Know, Like and Trust emails???

Hi John, so you're trying to get your email marketing campaign off to a great start... and you've have been told that you should have 2-4 emails developing the know, like and trust factor. That's a start.

I'm currently on the verge of slapping my head on the keyboard. You see, I might fall over any moment after all of my work in the past few hours, but here you go, a little block of text for you...

Might you have a friend that you trust, know and like? Someone that rouses a brilliant, lifting feeling that sends you off into the air each time you meet him? Perhaps you might notice what makes you like him... Maybe it is the way he behaves? Possibly, I don't know, might you remember how he reciprocates your favors or questions with his actions and words?

You could remember in your daily life that in normal circumstances, someone you like or respect gives you a certain vibe of value. Someone who is influential? Perhaps your family member? A singer? A skateboarder? Are you thinking of someone now?

He or she might be the kind to reciprocate your favors or you might be doing favors for him (triggering a form of consistency where people like people whom they do favors for). He might buy you a drink or two, he might listen out to your problems, he might like what you like. Make sense?

It's a kind of "exciting" personality. What makes you a amicable or a despicable human being? Does your heart lift or does it pound with rage? Maybe you would want to develop a certain mannerism, a certain reciprocation, a certain behavior, a certain way with words. Still on so far?

You could imagine the other hundreds of email marketers who compete with you for space in their inbox... Yes, that's right... Hundreds of them. Imagine hundreds of postmen lining up in a queue at your prospect's mail box... Yours being one of them. Can you stand out from them? How do you become an authority that warrants a star on your mail... an authority that makes them beam up when they see a mail from you? What would it be?

Branding would be a close answer. Yes, personal branding is extremely important. Fans adore idols because they represent a certain feature, a role that they would want to be in. If you loved singing, would you respect and love a person who could sing outstandingly? If you love golf, would you respect a master golfer? If you love marketing, would you yearn for the knowledge of experts? We mimic the actions of idols. You could bear with me here a little longer as I explain...

You might call it a form of polished rapport. Psychologists call it an authority figure. A form that weakens your logical factor simply because whatever an authority figure says is true. Are you still with me here?

It might sound a little dark and unethical to you, but gradually if you think about it, we are all unconsciously controlling the responses of other people with our verbal and nonverbal communication in real life (and of course, written emails remove that.) We trade in emotions and knowledge like the traders in Silk Road. It's like Wall Street... Hundreds of invisible transactions flying around like darts and arrows. Still making sense, I hope?

Here is where you might want to compare yourself to many email marketers out there. What kind of person do you want to be? How energized and powerful do you want to be?

1) You need some form of authority for people to believe you. You need to be an expert and be consistent in what you're saying. Logical, right?

2) You need them to give them something in value. People have a huge tendency to want to reciprocate. If you give them something in value, it burns them inside. It's like some inner ego pestering them to return the favor. That's why we normally refuse tiny gifts like brochures. Or why we sometimes cannot resist using discount coupons!

Sometimes, we're flooded with so many "gifts" like birthday presents, that it nullifies and dilutes the effect. It's all about contrast. For example, if your wife receives a gift from you on a boring workday, it's a "surprise!" and that effect skyrockets as compared to giving it on an expected day like her birthday. What I'm actually saying here is...

The other email marketers do it too. So what you need to do... is give something HUGE in value. Something crazy that will send them chattering. You know, that big gift-wrapped birthday box sitting in the middle, standing out from the rest when you were a child? It's the contrast. Clearer now?

3) Leak out a tiny flaw. People feel distant from people who are too perfect. Don't make the mistake of distancing yourself from your prospect. Don't be afraid to tell them you brush teeth with toothpaste too. It's a normal thing. It's a human thing. Understand my drift?

The first thing you're going to do, is the same in any social context. What do you do when you first see a stranger you want to know more about?

You get interested in the stranger. You do an "Ice Breaker". Be genuinely interested in the customer. Give them a gift, something of value. Leave an impression on them by surprising them, pattern-interrupting them.

It's really common sense, if you think about it now... Isn't it?

P.S. I'll keep some bits for myself... But these are probably enough for you to set your own path. Test them... You really don't know if it works unless you test them. Because while copywriting is salesmanship-in-print, it doesn't adapt to feedback in real-time like a salesman.

P.P.S. If you made it to the bottom of this post, you might realize something. At the start of this post, I remarked,"I forced myself to write this post despite exhaustion", and you reciprocated by reading it all. You did, didn't you? So... That's how point 2 works.

That has got to be one the hardest aspects of internet marketing. Getting to know your subscribers and gaining their trust. I believe you have to understand why they opted in to your newsletter or emails in the first place.

Whatever niche it is, you have to try to go into the problems that people are experiencing. Check forums, blogs, get into google alerts to find out the latest information and see if you can identify what the main issues are. Then create emails around those problems and offer some solutions.

Don't try and sell anything right off the bat but concentrate on giving helpful tips, insights into problems that other people are experiencing. And of course, you can certainly ask your subscribers what is on their minds through polls or just through replying to your emails.

thehorizon......thanks for the post even though you were exhausted and yes I did read all the way through because I wanted the information. Thank you very much for the suggestion to think about someone that helps us become better people. I definitely have something to work with now.

Jim Guererro,

I had a training earlier that you reminded me about so I am going to go an watch that again. It said something about a survey or poll to gain further information.

Thanks again guys.

Anyone else reading this, more ideas would be greatly appreciated and helpful.

Thanks

There's some great advice here no doubt, and as someone who has been honing my email campaigns over the past year I've found that the two things that have worked for me are:

1. Offer real value (even in the pitch emails)
2. Be real...your subscribers are your friends first and foremost...treat them that way. With respect. People will know and notice this...and in turn will trust you more.

Check these out for some good info:

http://www.warriorforum.com/blogs/jay-white/

http://www.youtube.com/user/EmailCopyMadeEasy/videos

http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...er-series.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...er-series.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...l-content.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...ack-split.html

Also sign up for the mailing lists of Matt Furey, Eban Pagan (David D'Angelo), and Ben Settle to get some first rate examples of how to do email.

Thanks Joe for the links. I will definitely be looking those up for sure.

ZaphodBeebleBox I appreciate the input.

I appreciate everyone that provides great value.

You guys are awesome.

I'm gonna make it real simple for you...

If you had a cure for cancer,and people joined your email list, would you spend 3-4 emails trying to play "know, like, trust" games with them, or would you just tell them what you've got?

My point is, get a damn good offer in place, and show it to your list. If its good, they'll probably buy it. From that point on, they will automatically know, like and trust you.

These are voodoo goorooo secrets of the webz that they will never tell you... Because they never knew they existedz.

I added myself to Matt Furey's list few days ago. Strange things happened though...

When I signed up with my Gmail email address, none of his emails were delivered, none, nada! I thought he had retired =)

To receive his daily emails I had to enter my hotmail email address. Go figure!

I recently used Ray Edwards' (known as Raydal here at the forum) autoresponder course to write a series of 10 emails. It's an excellent product with templates.

I think that would do the job for you.

Best,

Thomas O'Malley

Guitar78, maybe those emails are in your Microsoft Outlooks?

Yes may be that will be in you outlooks inbox. First you have to enter your email address.