This email showed up on my phone this morning (yes, the name was changed to protect the hapless):
Can you believe it? This person wants to showcase their portfolio, wants to work with us, and ultimately wants to generate revenue, and this is what they send?
Why not just write:
Did I go to the site and look at their newly updated work samples? C’mon, would you?
Of course not. I think we can all agree that this online pitch will result in absolutely no new visits and no new clients or new revenue for the sender.
While it’s easy to snicker at the unsophisticated person who sent it out and even easier to just hit delete and not give the mailer a second thought, step out of your customary comfort zone and take a minute to think about what was wasted.
Whoever XXX XXXXXX is, they spent time and money having their site designed and developed. They spent time and money buying their distribution list and sending out their email blast. And they spent opportunity cost (past and future time and money) overseeing the entire process, including the lost potential sales that they might have gotten if they had used a different technique.
I’m even willing to give XXX XXXXXX the benefit of the doubt and assume that their work is good and that I’d like it if I ever saw it. That makes it all the more unfortunate that their ham-fisted marketing effort doesn’t give me any reason or incentive to open their portfolio.
Okay, enough grousing about XXX XXXXXX. Now let’s get a little uncomfortable and think about YOUR marketing.
Have you sent out things that matter only to you?
Have you created materials that delve into painful detail about issues before you’ve established any connection with your reader?
Have you made offers that dump the entire effort on your intended audience but don’t give them any reason to actually take the next step?
There’s no need to answer these questions in a public confessional but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth asking and answering. Because the unfortunate reality is that many of us create marketing materials that are directed only at ourselves and then wonder why our self-conscious outreach doesn’t generate the results we want.
Next time you send something out, why not direct it with laser-sharp focus at the prospect you’re trying to reach? Why not tell them the story that matters to them? And why not give them a reason to step out of their comfort zones and respond to your offer?
By simply changing your communications from all about you to all about them you’ll change the way people respond to what you have to say. And who knows? You might even get XXX XXXXXX to respond too.
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Speaking of things that are important to me, last week I wrote about the Elite Branding Intensive that we’re putting on to show people EXACTLY how to build their brands. I don’t want to use up the time you generously share with me to read this blog but if you want to know more, click HERE. Of course there’s no obligation to read the post but think of what great things could come from it!