One thing I’ve noticed about emails is that they tend to fall into two categories; they’re either advertisements and promotions, or valuable content that is informative, beneficial, and even providing enormous benefits to the reader.
But there’s a few things that I see missing 99 times out of 100 in email marketing, and in marketing in general which, when leveraged correctly, create a stream of loyal followers who not only find your information and content useful, but also become loyal to your business, loyal to your brand, and want to actively promote you to others.
Here are the biggest lessons I’ve learned from studying other people’s marketing, as well as trying to improve my own skills.
1. Start By Building Trust
If there’s one thing that’s overlooked in email marketing, it’s building a personal relationship with people, and most marketing material I read overlooks this critical component; it’s all about techniques and tactics.
As humans we’re constantly looking to connect with other humans; we thrive on relationships and connections, and we want to know the person we’re dealing with, and build and feel a relationship with them just as much as we’re looking for advice, and to improve our own lives.
In fact, the reason most people are skeptical and unsure about buying products from marketers is because marketers state what they’re doing, but not why they’re doing it, and we can only assume they’re trying to promote a product to us because they want to make money, and we give little attention to building a human, emotional relationship with our readers and customers; it’s all about content, marketing, and information; all the LOGICAL stuff.
But the FIRST thing you should be doing when you start building a relationship with your customers, namely through your email campaign, is start by sharing why you’re doing what you’re doing, and your passion, so your readers have a sense of purpose to connect with your products and services, so they know you’re not just in it for the money.
2. Give Your Marketing A Sense of Purpose
Whether it’s Martin Luther King, the protests in Egypt, Luke Skywalker, or Rocky Balboa; people emotionally connect with a sense of purpose, the story of watching someone overcome the odds, and all the emotional connections we make to stories, beliefs, and ideas.
One example is a story I heard about a song.
On the outset, it’s just a song, but I later found out the man wrote it about his wife while she was dying of cancer as a tribute, which really adds an emotional layer that touches the human part of us, makes the song more meaningful in our minds, and connects us with the music on a gut emotional level.
As humans, we love the ideas of progress and achievement; something we can root for and put our energy behind to feel like we’re accomplishing something meaningful, and giving back to the world.
For example, in 1984, while designing the first Macintosh computer, Steve Jobs didn’t inspire his team with promises of financial bonuses, incentives, or threats of termination if they didn’t do what he wanted.
Yet they willingly worked endless hours, likely would have turned down more pay, and worked under the very demanding hand of Steve Jobs.
But why?
What was their motivation that was driving them?
The answer:
A sense of PURPOSE, and the IDEA that they were using and contributing their time and energy to do something meaningful that would make a difference in the world, that they would single-handedly change the way millions of people live their lives, and that they had a rare chance to change the world… they saw a MISSION, PURPOSE, and they had PASSION.
When you give people a sense of purpose, they feel connected to you and your mission, will be much more likely to want and buy your products, and to feel like you genuinely care about and want the best for them; plus you can feel and connect with their sense of passion and purpose in what they do, which gives you an emotional bond and connection with what they’re doing.
3. Tell A Story With Visuals
For thousands of years, whether it’s through songs, television, or good old fashion books, nothing gets our imaginations going like a good story, and when connected with a sense of trust, and a sense of purpose, you’ve got an unbeatable formula that 99% of marketers or businesses will never have in their hands.
Give people a story that they can relate to, such as sharing an underdog story about how you overcame and beat the odds, and were able to achieve your dreams; give them something that inspires them.
Inspiration can often go a lot further in the success of your business than your content alone.
It’s like traveling somewhere far outside your country; you meet people from your own town every single day, but if you’re traveling across the world, and you meet someone who’s from your own country, the mutual connection you have of being from the same country creates an instant bonding and connection, which goes much deeper than what you talk about, or how informative you are.
Also, our brains think in pictures, so make sure you tell your story visually to make it emotionally, physically, and personally engaging to your readers.
For example, If I say “food” you’ll notice your brain doesn’t really do anything.
But if I say, “dripping, soft, warm chocolate melting in your mouth.”
I’ve described REAL objects and situations you have emotions connected to in your brain, and I draw your attention (imagination) to focus on whatever I’m talking about, and suck you in to what I’m writing by connecting you directly to it.
If you use vague words, a person’s imagination (the thoughts and pictures going through their head) will drift elsewhere, and they won’t be paying attention to what YOU want them to focus on, so make sure you engage their brain in the content you’re writing by using visuals and emotional descriptions to build a picture and a movie they can connect with in their mind to keep them focused on what you’re talking about.
If you apply these simple techniques to anything you write about, you’ll be amazed at the transformation in your business, and your life.
Remember, you’re dealing with humans, and as much as it’s about content, it has a lot to do with emotions, relationships, and connections, so remember to sprinkle all these tips over your marketing.
Image © Sarunyu_foto – Fotolia.com