What Not to Do in Your Email Pitch :: An Open Letter to “Alex”

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With the digital marketing landscape shifting the focus more on email marketing, I seem to have been getting more and more email pitches.  Some of them are from spammers and some are legitimate.  Some make me laugh.  Some make me cringe.  Some get my attention, but most end up in the trash or flagged as spam.  My biggest pet peeve is receiving an email that is generically addressed “hi.”  I think it is fairly easy to figure out my name…the domain and name of my business is Colleen Eakins.

Last week I was reading about how writing better email pitches helped Ryan Luedecke increase the revenue of Sumo Jerky and then I received the following pitch from a possible spammer named Alex:

Hi,

My name is Alex and I am an Online Strategist.

I’ve been tracking the success of your website while doing some research on your industry—I’m impressed with your company, but there are some real opportunities for growth that you currently are missing.

Are you interested in several proven strategies to use content and social media to drive relevant traffic to your site? In 20 minutes I can show you how to fuel your brand and generate more revenue from search engines and social networks.

This is a $500 value free of charge.

I’d like to follow up about this with a quick phone call. Can I call you this week to discuss your campaign?

Thank you
Best regards,

Alex

This guy could have really learned something if he had read about Ryan’s methods!  I started to trash it after reading the “hi” greeting, but I then I thought I would write “Alex” back.  Here is my reply:

Hi Alex,

I don’t typically respond to cold generic pitches because they tend to beguile the message they contain.  I actually find it offensive and usually mark them as spam and trash them.

You sent me a generic pitch, but I will send you a customized response.  If you really were “tracking the success of [my] website,” you would have at least addressed the email to me by name.  After all, you are sending the email to a “name” at my domain name dot come…also my actual name.  A quick Google search could have confirmed that for you.

A quick search and read of my site to include my blog would have also kept you from wasting your time since these proven “strategies to use content and social media to drive relevant traffic to [my] site” are what I am already doing.  I have even written a few blog posts on your “proven strategies.”

Just some friendly advice:  The above extra steps will help your pitch go over better and net you more conversions.  Also think about expanding your sentence, “but there are some real opportunities for growth that you currently are missing,” to point out a few actual points.  You do not have to list all of them but some bullet points work well to pique a potential client’s interest.

You have to let the potential client know WIIFM and acronym for “what’s in it for me?”  Telling me your service has a $500 value does not do that.  What will this value bring me?  It’s like handing me a mystery box and telling me it’s worth $500.  $500 of what?  Fish roe? Snake skin?  I have no use or interest in either.

I know you have probably sent hundreds of these types of emails out and making them generic and automating a response as a follow-up makes your life easier.  However, it can’t be good for your sales conversions.  As an “online strategist” you must know that is pretty important, right?

Best of luck to you!

Colleen

After I was done writing, I decided not to send the email.  After all if he is a spammer, I do not want to provide validation to his list that my email is a working one.  So instead, I decided to write about it and post it here.  For more tips on how to successfully write a cold email pitch, check out Ryan Luedecke’s post, “How I grew Sumo Jerky to $10,000 a month.”

 

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Hiring & Working with Vendors for Your Super Secret Project

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Occasionally I am asked to submit a proposal bid on top-secret projects.  No, these are not government backed secret projects for the CIA, military or anything like that.  However, to the initiator of the project, they require secrecy and information is only shared on a need to know basis.  Sometimes I win the proposal bid on the project, sometimes I lose and sometimes I decline to bid because I cannot get enough information to even submit a proper proposal.  I cannot tell you how much it will cost if I do not even know what I will be doing.

Lots of first-time entrepreneurs and start-ups begin their operations under the mask of secrecy.  I get it.  You are afraid that someone will steal your idea, but you do not have the resources and skills necessary to bring it to life.  To do so, you need to hire contractors, freelancers and vendors that have the skill sets you are missing to pull it off.

To really pull it off and bring your product or service to market, you have to be able to trust those vendors.  Because when you don’t trust them, you don’t give them enough information to do their job and you hinder the process.  This results in frustration for all parties involved.  You will be frustrated that things are not going according to plan, deadlines may be missed and the whole experience of working with the vendor may leave a foul taste in your mouth.

If they are a good vendor, they will want you to succeed.  They will want your project to stay on track and will work to help you achieve your goals with the finished product.  If they are really good at what they do, they probably don’t want to steal your idea either.  They have already found a profitable endeavor.  This is proven by the fact that you hired them.

I was curious, so I Googled “Should You Really Worry About Someone Trying to Steal Your Idea” to see what I would get.  What I found around the good ol’ web is the same general sentiment I hold from my own experience.  Being super secretive and guarded with your business idea hurts more than it helps.

I thought this article on the Making it Anywhere blog (found in that Google search), “Worried Someone’s Going To Steal Your Idea? Here Are 4 Things You Should Worry About Instead” had some great counter points to consider.  There are more important things to worry about and answering these four questions may tell you whether or not someone really would want to steal your idea:

  1. Are you solving a problem people will want to pay for?
  2. How are you going to establish yourself as a market leader? Why should they pay YOU?
  3. Does your business idea or model already exist?
  4. How will people know you exist?

If after doing the research and answering those questions you still feel the need to keep things close to your chest, consider using a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) form when requesting bids from vendors.  Most seasoned vendors are familiar with and have signed such forms before, when working with clients.  Using one should give you some measure of peace trust in disclosing the information they need to give you a proper proposal.  If they steal your idea, you can just sue them.

It is important that they have all the information they need.  They determine what information they need to quote you and draft up a proposal, not you.  If you knew what they needed, then you have knowledge of how to do it…and you would not need to hire them.  Answer any questions they have and provide them with anything they request.  Not having enough information may result in an inaccurate quote and a surprise for you when midway through the project, the price needs to be re-negotiated.

Vet vendors you think you might like to work with prior to requesting a proposal.  You can do a general overview by reviewing testimonies on their site, review sites like Yelp and their social media accounts.  If you have a good feeling about them and it seems everyone else does too, ask them if they offer a free “private” consultation.  Let them know up front if you will require their signature on a NDA prior to the consultation.  If during the consultation you are feeling even better about them, ask them to submit a proposal along with some references if you are still a bit scared.

Sometimes the best resources are found from within or through the networks you are already a part of.  Do you have a friend or family member that recently launched a business?  Some of their vendors might be a good fit to get some of what you need done as well.  Ask them if there is a vendor they are using for “XYZ” that they would highly recommend and ask for an introduction or their information.

If after all of that you still cannot trust your vendor to not steal your idea, then the aliens probably really are coming to abduct you. 🙂

 

NDA Resources & Templates:

Wikipedia Definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-disclosure_agreement

Mutual Non-Disclosure Template: http://www.entrepreneur.com/formnet/form/852

NDA 101 | Rocket Lawyer: https://www.rocketlawyer.com/article/nda-101:-what-is-a-non-disclosure-agreement.rl

 

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Are You Branding or Being Branded? Another Installment on @eZangaInc by Me.

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It’s a new month! Well technically we are already halfway through July, but nevermore…I have another guest post on the eZanga Blog. This month I am staying within the topic of personal branding and asking, “Are you branding or being branded?” Curious? Then head on over to the eZanga Blog and check out my guest post here: http://colleeneakns.me/1qbG88s

 

 

Unplugging From Technology to Take a Breather

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I recently saw an infographic in this article, “6 Myths of Social Sharing” by John Koetsier (@johnkoetsier) in my Twitter feed and I found a very interesting myth debunked.  Before I started posting more frequently on Twitter and was focusing more on my Facebook social media efforts, I operated under the assumption that people were more active on social media on the weekends.  The assumption being that people frequented Facebook more during their free time.  At the time all of the social media princesses, gurus and ninjas hailed this to be true and it probably was then.  Times have changed and apparently this is no longer true.

According to this infographic/article, 49% of people engage with shared content during the weekday.  When I really think about it, I myself fall into that 49%.  My weekdays are full of work, which is on a computer; marketing myself in the digital realm online; and an obsessive habit of checking my phone or tablet to make sure I have not missed an important email or some other notification.  I seem to have an endless stream of chimes, dings and chirps sounding off at my desk all week long.  When the weekend comes, I try to turn it all off.  I truly need a break breather to stay sane agreeable.

Not only have I been unplugging during the weekends, but I have also found myself spending a couple of evenings during the weekday to unplug, listen to music and do nothing at all.  I will not even watch television and the only sound is of my music choice for the evening.  I think we are becoming so bombarded with noise in the form of technology that people are choosing to take time to take a break from it.  You can be in the moment with constant updates on social media, content streaming, etc, but I do not think we can also be in the “physical” moment at the same time.  I think that is what people are yearning for, leading them to take a bit of time off to unplug.  I know that plays a role in why I do it.

Are you a part of the 49% of people that engage more with shared content during the weekday?  Do you take time off on the weekends to unplug?  How do you spend that time?  Share in the comments section!

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Do This, Not That When Automating Blog Posts, Social Media and Email Marketing

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One of the great digital marketing debates is on whether or not you should use automation.  It has been debated ad nauseam and I am going to add my voice and opinion to the mix.  As long as digital marketing strategies exist, this debate will continue to exist.  I believe that to be true because a part of the advances in technology, have been to make life easier in some way.  Automating tasks related to digital marketing strategies makes life easier.

I believe automation to be a great asset when used properly.  The problem is that a lot of people do not use it properly and take a set it and forget it approach.

Automating Blog Postings

Why it’s Great:  You can write at times when it is more convenient for you and schedule the blogs to post at times when it is more convenient for your audience.  If you are the sole author of your blog or the content editor, scheduling blogs to posts allows you to go on vacation without missing a beat with your blog.

When it’s Bad:  If the content you have previously scheduled to post becomes irrelevant prior to its post date, that would be bad.  If you write tips on Google’s algorithm, set it to post 2 months in the future and Google releases an update a month prior; you will be disseminating bad information and risk looking like a non-authority on the topic.

Automating Social Media Postings

Why it’s Great:  It’s a lot of work to find, read and share great content with your audience.  Add to that the time it takes to monitor campaigns, respond to commenters and participate in discussions.  It’s a lot of work and we have limited time.  It’s the one thing we cannot create more of; we can only free some of it up by maximizing our productivity.  Scheduling allows you to use time that might not be ideal to post, to find and craft your messages.  You can then schedule them to go out when it is convenient for your audience.

When it’s Bad:  Just like with blog postings, it is bad if you schedule more than you can remember, content wise.  It is also bad if you only schedule and you are not monitoring and engaging with your audience.  Periodically check to see what you have scheduled and review it.  Not only will it help you remember what you have scheduled to go out, but it will also ensure that future postings are still relevant.

Automating Email Marketing

Why it’s Great:  Many of the email marketing providers have ways that you can aggregate RSS feeds into your email campaigns.  Do you post daily deals to your site?  Use an RSS feed to trigger an email to go out with the information to your list.  Using RSS feeds and scheduling emails to go out similar to what you do with blog postings can save you a ton of time.

When it’s Bad:  Again, it’s just like blog postings and social media postings in that you do not want to set it and forget it.  You need to review your reports to make sure that what you’re sending is something that your list wants to receive, open and read.  If you are getting a lot of unsubscribes for a particular campaign, you need to review it.  It does not make sense to keep auto-generating something that no one wants.

Did you notice a theme with when it’s bad?  Setting it and forgetting about it.  Use automation to plan ahead, increase your productivity and ease the strain of doing everything in real time.  However, stay present and on top of what is going out.  If you cannot keep up with and remember what you scheduled to go out 2 months ago, then you should not schedule that far out.  You want to be able to engage with people through your digital channels.  You can end up spending more time trying to remember or re-read something that is being commented on by your audience if you schedule too far out.

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