Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

What does "execute marketing" mean to you? Are you planning on an email blitz to a number of organizations? Or are you planning to pick up the phone (or meet face-to-face) to better understand your audience needs, and how best to help them improve their business using your talents? Will your content be exclusive to one organization? Could you develop some case studies proving that your content will help their business develop more leads?

Executing probably means one email at a time. And I plan to not charge for the content. My material's origin will be obvious. And that's the idea. For much of my audience I think there's no phone. My guess email would still be the most economical way, perhaps with a voice mail message preceding it, when possible. Connecting, is certainly a big issue. I've got 500,000 cold calls and lots of bulk emails behind me. I'm complaining, not bragging. I'm not excited about the phone. But who knows. We'll advertise this program on the site. And that's ok. Anyone could be a member of some group. But I don't see this competing with an outbound marketing program.

Exclusivity: probably not. No one account could substitute for all the rest. And custom content, I have thoughts of slicing and dicing the material. So don't want recipes? Ok. We'll omit that.

Case studies: certainly not yet about me. But humor cards are catching on. We've all seen it in Facebook. Even the F500 is doing it. This activity could be a reference point. If I get written up in the NY Times, then sure.

BTW - I doubt there are email lists to buy that would work. And exchanging emails with others... grasping for straws.

I'm still not clear on who the target audience is, what benefit you're promising (and planning to deliver), and what action you want them to take when they've become aware of you and your offering.

Do you have a business plan? Does that include a specific market definition? A strategy?

The question you are asking -- "Anyone actually done this?" -- is unclear, because it's not clear what "this" is.

When you say "They need educating - not good" - more like, forget it. Fine for great, engaging emails to those who are likely to buy in the future; arguing with someone over the details only for them to say "we bought one at Walmart for $12.50" isn't going to do your profit line much good.

More to the point, what did you learn from your 500,000 cold calls? That number should have given you a substantial amount of information about (a) who was buying and (b) what they liked, didn't like and (c) why they'd buy. Put that little lot together and you've got the answers to Mr. Goodman's questions. That is an awful lot of cold calling!

To be quite honest with you, you have some contact with these manufacturers; how about going around there (or meeting them at a trade show) and arranging an affiliate deal? That way you could reckon on knowing how much money you could spend on each sale - and work up and out from there. You could put your blogging ideas to direct use too, get real responses so you know what's working for you. It would be a lot more meaningful than approaching someone with the hint of getting them leads - but then, I could be wrong! It's your business after all.

It just sounds so chancy to me.

500,000 calls were 20 years ago, another career.

Anyway, Moriarity: "...by these manufacturers..." do you mean the suppliers for my website?

No, I was thinking of the manufacturers of the equipment you intend promoting. BBQs - or have I got this completely wrong?

I'm sorry that the calls were for another career; the things you must have learned from speaking to all those people must have made some impression on you? Surely there is something there that will allow you to connect your current activities to your needs? This is, after all, the core of marketing - and can be applied to almost anything.

I'll be back in the morning. 'Tis late.

re: manufacturers of the equipment you intend promoting
Yes, I'm going to sell 1500 SKU's of grills, fire starter, game meat, cedar planks, and 12 more contiguous categories.

So - lets say there's a maker of cedar planks, and he's got a nice site with a blog. Maybe a newsletter.
I say - as per my original idea... I'll feed my blog into his, figuring it makes him look better, helps people on his list, and my content links back to site..making.sales.

Now let's say it is NOT a supplier I use. Say it's the BBQ Club of Southern Montana. Or any other organization having an audience matching what I sell. I feed my blog into theirs same way. Everyone wins. So this is a concept more than current details about exact target groups. Although the ultimate target is homeowners having special interests in grilling and backyard lifestyles. I need to find intermediary organizations to reach this audience.

But your affiliate idea could work if I knew its mechanics.

One e-mail at a time is one way to do it. Another way is to have a sequence of interconnected messages that build tabbed references that new subscribers could access via a segmented landing page list, and that generates anticipation for longer term subscribers.

For a niche like yours, and as counter intuitive as this may sound, social media is probably NOT the best vehicle to get your word out: building your e-mail and subscriber list is.

People using social media are looking for quick soundbites: quick hits of stuff. This means they're more in social browsing mode and much less in "finding out more about this cool subject" mode: this is where your blog comes in AND where content curation could help you become—and remain—both current AND a trusted resource.

By including a mix of your original content and curated content you'll help your visibility AND ensure greater credibility and authority in the eyes of your readers and the search engines. You'd also do well to plan out how often you will add new content, how you'll communicate this new material to your list, and how you'll wrap offers into the mix.

I urge you to position yourself as a trusted authority and as an advisor, less os a guru. I have a video that you need to watch. It's not my content and it's not well known, but in terms of niche domination, in just 18 months the presenter on the video generated over $1 million in revenue from a TINY niche, and solely through affiliate revenue, simply be becoming the dominant presence in the niche.

To find out more, we need to speak off forum. Click my name above and send me an e-mail.

Building a subscriber list on the site is an assumed. It's also auto-pilot. I have plenty of time for social and for re-marketing elements of my blog to other blogs. Content curation can not occur simultaneous with my blog re-marketing. They can find content as easily as anyone. And it washes out your own originality, generally. I'd like to see you convince the Wall Street Journal to use copied material. I admit USA Today does it. But I wonder if the NY Times looks much different than the Boston Globe.

That aside, I've studied cartoons on Facebook, where they come from, and where they go. My conviction is that branded jokes that actually make people laugh get astronomical shares. Copied material is not going to impress the media, either. I could spend joke money on advertising but I like building assets that are mine. And that's my secret to overcoming the problem of selling other people's merchandise. A typical SKU I carry will be found on 20 - 100 websites... every big box, mom and pop specialty shop, and the largest catalogs. My other tact is to omit the brand from a lot of my products. To disallow price comparison. Site concept and identity is what will save me. God knows the products will not. There is no competitor combining high-brow, sophisticated comedy and e-commerce in my vertical.

I'll also be doing search engine marketing.

Good morning from Europe.

When you say "But your affiliate idea could work if I knew its mechanics" - it's a very simple process. You get to speak to them - at a trade show for example - and once you've engaged them in conversation, you ask if they'd like more sales because as a good copywriter you can help them. All they have to do is supply the equipment and provide backup (they'll be doing this anyway). There are no few copywriters and marketers working this as their full time job and making sensible amounts of money. It's a bit like your being a retailer and their being the wholesaler. You should reckon on a retailer's margin.

If you're doing search engine marketing, don't forget Google Adwords.

Submitting content to blogs, newsletters, magazines, and the like is much the same as if you were submitting a press release. You need to do it one by one and tailor the offer to that media. I run a print and online magazine and can't tell you the number of submissions I get that are so far off from what I do. Those are deleted, after doing whatever is needed to ensure I no longer receive messages from them (unsubscribe, mark as spam, etc.).

The ones that interest me are the ones where it is obvious the person has an understanding of what I do and has told me about how their product would be of interest to my readership.

Now a question I have is: if you are providing content to blogs and magazines for free, where do you make your money? Is the content going to be advertorial in nature (so a company pays you to write the content)? That will definitely present a challenge, as many editors of sites and such look down on this.

"...Submitting content to blogs, newsletters..."
Yes, I can see that. And I'll create sales materials, attached to a custom letter in email. Maybe even email ahead, asking if they mid me sending it... after I tell them I'm in the trade and have studied them.

"...content to blogs and magazines for free..."
Yes. example: A cartoon with caption. On that illustration is my [small] logo.. it clicks to my site. I'm just using online intermediaries to reach my audience, the homeowner. These intermediaries I am finding are in lots and lots of categories... even online dealers who sell related products.

"...Is the content going to be advertorial in nature..."
No. It's my content. Pre-written and seen on my blog.

I am not trying to be a copywriter. This is a production environment. Repeatable every time, with the ability to offer x, y or z pieces from my standard blog. Client can configure my subject matter any way he wants. I am simply getting my content into others' distribution.

Put that way Gary you may be right. The jokes are however, backyard and other related subjects close to my business. Not just random jokes. On the site we'll have banners that do in fact push to purchasing. The more visible ones are click-able to specific e-commerce areas and offer humor related to products we sell.

But my jokes designated for 3rd party distribution, up to now, would have NOT been action oriented, regardless of their backyard orientation. Perhaps I have to get jokes to this this next level. Good idea. There's certainly nothing to lose by doing it, and it's a good insurance policy.

So Gary what you're really saying is if you're in social you had better be deploying direct marketing. Unfortunately, DM is not what social was intended for. Ha. It's going to be interesting.

I wonder if the line between social and commerce is as thin as I'm hoping. Time will tell.

No. I'm not saying social media is about deploying direct marketing. I'm saying social media is not about marketing: it's about being social.

Yes, I got that.

Actually, social media is about NOT deploying DM. So what I'm about to try will be edgy.

In fact, I wonder if getting my content into some elses NEWSLETTER would be better than in their blog.

I'm not quite sure where this is all going. The most important thing is that your strategy depends on other people - not just targeting customers through paid advertising (which is a little more controllable).

What have you actually done so far in this campaign? Have you written anything, got into contact with anybody, tested the water?

Upshot: Once you get to the details of anything, you get clarity. The exercise here has forced me to do that. I think I'm going to re-package my content as a free newsletter. The target uses it in his distribution because he sees value in it, and does not perceive I compete with him. It's a co-marketing program. My contact info is not hidden. My newsletter is not standardized, and can not be private-labelled unless I charge money for it, which I have no interest in doing, just as I have no interest creating customized products. You can not do this stuff in social. You're forcing it there. The natural is email with all the expected DM components. And the partners have to agree on everything.

My purpose in all of this is to grow faster, without additional out of pocket expense. I'll grow using fundamental business practices, also, of course. This new idea is not conventional. But it may work.
So if I maintain my new course, switching to email, it is due to this forum. So I thank you all for helping.

I suppose I could ask the question again...now that email is chosen, has anyone had a client that re-marketed his newsletter into other businesses? It's a barter, actually. My content for his distribution. I'd say for some, it's a good deal.

Whoops typo: "My newsletter is not standardized" should be "My newsletter is standardized"

This sounds as if it's returning to Peter's thoughts on magazine publication. He gets lots of articles that he can't use - yet he'll use those that are useful to him and his readers. If that's what you intend doing, that's fine just as long as you get the right newsletter publishers.

This is true Moriarity. Fact is I know the landscape design and build industry. That industry relies solely on Constant Contact for their newsletters. Some letters are in-house, some are purchased, all are technical, and none are free. Their content is always all about landscaping, not about what happens after they're done - which is where I come in. And they may not like that. But it's free, there's no other newsletter even close to mine, and it's a way lighten up things. Stop hammering their prospects with just their own stuff. They are just one of dozens of industries to target. All of which are theoretical until proven otherwise. Targets would sponsor my newsletter. Both our names are on it.

If you know the industry, and have connections, you should be fine.

Because when you say something like "Their content is always all about landscaping, not about what happens after they're done - which is where I come in" that means there's a lot of room for improvement. As importantly you can sell your stuff on being engaging and getting their newsletters opened more often and more quickly.

A worthy goal to aim for is to make your free material BETTER than other people's paid content.

Gary - if you simplify your statement, below, I'm going to award you with accepting your response:

"...Another way is to have a sequence of interconnected messages that build tabbed references that new subscribers could access via a segmented landing page list, and that generates anticipation for longer term subscribers..."

Or, if there's a website I can see... that's doing this.