Issue 148 of the Excess Voice newsletter for online copywriters

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Excess Voice Newsletter
February 2007, Issue # 148

In this issue:

>> Intro: Trouble starting?
>> Review: Popular reviews
>> Article: Do you create a sense of continuity within your email campaigns?
>> Survey: How thoroughly do you plan?

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Ask me to give a training seminar or webinar for your writers or web team.
http://www.nickusborne.com/speaking.htm

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Greetings,

Thanks for all the feedback from the last issue's survey. It seems I'm not the only one who has trouble getting started on a job from time to time.

This issue's survey is related, and asks how thoroughly you plan your work and schedule your time when you are handed a new assignment.

The article in this issue is about writing promotional emails. I hope you find it useful.

Until next time,

Nick

Nick Usborne

>> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com

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Popular reviews:

#1. The 2008 Landing Page Handbook from MarketingSherpa

Whether you purchased the first edition of this handbook or not, you should be running to get a copy of this latest edition. It reveals the latest best practices for optimizing a broad range of landing pages, with data drawn from over 3,000 online marketers.

Read my review:
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#2. Desktop Marketing

A course for freelancers who want to increase their income by offering writing AND design services. For writers with even basic design skills, this is a great way maximize revenues from every job you do.

Read my review:
http://www.excessvoice.com/desktop-marketing.htm

#3. The Freelance Copywriter Fee & Compensation Survey, Volume 2.

This is the second volume of this survey, fully up to date, and with a lot more information on what to charge for 40 different types of freelance copywriting work, how to find new assignments, and more.

Read my review...
http://www.excessvoice.com/copywriting-fees-survey.htm

#4. Michael Masterson's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting

This is the only copywriting course I wholeheartedly recommend to any copywriter who wants to write copy that drives results.

Read my review:
http://www.excessvoice.com/michael-masterson.htm

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ARTICLE: Do you create a sense of continuity within your email campaigns?

I have been doing quite a bit of work recently on email marketing campaigns. Mostly for larger-sized companies.

And something has struck me.

There is often no continuity within the communications. It's as if each email is the first email ever sent to that prospect or customer.

In one case, even within a sequence of three emails, there was no hint anywhere in emails two and three that the company had recently sent them the first in the series.

How does this happen?

First, I think this lack of continuity is more common with large companies than it is with small companies. And when you get down to very small companies, you see a great deal more of an ongoing thread running through email communications.

But with larger companies, there is this sense that each email is somehow the equivalent of placing an ad in traditional media.

I think the idea is that if you make a series of "impressions" on the reader, eventually some people will make a purchase. It's just the same as a print campaign running over a fixed period of time.

The trouble is, when you take this approach with email marketing, you are missing out on a huge opportunity.

People's inboxes are not traditional media "buys".

Their inboxes are where they receive emails from friends and family, on a regular basis. It's where they keep in touch with people. It's where they write, "Hey, Chuck, where have you been? Haven't heard from you in ages."

If you want to use email effectively, you have to fit in. You need to go with the flow and use the medium in a way that fits naturally.

So if you are writing a series of three or four or five emails to your list, make each email follow on naturally from the last.

It's OK to say, "We emailed you a few days ago to tell you about...etc." Taking that approach is much better than somehow pretending that you have never written to them before.

Email marketing shouldn't be about advertising "impressions". It should be about building relationships.

And you can't build a relationship with a prospect or customer unless you acknowledge that you have written to them before.

So next time you plan an email marketing campaign, write them as a series of emails, each building on the last. Just the same as if you were writing to your family and friends.

You'll still be delivering "impressions", but you'll also be developing a relationship and hopefully, building reader loyalty and attention.

>> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com

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JOB BOARD

** Looking for an online copywriter or web content writer?

Post your job on the Excess Voice Job Board and reach over 15,000 copywriters a month.
http://excessvoice.jobcoin.com/

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SURVEY: How thoroughly do you plan?

When you have a new writing assignment to work on, how thoroughly do you plan and prepare before you start writing? Do you plan both the job itself and your schedule for that task or project carefully, or do you just get started on the assignment and work your way through?

[ ] I plan the whole assignment thoroughly before I start.

[ ] I just get started and work my way through.

[ ] Other (please explain)........

Comments:

(NOTE: Any comments and your name may be published in the next issue, or on the Excess Voice web site.)

Cut and paste your replies to me at mailto:nick@excessvoice.com

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NICK USBORNE'S SERVICES:

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Ask me to give a training seminar or webinar for your writers or web team.

http://www.nickusborne.com/speaking.htm

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http://www.nickusborne.com/copywriting.htm

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