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Selling SEO via Email Marketing

by luke4
4 replies
Hi everyone.

I'm interested in starting an email campaign selling SEO. I was wondering if anyone had any advice regarding getting clients to respond, making sure they open the letters, closing the sale over email etc. My packages on my website range from $700- $2000 per month. This is what I've gathered from the forum so far:

1. Use a subject line that isn't obvious to the client that I want to sell them something, with no SEO jargon. Obviously I want to sell them something, but my belief is that often people won't even open it if it's obvious you're going to try and sell them something.

2. Focus on letting them know what ROI they could potentially achieve, not overload them with SEO talk (which some may of course not understand.

3. Not to give too much information away, in order for them to reply and inquire about our services further. I will not feature the prices on the email, but it will be on my site which can be accessed through the signature link.

4. I have examples to back up my work ready to send off if they ask for it, and I'm getting an infographic done to demonstrate the possible ROI for an example (fictitious) company. I feel that explaining the full value of SEO in terms of leads and money for the client would be a good way to get them interested.

I will be targeting local businesses that have a big enough budget for our packages. Finding the correct leads will not be a problem.

Would anyone have any more advice or tips on selling SEO via email? Anything would be appreciated.

Thanks, Luke.
#email #marketing #selling #seo
  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    The thing that strikes me is that you want to sell a service that costs $8,400 to $24,000 per year with as little real contact as possible. And you want to do it cold, via email. Correct me if I'm wrong.

    If I'm a local business owner, I'm going to be very leery of committing that kind of money based purely on email contacts with someone I don't know.

    Since it sounds like you want to do the digital equivalent of door to door sales, you might take a page from that practice. Zig Ziglar talks about selling cookware door to door in many of his books. He sold a lot of pots and pans, but not by knocking on the door and asking if someone wanted to spend a week's salary on kettles.

    Zig "got his foot in the door" with a demonstration, actually cooking a meal for his prospect, after which he launched into his spiel. At the door, all he was selling was a chance to demonstrate his wares and tell his story.

    Is there a piece of your service that you could split off and offer at an impulse-purchase price while still breaking even or better? This would get you in a lot more doors and set up the more lucrative packages later.

    This two-or-more step has worked for decades.

    On the plus side, talking ROI rather than SEO is a very good thing. Just about every SEO wants to yammer on about "first page of Google" (much like you do in your sig here) without lending any context. Here you can safely assume that most of your potential prospects are aware of SEO and what it might do for them, while out in the real world that's a very unsafe assumption.
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    • Profile picture of the author luke4
      Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

      The thing that strikes me is that you want to sell a service that costs $8,400 to $24,000 per year with as little real contact as possible. And you want to do it cold, via email. Correct me if I'm wrong.

      If I'm a local business owner, I'm going to be very leery of committing that kind of money based purely on email contacts with someone I don't know.

      Since it sounds like you want to do the digital equivalent of door to door sales, you might take a page from that practice. Zig Ziglar talks about selling cookware door to door in many of his books. He sold a lot of pots and pans, but not by knocking on the door and asking if someone wanted to spend a week's salary on kettles.

      Zig "got his foot in the door" with a demonstration, actually cooking a meal for his prospect, after which he launched into his spiel. At the door, all he was selling was a chance to demonstrate his wares and tell his story.

      Is there a piece of your service that you could split off and offer at an impulse-purchase price while still breaking even or better? This would get you in a lot more doors and set up the more lucrative packages later.

      This two-or-more step has worked for decades.

      On the plus side, talking ROI rather than SEO is a very good thing. Just about every SEO wants to yammer on about "first page of Google" (much like you do in your sig here) without lending any context. Here you can safely assume that most of your potential prospects are aware of SEO and what it might do for them, while out in the real world that's a very unsafe assumption.
      Thanks for the reply John!

      Just to clear this up, the subscription is 3 months long, so the associated company will be paying between $2,100 and $6,000 per year, but I suppose the same rule applies. I would ideally like to close deals over email, but if a client shows genuine interest I would have no problem calling them up and explaining it properly over the phone. The reason why I often steer clear of cold calling is because they sometimes aren't interested, but obviously in this case it would be different.
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  • Profile picture of the author quadagon
    An old client of mine was an SEO company who we helped market.

    I don't mind being a bit cheeky so I would say something along the lines of:

    I tried to google you but couldn't find your site (to be honest i, like most other people, gave up after the first 2 pages) It's a shame to have spent so much money on a website and then for it not to be seen by your customers, even worse is the fact that customers not only can't find your site but Google is pointing them towards your competitors putting money in their pocket which you deserve.

    I've even been known to start the letter with a bit of a story:

    Last Friday night I sat down with the family to organise a birthday party for my son. I knew that as a 14 year old boy he'd love to go paint-balling with him and 20 of his closest friends. I recalled seeing your company and so googled Paint-balling in Narnia and I was shocked at the result.
    .

    I'm sure you get the idea

    Any questions please ask
    Eric
    Signature
    I've got 99 problems but a niche ain't one
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    • Profile picture of the author luke4
      Originally Posted by quadagon View Post

      An old client of mine was an SEO company who we helped market.

      I don't mind being a bit cheeky so I would say something along the lines of:

      I tried to google you but couldn't find your site (to be honest i, like most other people, gave up after the first 2 pages) It's a shame to have spent so much money on a website and then for it not to be seen by your customers, even worse is the fact that customers not only can't find your site but Google is pointing them towards your competitors putting money in their pocket which you deserve.

      I've even been known to start the letter with a bit of a story:

      Last Friday night I sat down with the family to organise a birthday party for my son. I knew that as a 14 year old boy he'd love to go paint-balling with him and 20 of his closest friends. I recalled seeing your company and so googled Paint-balling in Narnia and I was shocked at the result.
      .

      I'm sure you get the idea

      Any questions please ask
      Eric
      Thanks Eric!

      I might do a few mini campaigns based on ideas like this and see how it goes. I actually used to work in the construction industry so I do genuinely know of a lot of companies who aren't on page 1 which I could use this method for. For example, "A friend of mine needed a landscaper, i recommended you but you we couldn't find you on the internet and he decided to give it a miss and try someone on page 1 instead"

      Thanks again!
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