My #1 asked question… How to avoid being spammed…
Here’s the catch with email. If you do it right, email works to grow your business like nothing else out there! If you do it wrong, people think its spam and people HATE spam. Hates isn’t one of the buying emotions. So I think its safe to say that you don’t want people to HATE your communications.
In order to steer your business away from negative perceptions and towards positive ones, you need to practice Professional Email Marketing, not spam marketing.
Email marketing is delivering professional email communications, representing the characteristics of your business visually (your brand), while delivering information that educates your audience and/or differentiates your business from the competition
Must contain information “they – your readers” find valuable. The #1 reason for opt-outs is “doesn’t keep my attention.”
Here are 10 unabashedly feminine words that have also been proven to sell.
Love: As John Lennon sang. “All we need is love,” and this word doesn’t only dominate the titles of romance fiction. It’s commonly used in songs as well. Maybe it’s because love is what we’re all longing for. Yes, guys too. Even if you don’t always admit it.
Heart: Now becoming synonymous to “love” (e.g., “I heart Copyblogger”), this word is increasingly used to soften traditionally tough topics: “business with a heart,” “writing for the heart,” “selling from the heart.”
Secret: As the stereotype would have it, women love to keep, tell and discover secrets. Actually, so does everybody else. This word appears in all the headline swipe files of those (male) copywriting masters.
King, Queen, Princess, Prince (or some other honorable title); Women are fascinated with royalty. Blame it on fairy tales. But it’s not just women who respond to a market position as the “King,” “Queen,” or “Duke” of your niche.
Temptation and Forbidden: That darned Eve started it all, giving into temptation and making Adam bite the forbidden apple. These are still two irresistible words to make your copy more compelling.
Cloud, Moon, Stars (and other celestial bodies): These words evoke freedom, creativity, and unlimited possibilities. No wonder women love them.
Heaven, Paradise: We use these words to describe ultimate pleasure, goodness and perfection. “How was the spa?” “It was heaven!”
Kiss: Sweet, mysterious and seductive, a kiss is the ultimate romantic word.
Virgin: Here’s one word that’s sure to make your heart race — whether you’re male or female. And of course, Richard Branson, a masculine guy if ever there was one, built an entire mega-brand around it.
Magic, Enchanted, Bewitched (and other references to the supernatural): Our fascination with these words is another result of childhoods molded by fairy tales. The idea of having a fairy godmother to make all our dreams come true and get rid of our evil stepmother is simply irresistible.
Take your magic wand and transform your copy
Here’s the real test. How do romantic words hold up in real-world copy? To find out, I decided to give a romantic makeover to the same copy Ali Hale put a heroic twist to.
Here’s what I came up with:
Plain: “Solve Email Problems”
Heroic: “Battle Your Email Overload”
Romantic: “Love Your Email Inbox Again”
Plain: “Stop Procrastinating”
Heroic: “Defeat Procrastination”
Romantic: “Kiss Procrastination Goodbye”
Plain: “Advice to Help You Do Better”
Heroic: “Advice to Help You Win”
Romantic: “Advice to Make You a Star”
Plain: “Ditch Your Bad Habits”
Heroic: “Conquer Your Bad Habits”
Romantic: “Make Your Bad Habits Disappear Like Magic”
Women’s pockets are growing bigger and deeper. Isn’t it time our copywriting and marketing language caught up?
If your writing is bland, sprinkle a little romance into it. You don’t always have to resort to pumped up, violent imagery to put more zing in your copy. A little romance may be just the flavour your readers are craving.
About the Author: Lexi Rodrigo is a copywriter and online marketing consultant who used the words “love,” “heart,” and “passion” on her home page long before researching for this post.
According to a survey by DTI/Price Waterhouse Coopers, 70 percent of small firms that experience a major data loss go out of business within a year. Losing critical computer data in today’s Internet Age can wipe out any small business making data backup an essential operational task.
Your most important files are usually the ones that you are currently working on… yesterday & today. Backing up data on CDs or external hard drives can eat up a lot of time. When was the last time you backed your files up? You can only manage to do it every so often. And there’s still a chance that these external storage devices can be lost, destroyed, or stolen.
What is your backup plan?… Save time and effort – Use an automated online system… I use Mozy… for less than $5 a month I have my files backed up daily! Peace of Mind alone is worth it. Hold onto your latest work files; family photos; music; financial documents. Back up what you want, when you want.
Mozy is 100% automatic. You always have the most recent versions of your files in a safe online environment that you can access from anywhere. And Mozy is owned by Fortune 500 company EMC, so your files are protected for the long haul with military-grade encryption – the same security online banks use during data transfer. Check them out…
We have a lot to choose from when it comes to marketing, why email?… Because almost everyone your business needs to reach reads it!
- 91% of internet users are between the ages of 18 – 64 send and read email EVERYDAY! (source: emarketer)
Another study by AOL indicates that people are checking their email at work, home, in bed , in the bathroom, in the middle of the night, while they drive and even in church!
Email way is a great way to connect with your audience because your audience is constantly looking where email gets delivered!
Another great reason: It is cost effective… Direct mail vs. Email -Direct mail costs 20 times as much as email. Email ROI is the highest when compared to other internet marketing mediums (source: direct mkting assc.)
Contact us if you need extra help incorporating Professional Email Marketing into your business plan.
