Articles by Larry Chase - Internet Publisher, Speaker, Author and Consultant

Larry Chase - Internet Marketing Consulting

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The Money's in the Email

There's research out there now showing us what we viscerally already knew from our own usage of the Net: we're using email more than we use the Web. We live in our In Boxes.

BATTLE OF THE IN BOX

My threshold is 19 because at the resolution I'm in I can see white space in my Outlook In Box under the 19th email. When I close up shop, I like to have 19 left or less. When I leave town I like 19 or less.

The In Box is a key battlefield for marketers, whether they realize it or not. Sure, opt-in email can and will be a piece of that marketing email puzzle, but do go beyond the obvious: you'll have to in order to break through the 1600 commercial emails Jupiter/Media Metrix sees us fielding annually in only a couple years. As DM wizard David Garfinkel says, "You've got to shout your message across the subway tracks." Consider 1600 subway tracks in your In Box: how will you stand out?

You can stand out by committing to launch your own type of WDFM. In this way you guide and own a media property. As I often advise my clients, "Believe me, I can tell you: it's quite a commitment, but it is very well worth it when you look at what you get back from the initial and ongoing investment." Sink less of your media budget into general awareness advertising in favor of providing high-grade editorial to a trade community. How to ID which content and how to format it and promote it make up a good segment of my consulting, writing and speaking practices.

Someone who subscribes to your email newsletter has already taken a critical action by way of subscribing, whereas someone who visits your website for maybe a couple minutes, (and a couple of clicks if you're lucky:), is typically passively browsing. After all, they do call it a "browser."

People who subscribe to your email newsletter are more apt to take action than those who are just passing through your website on their way to their Hotmail account. Those people may be more receptive to products and services of yours if they get to know you over time. I once got a speaking and consulting gig in Sweden because someone in a key advisory role had been a WDFM subscriber for two years and submitted my name to the short list. In short, just because you're ready to sell doesn't mean they're ready to buy just then; they maybe never be, but perhaps they will, sometime. For those critical "sometimers" there's email newsletters.

OK, you're not ready to commit to being an online publisher with bi-weekly or weekly deadlines: that's understandable. Consider running your offers in other email newsletters that serve your category. After all, assuming your ad is not going to be frittered away being a "hot-air" ad, you've got a better chance of response than a banner on the Web. Why? Because everyone on that list has already taken an action, remember? The fact that they're seeing your ad means they're more actionable than the average Joe on the Web.

Make darn sure you write copy that demands to be read, right then and there. I recently announced a 2-for-1 ad offer in WDFM. I wrote a so-so ad for it which David Garfinkel helped polish into "Dot Com Crash Ad Special from WDFM." It pulled much better than the typical house ad.

Here's the deal: your audience is probably a lot like you are, at least I hope so. You do have to be able to relate to your audience, right? Write headlines you, yourself, would read. Construct subject headers that you, yourself, would open. Make buttons you, yourself, would click on. It's like that. Make your proposition or offer so attractive that even you would take advantage of it.