Direct Email Marketing - 5 Secrets from a Pro

Fact: direct email marketing is the quickest, easiest and most efficient way to make more sales, both online and offline. So why is it that so many Internet marketers, business owners and entrepreneurs fail to make any money using it?



The easy answer to that is... - they simply go the wrong way about it.



Direct Email Marketing - 5 Hot Tips for Success



1. A hot list is worth more than a big list. The success you enjoy from your direct email marketing is going to begin and end with the quality of the list you're emailing. I can tell you from experience a small list of highly qualified followers is better than a huge list of lukewarm and ambivalent people. You might think it doesn't matter because email is free to send, but that's not the point. You'll be able to sell at premium prices to a qualified list AND actually getting that list is going to be a lot easier, too!



2. Remember the business you're in. You are NOT in the business of "sales": you're in the "relationship business". You should be aiming to acquire customers and clients NOT make sales. If you serve your customers and clients and really take care of them, then I promise... they'll take care of you and you income.



3. Drop the hard sell. The hard-sell works -- in that it makes you sales -- but as a long term strategy it sucks. Your emails should have a direction and a purpose to lead the reader gently into the sale through their relationship with you. Nothing works to put me off quicker than an oily Internet marketer mailing me all the time with "fantastic new products" from his "friend".



4. Give away your best stuff in your emails. The majority of Entrepreneurs and business owners are too lily-livered to do this because they think they need to keep their best material for paying customers and clients. This is a mistake. If you freely share your best knowledge and strategies, then it's inevitable your readers will be thinking, "wow... if Jon gives this stuff away... just how amazing must his paid products be?". What's more, you have to realise people will pay for convenience. Having all your top material available drip-fed to them at random over a hundred emails is far less convenient for then than having it all collected together in a sensible and more user-friendly way in a PDF with explanatory notes, supplementary video and audio, and maybe even a forum where they can ask you questions. They will pay for that convenience.



5. Be bold. The whole point of direct response marketing is you ask for the sale in a call to action -- don't just trail off and "hope" they get the message. They won't, most of the time. And just supposing some do, there's no big emotional pressure or desire to get them to act. So when you do have something to sell them, perhaps in just 20% of your emails, be bold and ask for the sale. And you can be as blunt as this if you like: "I give away a lot of my stuff for free... so now I'm asking for something from you to help me keep sharing the love. I've compiled all this....". You see how it works, yes?



Direct email marketing is perhaps the most powerful tool in your online marketing toolbox... and used properly, it can make you a lot of money.





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Jon McCulloch is an email marketing expert who helps businesses, bloggers and Internet marketers get up to 300% better results. Do you want to learn more about highly profitable direct email marketing? Then get your free ebook here: http://www.jonmcculloch.com/big-marketing-muscle