The Four Keys of Content<\/h2>\n
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For selling products, the best formula, in order of importance, is:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Reward<\/li>\n
- Information<\/li>\n
- Humanization<\/li>\n
- Entertainment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Naturally, Rewards<\/strong> are a major factor in why people will open your emails. Coupons, discounts and upcoming sales available only to subscribers, are the driving content people want.<\/p>\n
Some of my personal favorites are from Hobbytron.com, which sold me a radio-controlled helicopter for my kids. I now receive a daily email with a subject line of \u201c50% off\u2026\u201d or some huge figure that leads me to open it to see what else I might buy my kids. Barnes and Noble booksellers, Bed Bath and Beyond and several other large retailers also send emails with the promise of large discounts and private sales. The discounts are large, the pictures of products are large and the approach is one of acknowledging my worth to them as a customer.<\/p>\n
Information<\/strong> is always an important sales technique. It includes analytics of products the consumer may already have or has been considering purchasing. Likewise, updates on products, new or old, is information people desire. Information such as upcoming available products or the discontinuation of something popular, but still in demand will drive customers who have procrastinated in making a purchase. Upcoming events your business is holding will also provide insider information to those who choose to receive and open your emails.<\/p>\n
When you connect with your customer through emails and the language is friendly, inviting, and simple, you are humanizing<\/strong> a method of communication many see as impersonal. Your content must be well written and speak TO the recipient and not AT them. This is why your email marketing must also entertain<\/strong>. A sense of humor (perhaps not for selling coffins or other dire need merchandise) will endear you to customers. 69% of customers that leave a business do so because they feel the company is indifferent to them as customers. Not that they receive poor service or the products are shoddy, but because they feel they don\u2019t matter in the eyes of the company. They feel they are solely a wallet, handing over money and not a valued customer. Not a person.<\/p>\n
But How Do You Entertain Readers?<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nEntertainment, which is important for selling products, as well as services, must grab the reader and show them your human side. People prefer buying from other people. This is why even big retailers stress customer service and why a bad experience with customer service often sours a consumer on a particular brand or seller.<\/p>\n
An example of entertaining content was a series of opening paragraphs I wrote for a company that puts together enewsletters for car dealers across the country. They were humorous and led into the content of a particular season or service being offered in that issue\/email.<\/p>\n
Here are a few of my favorite intros:<\/p>\n
It was one tough winter! Spring has sprung and it\u2019s time to check under the hood for damaged tubing, fluid levels and to investigate any odd clicking, groaning or squeaks\u2026and when you get back from the doctor, let us check out your auto for the same problems!<\/p>\n
In this healthy issue:<\/p>\n
When I was a kid, my uncle bought a great big, new sedan and he was so protective of it, my cousin and I weren\u2019t even allowed to look at it. My cousin was a huge James Bond fan so he decided to use my uncle\u2019s label maker to put labels on all the dashboard instruments like, \u201coil slick,\u201d \u201cmachine guns\u201d and \u201cejector seat.\u201d Back then, those labels didn\u2019t come off. My uncle was furious but he had the coolest spy car, driving to the military school he put my cousin in.<\/p>\n
Top secret\u2026 in this issue:<\/p>\n
I gave my son his first driving lesson the other day. I was concerned because he generally has trouble paying attention. After giving him a twenty minute speech on safety and paying attention on the road and to other drivers, he says, \u201cin this video game, you can get to the next level by pushing the left and right button at the same time and\u2026\u201d He went on for twenty minutes. For public safety, I\u2019m buying him a bus pass.<\/p>\n
Speaking of safety, in this issue:<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t you hate when people pull into a parking space but the rear part of their car sticks into the spot next to it? There\u2019s a company that makes realistic, fake-parking tickets with nasty comments you can check off and leave on their windshield. The next best thing to subjecting them to police brutality!<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve included a link below. Less pranky, in this issue:<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re like me, a car is an important part of your life. When autos were first mass-produced, some people bought a car instead of a bathtub. They said \u201cyou can\u2019t go into town on a Saturday night in a bathtub!\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, if you own a convertible, you can do both. Let\u2019s \u201ccome clean\u201d with some tips for your car. In this issue:<\/p>\n
Brrr! Have you noticed this winter has been tough on our cars, with all of the corrosive road salts and battery draining, freezing temperatures? Mother Nature should be charged with \u201ca-salt and battery!\u201d<\/p>\n
Your car is the victim and we\u2019re the fix-it police. Here are some tips for your car maintenance, so \u201cchill\u201d and read on! In this issue:<\/p>\n
Who will win the upcoming Oscars? Well, at our place, your car is the STAR\u2026without the paparazzi up-skirt shots and horrid tabloid headlines! Here\u2019s some Oscar-winning tips for the thing that has a huge \u201croll\u201d in your life. The envelope, please. And, in this issue:<\/p>\n
I think it was either Ben Franklin or some guy from Texaco that said, \u201coily\u201d to bed and \u201coily\u201d to rise means you\u2019re the first in line for the best deal on our oil change\u2026or you need a better brand of soap! If we\u2019re \u201coil\u201d aboard, let\u2019s slide on over to this month\u2019s car tips. In this issue:<\/p>\n
The ongoing assignments to keep writing these intros shows that customers enjoyed the humor and the company that markets them to car dealerships has orders for more. This means they are working, helping sales for new cars, oil changes, and other service work dealers need to bolster their business.<\/p>\n
Some Tips for Organizing Your Enewsletter<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n- \n
- Have a table of contents. Reading your email newsletter should be a pleasant experience. Hyperlink titles to content so readers won\u2019t have to scan and scroll to find a piece of content that interests them.<\/li>\n
- If your article is long (known as \u201ctext overload\u201d), just have a paragraph or two and hyperlink the remaining content to your website\/blog where the full article can be read. Make sure you also include an opt-in call to action for anyone who stumbles upon the content through other avenues, such as a search engine.<\/li>\n
- Your call to action has to have clear instructions and proper links. Do not leave readers wondering and frustrated \u2013 they will just click off your email\/site.<\/li>\n
- Your enewsletter should include your logo, contact information and website link. People will save issues that have some special information they believe thy will need later.<\/li>\n
- Preserve consistency. This keeps your enewsletters recognized, expected, and more importantly, kept in the inbox or a folder set up for your company.<\/li>\n
- Have a share function on every article so people can place it on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Digg and Reddit. Let readers do your outbound marketing for you and watch the subscriptions grow.<\/li>\n
- Show the product! Pictures are worth a thousand words and people relate to images more than words.<\/li>\n
- Use a professional content provider if you can. They specialize in wording that will speak to the consumer. If you decide to do it yourself, at least hire a proofreader or pass it by several different people to read it for mistakes. A typo or misspelling\u00a0 (although too any people these days won\u2019t notice) can hurt your brand and reputation.<\/li>\n
- Great content can be recycled! If an article did well with shares and hits, use it again at a later date for new readers and be sure to link back to the original issue so they can read other past tips and content. Don\u2019t be afraid of creating a \u201cbest of issue\u201d with past content (MAD Magazine has stayed alive for decades doing issues of previous content).<\/li>\n
- Case studies make for great content and will improve your SEO. If a client will allow you to write about their experience with your service or product, it humanizes your business and legitimizes your ability to deal with consumers.<\/li>\n
- Ask the readers what they want to see. A forum such as this also humanizes your content and gives readers a feeling they matter and you want to listen to them. When I have writer\u2019s block, I post a question on my Twitter account, asking followers what they would like to see. I always receive numerous requests and suggestions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cMore horror stories\u201d is the number one request from my followers when I ask them for feedback on what I should cover in articles. The fact is, this humanizes you even more in the eyes of readers and past mistakes, written in a kind and gentle way, becomes a lesson people appreciate. When it comes to entertaining readers, it\u2019s always a good bet to laugh at yourself!<\/p>\n
Images \u00a9GL Stock Images<\/p>\n
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