due to the fact that he needs only one or two conversions to be profitable.

Tweaking Kern’s funnel for the B2B world

B2B marketers might want to give Kern’s conversational, apostrophe packed and, dare I say it, hypey tone a pass (sorry, Frank). But the strategy is sound.

The key is offering a quick win that gets people subscribed to your content. Instead of a free consultation, you could offer a webinar (a red hot lead generation tactic right now), free high quality report, buyer guide or trial offer.

Then. after getting them signed up with this ‘easy win’, you followup with a sales letter or email series to promote the ‘back end’ or additional services, upgrades and other benefits of getting the full package.

Creating sales funnels with lead magnets and email marketing is a proven tactic. It works. Its success lies in following the cardinal rule of making multiple contacts to grease the wheels and remove friction before making an offer. This is why creating a sales funnel is critical in the B2B marketing world. It keeps prospects chugging along those notoriously slow (six months, if you’re lucky) buyer cycles towards making a purchase.

So whether you’re in e-commerce, manufacturing or finance, creating a slick sales funnel like Kern’s can set you on the path to ‘internet guru’ like profits. And all with the power of smart sales strategy and compelling copy.

Disclaimer

This post was inspired by my recent assignments for Copyhour.

Copyhour is a copywriting course that emails you daily swipes of some of the most successful, high converting direct response copywriting ads of all time. What’s more, you get an explanation on why it was successful, with your assignment to copy it out by hand and then discuss it with the group.

Trust me, once you’ve digested all the theory, copying successful ads by hand is the best way to advance your skills and knowledge. It enables you to get inside the head of the top copy dogs and to understand what their thought process was in releasing people’s wants and wallets.

Why not join me for the ride? Find out more about Copyhour (or via this non affiliated link, if you’re the cynical type:).

Frank Kern will kill me if he finds out I’ve told you this is a post from: The Copywriter's Crucible - A Melting Pot of Punchy, Persuasive Copywriting by Freelance Copywriter Matt Ambrose Join the Inbound Marketing revolution and start generating MORE leads for 61% LESS than other methods. Get your FREE 14 Step-by-step guide now:

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4 Step Lead Generation Strategy

When I submit proposals to clients I like to provide them with strategic advice, and not just how many keystrokes they’re getting for their money. Recently a client asked me to recommend a lead generation strategy. I was happy to comply.

This strategy can be used by freelancers, consultants and any business where you need to educate prospects on the value of your product or service, and not just sell based on price alone.

1) Create some valuable content to act as a lead magnet

Asking people ‘buy my stuff’ or ‘hire me’ isn’t going to earn you much attention, or respect. Making an upfront offer is a common mistake, and why most businesses struggle with lead generation. Marketing managers and business owners don’t have time, or the inclination, to listen to pitches, unless you’re really lucky and they happen to be looking for your service at that precise moment.

What your prospects want is solutions to problems. So to get people’s attention, a smart approach is to create a valuable piece of content that addresses a key industry challenge. This could be in the form of a white paper, buyers’ guide or set of helpful downloadable tools. Webinars are red hot right now as a way of reeling leads into the funnel.

2) Create a list

If you don’t already have a list, you can buy one from a respectable broker. Just make sure you do some background checks and ask to see a sample first. A decent list broker should be able to provide you with a quality up to date list for even the smallest of niches.

Depending on how many people you want to target and how niche focused you want to go, it might be more effective to build your own. You could draw up of companies to target using a business directory and then hire a virtual assistant to track down email addresses and key contacts on LinkedIn. The higher the quality of your list, the higher the response and the ROI will be.

3) Distribute your report

The temptation can be to simply email your report to your entire list. While email is cheap, quick and easy, you can only expect 20-30% of email recipients to even open your message, and that’s being generous. You’re also looking at a mere 5% clickthroughs and maybe 1% taking action on your website.

While email still has an ROI that makes ‘social media marketing’ an oxymoron, if you want to target a relatively small list of high value prospects sending a physical letter in the post is the way to go. Sending letters may be expensive but it’s a great first step in a lead generation strategy. The physicality of a sales letter makes it harder to ignore than emails which face a daunting number of barriers before they’re read. With less businesses sending mail these days, it will also have more impact.

You could send the actual report, but this will increase your printing fees and you wont be able to track responses on your website. Upgrade options include sending a physical item in your mailing (a ‘lumpy mailer’) and using personalised URLs to track every response individually.

You should also promote the content in the digital realm, with a popup on your website, advertising and starting discussions in relevant LinkedIn groups and forums.

4) Follow Up

An oft quoted (yet invented) stat in direct marketing is that most sales come after the fourth contact, but most sales people give up after the first one or two.The same rule should be applied to your lead generation strategy. Persistence pays, and you should set a timetable for contacting prospects at least four times over 30 days.

Calling anyone who responded to your letter will allow you to give a human voice to your campaign and allow you to ask plenty of questions before framing your offer, which is what smart selling is all about. You can also follow up with another few emails to expand on the information in your report and to present your product as the solution.

Make sure you track all the leads and key metrics, and use this as feedback to help drive up responses even higher in your next campaign.

This four step strategy is based on Inbound Marketing best practices and is that I’ve read about in multiple courses and books on lead generation. With a few tweaks, any business should be able to successfully generate leads and sales using it. If you try it, let me know how you get on.

 

4 Step Lead Generation Strategy is a post from: The Copywriter's Crucible - A Melting Pot of Punchy, Persuasive Copywriting by Freelance Copywriter Matt Ambrose Join the Inbound Marketing revolution and start generating MORE leads for 61% LESS than other methods. Get your FREE 14 Step-by-step guide now:

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I goofed. Here’s that Inbound Marketing eBook again

Hands up, I goofed.

Two weeks ago I posted about my new Inbound Marketing eBook only to discover the email subscribe button didn’t work. Cue double face palm.

It’s working now, but to avoid a repeat disaster I’m going to just hand it over without having to register.

This does mean you’ll miss out on the followup emails with additional advice, so if you need any help getting your inbound marketing strategy rolling, feel free to email me.

Download Inbound Marketing in Two Weeks

I goofed. Here’s that Inbound Marketing eBook again is a post from: The Copywriter's Crucible - A Melting Pot of Punchy, Persuasive Copywriting by Freelance Copywriter Matt Ambrose

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