1:09pm
East of the Mississippi
Last night I was solo parenting, starting dinner for R, then taking S to piano, then R to swim team, then home to eat with S, back to pick up R…
And when my wife H came home later in the evening, the first thing she asked was,
“Who ate all the cookies from this tin?!”
H has made hundreds of Christmas cookies in the last few weeks.
And while our kids can’t seem to keep their hands off them…
It’s unlikely they ate them all.
There was plenty of finger pointing.
But no one fessed up.
Well today, I solved that mystery.
I was trying to get ahead of client work before the upcoming Christmas break when…
CRASH went the lid from another cookie tin, which was outside to keep cold.
In fact…
And I watched a fat grey squirrel scurry away.
It’s not just AI trying to replace us, I thought to myself, but now squirrels can open our containers and eat our treats, too?
Yesterday, marketer Bob Bly shared an interesting fact:
“Branding” tends to create more revenue in the long run than “direct response,” which is more a short term way to gain customers and profits.
But I think he overlooked a bit of the complexity.
“Branding” may work for Apple and Nike.
But most smaller companies will never reach that level of mental real estate.
And those small and mid-sized companies that play the “branding” game are going to spend their money on ads that don’t pay.
It’s the wrong game.
But more than that, there’s no reason a smaller company can’t do both.
In direct response mail, where postage stamps and printing cost money, mailing to the right audience was massively important.
The difference of 0.5% response could make or break a campaign. Still can.
But with email marketing?
The send is cheap, or even free.
(The copy on the other hand, well that’s up to you to either write, or hire out.)
And no one says you have to segment your list.
So while someone might buy from you with one email, someone else is just getting to know you from that same email. Building a brand, one email at a time.
Squirrels, of course, don’t worry about their branding or reputation or sales.
They’re just out there, stealing cookies, doin’ what they have to.
But if you’re worried about sales, send more emails.
And then ask for your readers to take an action.
Some will, most won’t, and that’s OK.
With the new year coming, I’m looking to open a few spots for email marketing.
Current plan: I’ll write a sales page for you, plus as many emails as it takes to make your money back, for $1200.
(Caveat: you have to have an email list. If you don’t have a list? Well… that’s a different project to discuss.)
Anyway, is that something you’re interested in, a guaranteed email marketing program?
Write me back and we’ll get something on the calendar to see if we’re a fit.
Guard your cookies,
Jeffrey