Email: Expense-less, Easy & Effective!
Birds do it. Bees do it. Well, no, they don’t. But we do – email that is! Most of us do it as a routine form of communication – to send back and forth quick quips of information, to make plans, to submit manuscripts to ePublishers…At least [pretty much] anyone who is reading this newsletter does.
And, I bet, many of you have used email to promote yourselves and your book. If you have, keep reading for kicks (and maybe you’ll find a little tid-bit that you hadn’t used before). If you haven’t, read on and be dazzled beyond belief (well, perhaps not dazzled, but you might glean some good ideas to promote yourself and your book).
What I am about to reveal is no big secret. In fact, it’s pretty elementary. But the main thing about email marketing, and the thing that should drive you to utilize it, is that it’s expense-less, easy & it’s golly-gosh-dang effective! Can’t get much better than that!
Let’s start with the fact that email marketing is expense-less. It doesn’t cost one extra dime to send an email no matter how simple or how fancy, how short or how long, and no matter if you send it to one or one thousand people. It will cost you zip-zip-zippo in dollars to create and send. Which means that anyone with a computer and email access can afford to email market.
It’s Easy. You don’t have to leave your house or office to email market. You don’t have to speak to anyone. You can do it anytime you want – early morning, mid-afternoon, late at night, dusk, dawn – whatever works for you. You don’t have to worry about paper – grade, color, or whether it’s matte or glossy - packaging, or postage.
And last, but definitely not least, and probably best of all: email marketing is effective! Email reaches people. It gets to whomever you send it to and it gets there in a more than timely manner: it gets there immediately.
[Most] people read their email, especially if the subject line peaks their interest. This is in contrast to being handed a paper flyer or postcard on the street, which usually gets looked at (momentarily, if that), and either, a) dropped directly into the nearest trash receptacle, b) dropped (ecologically incorrectly) on the ground, c) folded up and put into a pocket of later-to-be-washed pants that come out of the dryer with bits of freshly-laundered paper everywhere, or d) into a purse, never to be seen again until…oh, maybe the following year.
Recipients of email marketing tend to respond more readily than to snail-mail paper marketing. Unless someone specifically wants a product or service – and wants the product or service you’re providing at the moment they receive it in the mail, the flyer/brochure/letter usually gets a) looked at briefly, then thrown in the trash, b) thrown in the trash, unopened; c) looked at briefly and put in a pile that sits for about a month and then gets thrown away, or d) not looked at all, put in a pile for about a month, and – you guessed it - thrown away.
Just as a sidebar, because I definitely feel that one is needed here: I am still a big believer in paper marketing, because depending on the venue and how it’s utilized, paper can do the trick. However, with paper comes cost: the paper itself, the printing, and the time (and often money) it takes to distribute. And right now we’re talking expense-less.
I’ve digressed (I know that shocks you). Stick with me: I promise I am getting to the meat.
The best way to demonstrate that email marketing truly is effective is to provide you with a “case study”. I am going to use one of my own experiences as an example.
My job at DPP is three-fold: To advocate and serve as liaison for our authors, to write and edit the bi-weekly periodical, NewsBytes, and to market the patooties out of DPP and get it as much press and exposure as possible.
There is a local radio talk show here in Palm Springs that airs daily called The Joey English Show. What I know about Joey is that she likes fun and she likes chocolate.
At the end of February I sent her an email. In the subject line I wrote: “A Great Recipe!”
I began the email with something catchy:
What do you get when you mix a local eBook publisher and
Small Press Month?
A great recipe for a segment on the Joey English Show
(with a dash of chocolate, of course)!
I got the fun and chocolate in there, I added a “hook” (Small Press Month, which BTW, is observed every year in March), and that we are local (that’s worth support in itself), and what we do (a little out of the ordinary – eBook publishers). I made it stand out with a different fonts (though the fun fonts in my email don't come out in my blog) and different colors. Following that I gave my pitch about who we are, small press month, and that we’d love to be on her show.
Know what? She emailed me back that day and said she’d love to have us on her show, BUT March was too busy, would I check back next month? Bummer, I thought. So much for Small Press Month! But, not to be defeated, and still left with an opening, I resolved to contact Joey again in April.
April brought to Palm Springs the Palm Springs Book Festival, and, by way of a solicitous email, I contacted the Palm Springs Writers Guild about getting table space at the Fest to display our paper materials (brochures, cards, postcards, flyers). I also let them know that we were available to speak about eBooks, marketing, and technology at any of their meetings.
Low and behold, we were given table space and we got Genene (co-founder and CEO of DPP) a speaking gig on one of the Festival panels.
There was my new hook! I sent the following letter to Joey English (yes, it’s long, so read the whole thing or skim it…the important parts are in red anyway, so look at those):
Hi, Joey!
Here I am again…Checking in the week of probably-one-of-your-favorite-days to eat chocolate (is there ever NOT a favorite day for you, I wonder?!): Easter!
Not-So Subliminal message: Have us on your show!
I sent you an email at the end of February and you told me to get back to you this month. So just to remind you…
Not-So Subliminal message: Have us on your show!
I represent DigitalPulp Publishing (DPP), an eBook publishing company located in Palm Springs. Founded just over a year ago, with new office space right in the heart of downtown (a hop, skip, and a jump away from you – we’re right above Jamba Juice), DPP was created to help authors, self- publishers and independent presses open a new distribution channel via eBooks by providing a free service that offers opportunities for increased exposure, sales and profits.
Not-So Subliminal message: Have us on your show!
When I contacted you last time, it was coinciding with Small Publisher’s Month (March)…This time around, we have the Palm Springs Book Fest coming up and Easter! The PS Book Fest is pretty exciting, for all the obvious reasons. Easter is exciting because it sounds like the newly created holiday: eStir ! eStir was created to “stir up buzz about all things eWorthy…This is a great day to take time to email friends, family, and networking contacts about the new eBook you’re reading (or writing, or publishing, or selling); It’s a day to check out all the new eproducts on the market(or that will soon be on the market) – like the new Sony eReader; It’s a fabulous day to just explore and appreciate the positive benefits of all things e!” (For the origins of eStir, please open the attached newsletter and read the first column) (I had sent her an attachment).
Not-So Subliminal message: Have us on your show!
With that all said, we at DPP would love the opportunity to guest on your show. The eBook and the small publishing industries are growing in leaps and bounds. Though many people are aware of eBooks, many people are not. There are many myths surrounding eBooks (i.e. they are going to replace traditional books. They’re not), and there are a great many benefits to them (i.e. you can carry 100 around with you at a time and the most it might weigh you down is a pound). Besides – how great to have some local yokels on your show who are in the publishing business when a big local event like the Palm Springs Book Fest is on!?!
Come, on, Joey – help us create a STIR: Have us on your show!
In the above email I
- Made it fun
- Made it current (used “hooks” – The Book Fest and “eStir”)
- CLEARLY asked for what I wanted
- Used multi-colors and multi-fonts
It was
- Expense-less
- Easy
- And Effective…
Joey phoned me that day (it was a Friday) and Genene was on her show the following Monday afternoon (we brought her chocolate, BTW). I sent a very short email out to the DPP emailing list that included Joey’s radio station logo and announced that Genene would be on air with the time and day. I also followed up the next day with an email “thank you”. None of it cost a dime (except the chocolate, which was, of course, optional)!
You can do the exact same thing with your book(s). Find a “hook”, don’t be afraid to have fun and ask for what you want.
My emails were simple. But I’ve seen all kinds of email marketing: beautiful flyers, photos, and MP3 offerings. They can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish or as you think they need to be. But they’re all expense-less, easy, and effective.
Add in a dash of creativity and repeat (if you can recall from the last marketing tip, persistence and repetition are key).
Email market. The bottom line: you have nothing to lose and only exposure (and perhaps, profits) to gain!
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