Has anyone ever done cold emails for local marketing?

Prepare to send thousands without any prospect becoming a lead. If you do it manually, you'll invest a lot of time without good results.

Cold emails, easily one of my favorite activities but it's not for a beginner. It has taken me years to figure it out and still takes a lot of adjusting.

Of experience may vary, but cold email marketing doesn't really work. Email marketing works, but it's all about building a list. Even if you have a list, sending it can be a challenge. Most reputable email services won't allow you to send through a list you bought (Constant Contact will ban your account). If you do it on your own there is a lot of work involved and odds are it still won't even hit the inbox.

Also, even if you decide to do it, you'll pay through the nose to get emails with InfoFree.

Cold email marketing works. I've done it manually and I've done it automatically.

It really is about finding people who are going to be the most receptive to what you have to offer.

I don't really use it much, but I've mainly used it when approaching potential JV partners, as I don't need to be as well-positioned. And cold emailing can really damage your positioning.

Also, the fact that leads are so few and far between with this method, I like to make sure that they are highly valuable. And JV leads are the most valuable to me in the long run.

I would rather cut off my left pinky then do cold calls or email blast people to get leads. (That might effect my typing speed though)

Attend Business Mixers, Join a Networking Group, Leverage LinkedIn or run Paid Facebook Ads to Business Owners.

There are more ways...but those are my top 4.

Good luck :-)

A couple of weeks ago forum member Underground was part of a thread where he brought up some interesting ideas --- he got a lot of flak and pushback from the things he mentioned but I actually pursued some of those things. So... pretty much every source I mention is credited to him.

Anyway....

Yes. In fact, my biggest sale for the most expensive item in my inventory. This came from a CONVERSATION that was started from a 100% genuine cold email. I used Mobile Renegade to pull email addresses for my niche, Microsoft Excel to thoroughly clean the list, and a free but simple email client to send out messages.

The bottom line with an effective cold email in my assessment (it's not really "mine", just my observation and agreement): do NOT sell. It must be very short and to the point, personal and ask for something specific in order to solicit something that YOU want.

One way is to just ask for a referral. I liken this to Jason Kanigan's "Little Unsure Technique" for getting thru to decision makers. Here's one of the links Underground posted: Why Sales People shouldn't Prospect - An interview with Aaron Ross | For Entrepreneurs (scrolll down about 1/4 way down to get to the specific part I am referencing)

Treat the email as a prospecting technique, not as an actual way to solicit a sale. And I would consider your desire to get a call-back to be actually "selling" --- it's still just a bit too early in the process I think. So, just slow down! It's the same with any effective phone prospecting I think -- some of the most effective times on the phone for me have been when I am able to engage someone, not just ring them up and blast my offer at them. So, don't do it in a cold email either.

"Who would be the best person to ask a question about...." Or something like that. Again, keep it simple. I've even had success adding: "Preferably the <title of decision maker>". Seemed to work good for my niche (small businesses).

This of course means replies are just a start to a conversation and you should expect to have 2-4 more depending upon how your word copy controls the flow of the conversation. In the end you will need to have some type of call to action --- whether that is an appointment, an opt-in page or something.

...the point is this: anyone who says, "cold email doesn't work" is saying that because they are probably simply trying to sell in their cold email. Completely ignoring or missing the idea that, hey, I can actually have GOOD conversations with my prospects and actually move those conversations into appointments, product demos, product education, sales, etc.... But you have to drop the notion of a stereotypical spam campaign.

I have had good success with cold emails to local businesses. However, I do a lot of research on the businesses I want to target and I write the emails to specific market niches. Out of 200 cold emails sent, got 7 inquiries, made appointments and closed all 7. My method takes time, because I do my research and send them manually, but it pays well.

I have yet to master the cold email blast technique, although I'd like to. Hmmm, maybe by the end of the year.

One of my most successful email campaigns was to "give away" websites to a certain business type nationwide. My plan was to give them the site then upsell them on SEO and customizations. To my surprise virtually no one wanted the free site (based on a premium wordpress site I panned on cloning) but some did want to hire me to make them a different type of website, usually one that looked like one of their competitors!

So while the free offer site was not taken too often it did present me as someone who knew how to design good looking and functional sites.

As for the email itself it is all in how you word it. Short is better. Long drawn out emails will look like copy and pasted spam. The short ones are spam too of course but somehow less obvious.

And you need an effective bulk email system to make it work.