How To Email Industry Experts And Get Responses Fast?

One of the most important ways to promote your blog or website is to reach out to influencers in your industry. If you are able to successfully network with influencers, you might be able to convince them to get involved with your site. A single guest blog by an influencer or industry expert could drive tons of traffic to your blog and give you increased credibility.

So you don't know what an influencer is? The term "influencer" seems kind of vague but there are those out there who are trying to define what it means. The Cool Brands blog defines an influencer as being a "person who is well-connected and who is regarded as influential and in-the-know." This is a person who is "looked to for advice, direction, knowledge and opinions." Influencers have the most influence over potential customers and marketing activities are often oriented around them. Given the typical influencer's audience and connection, reaching out to them seems like a no-brainer.

Contacting influencers is a must, but how do you reach out successfully? After all, it would not be good if you sent an inappropriate email and embarrassed yourself in front of an influencer you were trying to impress. This post tells you what to do and not do when emailing industry experts. You will learn how to compose the right email that encourages a response and how to strike the right tone that will lead to future collaboration.

How to compose an email to your industry experts?

1) Come up with a clear purpose to the email: Think about why you are writing the email and what you want the influencer to do after reading it. Being clear with your purpose in the beginning, pre-writing stage will lead to a coherent and clear email in the end.

2) Use an effective subject line: Influencers receive hundreds of emails a day, in fact, they typically receive more emails than they can possibly read through in one day. Unlike most people, influencers don't open each email that they receive. Instead, they look through the subject lines to determine which ones they are going to open. Make sure your subject line is effective and that it tells the influencer why they need to open the email. It should be crafted just as you might craft a headline. Stay away from vague subject lines that do not communicate a purpose.

3) Use an informal salutation and get to the point: When writing to someone you don't know it is better to use "Hello" rather than using "Dear Mr. Smith," for example. If you also refer to yourself in a similar informal manner, the two of you will be on the same level. After the salutation, get to your point quickly.

4) Make use of an incentive: Detail why the influencer should pay attention to your email. What is in it for them? This can be money or a way to boost their reputation. It also makes sense to highlighting other benefits to contributing. If you have impressive traffic, social stats, or you have helped influencers in the past, you should mention these points.

5) Make your purpose clear: Let the influencer know how the email's text relates to them, otherwise your email will be deleted.

6) Be informal yet courteous: Write in a conversational manner but remember to be courteous and polite. Assume that your email could some day become public and write accordingly.

7) Clear plan of action: Make sure the influencer is clear about what you want them to do.

8) Stay away from long emails: Influencers are busy. The more influential a person is, the busier they are. They don't have time to read your long, unsolicited email. A long email will most likely end up in the trash.

9) Don't ask for anything for free: This makes you look bad and ruins your first impression with the influencer.

10) Prove that you know who you are emailing: Use specific and succinct compliments to let the influencer know that you are familiar with their work and that you took the time to research what they are about. Give them a well-researched reason why it makes sense for them to collaborate with you.

11) Create a deadline: Provide the influencer with a specific timeframe for participation. A sense of urgency might prompt the influencer to respond in a quicker fashion than they otherwise would. Don't give the influencer a week or two to decide to collaborate with you because they will likely forget about your pitch during that time. Never send an influencer a pitch with an open-ended deadline.

Make use of an "information gap"

Industry leaders talk about "an information gap" when they are talking about how to reach out to influencers. According to Wired, the information gap theory of curiosity was first developed by George Loewenstein of Carnegie-Mellon in the early 90s. Lowenstein's idea is that people feel curious when they feel a gap "between what [they] know and what [they] want to know." The gap has emotional consequences that lead us to seek out new knowledge. Lowenstein's information gap can be applied to emailing influencers.

It is a good idea to try to open an information gap in your first email to an influencer. This will make them want to contact you in order to close the gap. For example, you might mention that you came upon a piece of research that might prove interesting to them. However, you don't tell them how to find the research. Instead, you structure it so they have to reach out to you in order to get the information.

In conclusion...

This post has explained what an influencer is and why you might want to reach out to one. You were also presented with tips on how to compose an email to an influencer. This post also explained what an "information gap" is and how you might utilize one to get responses to your emails. Make use of the points brought up in this article when emailing influencers or industry experts, and you will be collaborating with your industry's best and brightest in no time!