So you’ve chosen an email marketing system to cultivate a list and client base. You’re sending out your latest team announcements, delivering your valuable offers, and you’re getting subscribers. But are you making the most of email marketing? The honest answer is NO. There is a significant problem with this process. New subscribers just get the messages you send after they’ve joined, and they will never see all of the messages you sent before they subscribed.
Drip Email Marketing (DEM) can solve this problem. Here is why.
Often called autoresponders, marketing automation, or drip email campaigns – DEM is a proven method to maximize your email marketing efforts and multiply your conversion rates. In essence, Drip Email Marketing is an example of how the latest software solutions, valuable content, and adding creativity to the mix, can help you boost the effectiveness of any platform (in your sleep). DEM tools can schedule a series of emails, configured according to a multitude of parameters, helping you send the right email to the right person at the right time.
An example of this is sending new subscribers a “Welcome!” email, shortly after their subscription. If you provide content on your site, the next email could lead them to some of the best and highest converting content you created in the last 6 months, to “bring them up to speed”, and offering them something they “missed”.
DEM tools, however, are so much more than this! You can further program these drip emails to certain “actions” or “triggers”. One example is strengthening your remarketing efforts. Maybe someone bought a product from you that usually takes 8-10 weeks to use up. Why not send an email to them with an offer for the next batch, when their supply is getting low? Or maybe there are those who opened your premium service page several times – but they were not ready to take the plunge and buy it. Maybe all they need is a little nudge in the appropriate direction.
In short, you can have several sets of emails going out to customers or subscribers triggered by their actions and behavior.
Creating impactful emails can also be daunting. So here are 5 Tips to Skyrocket Your Email Conversions with Drip Email Marketing.
1. Clear Subject Lines
Successful drip campaigns are bold when it comes to subject lines – you can experiment with a personal tone or high emotions, but first and foremost, you have to avoid clutter. The subject line should read clean, the drip campaign emails should be numbered, and have the same format. The emails will stand out as a nice collection in the subscriber’s inbox.
2. Personal Touch
It depends on the kind of business, but almost every industry leader or influencer benefits from putting it all out there. If you are ready to open up and share personal stories about your life that can relate to your product, you should, because that builds trust.
3. Multimedia
Quality content always helps, it makes your efforts more professional. A good video or soundbite, or a useful pdf – these all make great additions to your emails and form grounds for sharing. If you send out something that you honestly think is worth sharing, make sure you add the necessary social buttons, and offer copy-paste or pre-placed recommendation text!
4. Share your enthusiasm
There is no shame in being happy that someone is interested in you enough to actually subscribe to your stuff. This is news! You can let your customers know that, so they become a part of your story, and draw inspiration from it. Don’t overplay it, but express your gratefulness and make your subscribers trust that their decision will surely bring something positive in their lives or career.
5. Surprise!
Who doesn’t like surprises? A secret trick: make promises, like exactly how many emails your drip campaign contains, but spice it up a little. Send some extra offers or bonus content that you do not mention, but only in the email series you present them.
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For more information about CT Virtual and the Virtual Assistant, Drip Email Marketing (DEM) Content Writing, Copywriting and Programming services we offer to Online Business Coaches, Authors, and Speakers – schedule a free 30-minute discovery session.
As a writer, you know all too well how much work is required to complete an entire book. Once you have finished your book, you may be tempted to think that the hardest part is behind you. As many authors discover, however, the book marketing process is arduous and requires a skill set very different from the creative energy that produced your book in the first place. In particular, online book marketing demands targeted and thorough research if you want your book to have a fighting chance against the countless other titles flooding the market. Here is your guide to researching and executing your online marketing strategy.
Know Your Audience
The single most important aspect of your marketing research involves getting to know your target audience. You probably already have some idea of who your audience is; the next step is determining where your audience is on the web. As a starting point, you can check sales data from big online vendors such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The key here is to look for similar titles and determine general interest level in a book like yours. You can also do much more targeted research based on the topic of your book. Are your target readers part of an online community like Reddit, YouTube, or Yahoo? Are there any major blogs that your readers are most likely to follow? If you understand how your audience interacts on the web, you will begin to assemble a plan for how and where to market your book.
Learn Your Audience’s Buying Habits Read more…
Building Your Author Platform
Sometimes it’s called an author platform, writing platform, branding, social media presence, or what have you, but essentially, all these things are based on the same principle: you need to create a solid foundation for your writing business in order to build awareness, sustain it, and sell more books.
The word “platform’ might seem terrifying, but if you know all the variables involved ahead of time, and break them down into actionable goals, building your author platform is easier than you thought. In this article, we will set you up with a plan on how to build up and maintain your author platform and connect everything, with small steps, so you can experience a gradual, steady increase in your visibility and reputation. So, let’s get to it!
- Author Websites: Yes, you might think that in 2015 a website is not quintessential anymore because of other existing platforms – but it is. In fact, most book marketers believe, next to email marketing, your website is the most important entity of your Author Platform. You need a stable foundation for your online presence, one that you have complete and unlimited control of. Building a solid author website is not necessarily a huge burden on your time if you have great author website designer, but there are other options as well. You can hire professional designers, or create one yourself using Wix or Grid, without having to write a single line of code. Blog engines like WordPress or Blogger also offer beautiful templates, but a blog template site may not have all the features you want. In this case, you can hire a Virtual Assistant Company that specializes in WordPress to enhance your site and make it complete. Alternatively, you can register on a personal branding site network like me. These are not the same as completely functional websites, but it can do the trick until you have a real site up and running. As an Author, it is important that you buy a personal URL or domain under your author or pen name.
- Contacts and List Building: Digital media offers a wide selection of tools to boost you author platform. But first, make certain to utilize your your personal and professional contacts, who can help you grow, give you feedback and spread the word, and create an opt-in list for them to join or for you to add contacts manually. This is referred to as your “Core Fan Base”. Next, make a list of people outside your network. This list should include your favorite authors (who write the same genre as your books), experts on the subjects you write about, and other stakeholders and media professionals. Now you can start looking for ways to use the first group to give the second group access to your author platform. Continue to build your lists by continuously sharing your opt-in list signup and by manually adding new contacts you meet.
Read more…
There are differences between what some people consider to be a successful writer or author, but in most cases everyone wants to be a professional writer.
Question is: do you have what it takes?
If you ever had the courage to call yourself a writer, you probably saw the amazement and slight disbelief in your conversation partners’ eyes. A writer? Is that something that can actually pay the bills? What are you writing?
Many of us have this image of the writer: a person, who is doing something for a living, but she finds herself regularly typing away in her spare time, and after a considerable amount of time, she shows her writing to other people. And guess what, it turns out to be a best seller! And she has become a millionaire, within the blink of an eye. So finally, she can be a writer, because she now has financial security. She can write whatever she wants, actually.
And there the millions of others, who do the same thing, but fail at producing a best seller at the first try. Why? Well, obviously because they are not talented enough.
This is how we generalize. Simplistic, yes, and of course, could not be further away from the truth.
I have some bad news for some of you: talents actually do matter. If you don’t find writing easy, enjoyable, and if you don’t get positive feedback regularly from people outside your family (professors, editors, random people on the Internet, friends with decent tastes and honest words), chances are you are chasing a profession that is substandard (for you).
But with hard work, you can still get there. Problem is: it is real hard work and does require a certain amount of talent as well. Read more…
Fiction writing is a fantastical, imaginary place, both for you, the writer, and for anyone reading your piece. But writing the most creative, wondrous book or short story doesn’t mean you’ll actually find anyone to enjoy it like you know they would, if only they knew about it.
The truth of the matter is there are a ton of fiction writers out there, and we all want our voices to be read. Sure, you can tell everyone you meet that you wrote a great book, and sure, they might actually go read it. But chances are they’ll forget about it as soon as they walk away.
Here’s where blogging can come in handy. Read more…
Administrative, Marketing, & Creative Services for Authors and Speakers
These days, it’s important for any business to maintain a presence on social media, but when it comes to authors in particular, I believe that being active on book marketing sites and GoodReads is more cost-effective and a better use of your time if wanting to connect with readers and selling more books. One of my preferred strategies for generating book reviews, building a buzz, and converting readers into fans and buying customers is to host a GoodReads Giveaway. Read more…
I need an agent!
Over the past few months, I’ve been asked (and tested) by many clients to answer this question. And although the answer is not as cut and dry as most would hope, the truth is more and more literary agents are opening their doors to the self-published community. This comes as no surprise with all the success stories posted online about how one author turned his self-published ebook into a best-seller, but it still doesn’t resolve the question.
In my pursuit for more knowledge and bettering the services we offer clients, I’m tickled pink to declare we’ve scheduled interviews with two top literary agents in New York (that offer representation of self-published writers) to throw more light on this subject. Don’t forget to check get back later in the month – we’ll post their Q&A sessions.
In the meantime, since we promote many self-published authors, I will share two areas you should be working to improve, that can facilitate selling more books and getting consideration from agents.
- Amazon and Goodreads Reviews: I know I’ve said this in earlier posts, but I’ll say it once more. The more reviews you have on these two sites, the better your rankings will be. Take advantage of Amazon’s Free eBook Promotions or Goodreads Book Giveaway in the beginning. People tend to follow others, and the more people who hear about your book, the better your sales will be. Great rankings are impressive and agents view these sources before deciding if they will invest in an author.
- Author/Book Promotions: Most self-published authors are confused where to put their time wisely or they haven’t yet put aside a marketing budget. While a national book tour or promotion campaign may fall outside of what you can afford to do, you will need a firm presence on Facebook, Twitter and especially Goodreads. There’s also a difference between standard website design and author websites. Before going off on your own author campaign or creating your own website, consult someone who knows your category and the publishing industry. It’s critical for authors to interact with others and their target readership, and having a creative plan and PR strategy first, packs a powerful punch in the final stages. Literary agents will also ascertain your previous marketing efforts.
For more information about our administrative, marketing, and creative services for Authors and Speakers – schedule your free 30-minute consultation today.
Cyrus Webb of Conversations Live interviews Author, Speaker and Fitness Pro Tamara Jackson.
Of all the PR and promotional strategies we use to promote our Author and Speaker clients, booking internet radio interviews is my top favorite approach. Internet radio makes it easy for us to reach a broader audience, and with many shows that interview guests in all different niches, it is very effective for aligning our clients with the right fan base.
My favorite internet radio platform and the one we use to promote our clients is Blog Talk Radio (BTR). BTR has provided us an excellent opportunity to promote our clients’ books, e-courses, and knowledge in specific areas or expertise. As opposed to paying for scripted radio spots that rarely convey enough substance to connect with your audience on a personal level, interviews on BTR are featured spots, more personal, and completely free to conduct. Interviews can run anywhere from 30 minutes up to an hour. Read more…
