Stories in email marketing

13 years ago

I decide on the point I want to make in the e-mail and
then look for stories that illustrate the point well.

Firstly, I look at my own experience to see if I can
share relevant stories from my own business or
personal life.

Personal stories are usually better because they make
you more real and build a stronger connection with your
subscribers.

If that draws a blank, I then look at other people's
experiences/stories to illustrate the point. That could
be from my own clients, my mentors, my peers, my
family or friends.

I also read a lot and watch interesting documentaries
to build up a reserve of stories I can use to make points
well.

Dedicated to mutual success,

Shaun

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drewfioravanti

13 years ago

I heard the scratching in the walls.

I was sitting at my computer the other morning.

I get up early. Reall early. We're talking 5 AM.

It's still dark. I am generally groggy.

I sit there, sipping my coffee. Checking my email.

Since it is so early. And still dark. It's quiet.

Almost spooky quiet.

Sometimes I have to make a wakeup call for the birds...

But more on that later.

So there I am, half asleep. Wishing I was 100% asleep.

Checking my emails. Sipping my coffee.

Are you following? Good.

Onward.

So the other morning I was there reading some email about
some new email service when I heard a noise.

This was odd because the only noises I hear this early are the birds.

And this was not a bird. They're still asleep.

It sounded like it was coming from the other room.

I thought maybe my dog was in there sniffing around.

So, I got up to check.

I went into the kitchen...where the noise was coming from.

Nothing.

No dog. No noise.

As I was walking back to my computer. And coffee...

I heard the scratching in the walls.

I knew what it was. Immdeiately.

A mouse!

Now I was annoyed.

Home Depot doesn't open until I don't know when, but I aint going before 9.

So, 9 comes and off I go.

I go to the rodent erradication section, looking for a trap.

Have you tried buying a mouse trap lately?

They have more options than my Scion.

Regular traps. Glue traps. Hotel traps. Humane traps.

I was like a woman looking into the closet, trying to figure out what shoes to wear.

(No offense)

And then I realized...

There is more than one way to solve any problem.

Some that will work for you. And some you would never touch.

I would never touch the glue traps. That's just wrong.

This used to happen to me every time I started a new site...

I'd spend hours looking for a new theme for every site.

It got ridiculous and I had to put an end to the madness.

I decided, right then, that I wouldn't waste any more time looking for themes.

I was just going to buy the best solution for my problem...

And one that I could use over and over again.

Just like the humane trap I bought.

The humane trap actually traps the mouse instead of killing it.

And then you release it back into the wild in your mother-in-law's backyard.

Not really.

But maybe.

So, I got OptimizePress.

It solves all of my problems...sales pages, squeeze pages, membership, blog...

And for one price you can use it over and over again.

You can get it here.

Good luck.

Drew "The Mouseketeer" Fioravanti

PS - I did some research on that new email service. I'm not quite done yet, but it looks promising.

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joseph7384 13 years ago

[DELETED]

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- travlinguy 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by joseph7384
  
  I'm a bit lost, are you selling cats or are you an affiliate for mouse traps.
  
  Yeah, I was drawn in at first but it didn't go anywhere. I stopped reading after the 7th or 8th line.
  
  Thanks
  
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Creativistenterprise

13 years ago

Everyone has stories to tell, and those stories can easily be relatable to your business venture, even if, through Outwards appearance, it doesn't seem so.

For instance, I remember sending one email in which I equated "building a business" with Sun Tzu's "Art of war"
Specifically emphasizing the importance of initially having a plan or outline before you "go into battle", since Planning is half the battle.

Do not be afraid to ask for help from the "muse" side of your mind.

Alot of people tend to tackle the canvas (in your case, the canvas is the empty email message) like a critique. Don't shut away ideas or stories you think are banal and uninteresting.

I think the best thing you could do right now, is get a timer and set it for 5 minutes and just simply write. You already know what your intention is, so now you should just write without stopping for 5minutes. What you'll witness within the 1st 30sec is a floodgate of "stuff" that suddenly makes sense pouring into your email.

Originally Posted by Edwin Torres

For those of you who are familiar with Autoresponder Madness, and similar products that teach users to write stories in emails where do you find/come up with stories to use?

I've been having a hard time lately finding stuff in my personal life to use and if I do find something there isn't a marketing tip I can associate it with always.

Any tips?

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kevyiba

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Edwin Torres

For those of you who are familiar with Autoresponder Madness, and similar products that teach users to write stories in emails where do you find/come up with stories to use?

I've been having a hard time lately finding stuff in my personal life to use and if I do find something there isn't a marketing tip I can associate it with always.

Any tips?

There are many places that you can get stories. Here's a list to help spark a few ideas for you.

Chidhood
School days
Job or 1st ever job
Major disaster
1st sale
How you started new business
Any successes
Any failures
Mentors
Family
Dating
Friends
Sport
Hobbies or interests

I hope this helps give you some ideas

Kev

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Dennisknows

13 years ago

Originally Posted by kevyiba

Childhood
School days
Job or 1st ever job
Major disaster
1st sale
How you started new business
Any successes
Any failures
Mentors
Family
Dating
Friends
Sport
Hobbies or interests

Man that's a good list. I'm saving that to evernote. This is an area I was struggling with too.. I've made thousands via email marketing but I know I've left a lot on the table.

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C. Sierra Love 13 years ago

Edwin,

It's been a while since I've been through the
Autoresponder Madness course but if I recall
correctly, it's focus was on the "what to do";
not necessarily how to do it. Very valuable...

Unfortunately, you're left with the question you
just posed. How to write valuable content on a
continuous basis. Here's my suggestion:

Use your Core Story, Core Myth...some may
call it your USP as the focus of all your emails.
That way you are narrowing your focus in your
conversations so you are consistent & congruent
in all of your conversations...instead of speaking
on several different "personality" stories that
may entertain but not move the client closer to
accepting your message which should also plant
the seeds for them to desire your offerings.

Hope that helps!

P.S. Also, when you narrow your conversations to
your Core Message, you can use all of the subject
matters noted above this post to create content with
purpose to keep your clients engaged.
- Thanks
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WallyKyle50

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Edwin Torres

For those of you who are familiar with Autoresponder Madness, and similar products that teach users to write stories in emails where do you find/come up with stories to use?

I've been having a hard time lately finding stuff in my personal life to use and if I do find something there isn't a marketing tip I can associate it with always.

Any tips?

Sit down and just start. I send out 3 email a day to my list.You are not that interesting to them, nor am I. They don't care about your clever repartee.But if they trust you...you'll rule the day. Be you!

Thanks

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Raydal

13 years ago

With the Internet at your fingertips you are literally swimming
in a sea of stories. News, social media, anecdotes, .. the list
goes on. Every story doesn't have to come from your personal
life, but you do have to read to 'run into' those stories.

I have to preach often so I find illustrations in books that
are written for that purpose, like the Encyclopedia of
7700 Illustrations. You'll find that the best stories
come from your own experience and you'll have to
get into the habit of writing them down when they
come to you. You'll be surprised how easily you forget.

-Ray Edwards

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patadeperro

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Raydal

With the Internet at your fingertips you are literally swimming
in a sea of stories. News, social media, anecdotes, .. the list
goes on. Every story doesn't have to come from your personal
life, but you do have to read to 'run into' those stories.

Careful here, I dont agree with what you say, in fact I think you are confusing information with stories, from my point of view there is a need of more and better stories, stories to deliver the information people are looking for.

I would suggest to the OP to go to the copywriting forum where there is a ton of resources about how to write better stories.

Thanks

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Coby

13 years ago

You stress too much Edwin... You're doing fine with your emails

But like Shaun said, I think the best stories relate to your daily life somehow.

Cheers,
Coby

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art72

13 years ago

My advice... hire Drew (post #3) he's obviously a copywriter, lol. That was pretty wicked writing man!

I actual think that post just made me see my wife's cat in a more receptive way, and induce my brain to add some killer 'hooks' through email marketing.

Thanks

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JasonBennet

13 years ago

If we observe carefully, there are many stories that are happening around us. Haha it is up to our creativity to use it. I like to subscribe to Igor Khefeits list as he always has a interesting way to write the email and I tend to open his email to read. It takes some creativity but it is worth it as more people read the email.

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Edwin Torres

13 years ago

Thanks for the great tips guys.

I'll try to make it a habit to observe any stories or interesting situations during the day.

Thanks

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JimDucharme

13 years ago

Let me tell you a little story about a morning radio host I once worked with. He always had these great stories about real issues which people were discussing locally. Keep in mind that this is back in early eighties before the internet. When I asked him where he got such great material, he told me that once or twice a week he would take a ride on a random city bus and just listen to what people were talking about -- what was important to people this week? What was the buzz. He'd ride along on the bus till it stopped at a local diner, then he'd hop off and have breakfast and evesdrop on some more local conversation. According to him, one of these trips a week would be enough for a whole week's worth of prep (content).

As I always say, it's not important what your product does...it's important what people do with it. Tell those stories. Don't be afraid to ask people for content either. It's a great way IMO to make a connection with people.

And it's not always linear either. A tie-in to your product or service can simply come from you telling people about how sunny it's been around your place and how you've been enjoying spring. Share a little of yourself -- this builds the relationship.

Regards,
jim

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aerm85

13 years ago

Thanks to you Edwin for this post.. It's incredible the way that you can connect with your list using our stories...

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Rishy 13 years ago

How about this one, I had used it for fitness niche..

Welcome again. Before I share with you the download link of
the first audio series, I want to tell you about a funny
incident that happened between me and my daughter recently.

My six year old daughter loves watching cartoons
but as a parent I am always a bit concerned about the
increasing violence in cartoons these days.

I would rather prefer her to watch something that is
value based and non-violent.

Of late I've noticed that she has been telling a lot of
LIES. So I decided to show her an old Disney cartoon
movie Pinocchio.

If you're a die hard Disney fan then I'm sure that you
would have heard about the movie.

If not there is a link to the same here below.
It will certainly help set the stage for something
as important as what I have to tell you today.
.
.

I hope you noticed how Pinocchio's Nose grows
too long when he tells LIES?

When I showed it to my daughter, she asked me
very innocently, "Mama will my nose grow long too if I lie?
If so then I promise that I will never lie again."

Huh! Did you notice how easy it was to convince a
child to stop telling lies?

But how the heck do we CONVINCE the Fitness and Diet Gurus?
Their every word of nutrition and weight loss advice is
just BLATANT LIES.

Now before I tell you what these lies are..

Let me also introduce you to a very good friend of mine
Vic Magary.

Vic is a former ARMY SOLDIER.
Now you know how fit soldiers are.
Tall and good looking with broad shoulders but Vic was no
where near good looking before he joined the army.

He was the kinda guy that no girl would ever want to give a
second look.

Vic wanted to lose his weight to join the army and he was
in a hurry to lose it fast because he had to
join the army camp soon.

I did try to explain him that his strategy for
losing weight fast is not correct, especially his diet.

Vic thought I was crazy because I was telling him the
exact opposite to what the fitness and diet gurus were
preaching.

When Vic came back from the army to meet me, I had to
rub my eyes several times because I was shocked to
see a totally transformed Vic.

In fact in just a matter of a month he had transformed
from a overweight,bulky guy to a lean,strong
muscular hunk.

Losing up to 20 pounds in 31 days.

I said, "Vic, I'm glad to see that you managed to
lose a lot of weight so fast,but what the hell did you do?"

He said that he was shocked to hear the same advice given
in the army (what I was trying to tell him all along)
regarding weight loss. These secret strategies helped him
lose weight fast.

Vic felt hurt that he was scammed and now he wanted the
world to know the real truths about weight loss so that
they don't get scammed like him.

I told him," Vic don't be in a hurry.
First of all people won't believe you when 99.9% of the
advice is just the other way around."

But he was a man possessed now. Nothing could stop him
from telling the world because the secret strategy had
worked for him.

He didn't believe me initially too and so tomorrow when
this same strategy works for his clients, they too will
happily vouch for him, that's what he told me.

I felt Vic was destined for this. He was like
the good Pinocchio who will only speak the truth.

When Vic recorded his very first audio "3 Lies of Fat Loss",
he gave me a review copy which you can download from the
link below.

Inside which, Vic will debunk certain myths about
weight loss..

1.Hours in the gym won't help you lose weight....

2.Fat will not make you fat....

3.Magical potions for losing weight?.....

Blah, Blah....

I don't want to reveal more, listen to the audio. I will
let Vic do all the talking.

In my next mail, I will reveal to you MORE LIES that the
PINOCCHIO'S OF FITNESS INDUSTRY are telling!

Do tune into my next episode tomorrow.

Broadcast LIVE in your mailbox.

PS: Sometimes I secretly wish that all the fitness and diet
gurus should face the same fate as Pinocchio.

Their noses should grow so BLOODY long that they will think
twice before they try to scam YOU again.

Sincerely,
- Thanks
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danielph

13 years ago

Very nice post, and seems you are doing all ok. Nothing to improve as well. I will follow some of your ideas!

Thanks

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travlinguy

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Edwin Torres

For those of you who are familiar with Autoresponder Madness, and similar products that teach users to write stories in emails where do you find/come up with stories to use?

I've been having a hard time lately finding stuff in my personal life to use and if I do find something there isn't a marketing tip I can associate it with always.

Any tips?

If you can weave personal stories into your marketing you will do very well. I've written many landing pages that did just that. The question I would always get was, Yeah, but isn't making up stories to sell stuff dishonest?

I believe it is dishonest. But who says you have to make anything up? As has already been mentioned, you try to personally relate with a story of your own. If that won't work look for someone you know and tell their story. If there's no one you know personally then look to history or to current events.

There are literally millions of personal stories that can be used to sell. Here are just a few ideas of the types of stories that you can relate to your products:

Overcoming adversity
Accepting a tough challenge and meeting your goal
Overcoming illness
The battle between good and evil
The underdog that wins
Working hard and striking it rich

The list is endless. Look at those ideas. I'd bet everyone here could come up with a dozen real people, people we would all recognize, and relate what they're selling to the theme.

Overcoming adversity. Perfect if you're selling an MMO product to people who haven't made their first buck yet. Same for the underdog and for working hard and striking it rich.

If you've got the chops to tell compelling stories in your promotions you'll never go hungry.

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Stuart Walker

13 years ago

A lot of people can't think of stories to tell because they actually have never been involved in the niche they are marketing too. If you've got experience in it you'll tend to have plenty of stories.

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