If you own any kind of business that has at least a tiny web presence, then you are probably sending out emails to your customers.
Whether you are contacting them on a frequent basis (just like us at the Underdog Millionaire) or you are occasionally sending them something to remind them you are alive, you want your customer to open the darn thing first, right?
Just like getting your customer to open your direct mail, there is a nice tactic that you can use to have your customers flock to open your emails as if their lives depended on it…
…and actually that is EXACTLY how you are going to position it.
We are talking about fear marketing…
woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Now before you get your brain in a tizzy over this, we are not about to do ANYTHING illegal or unethical, so keep your itchy finger off of the “unsubscribe” button for just a second and hear me out.
Fear based marketing is a positioning tactic that you are going to take with your product. It’s all about removing a pain in the customer’s life.
People will bend over backwards to get some sort of pain out of their lives, spending almost anything necessary to IMPROVE their situation, but they will delay adding pleasure for all kinds of different reasons.
When you add fear marketing to mix, you are showing your customer that they will face some kind of a loss if they don’t purchase your product, or their quality of life could be worse without you in their lives.
You are not going to terrify your prospect, although that sometimes works.
You are just going to give them a little nudge over the cliff to get them to start thinking about “what if” situations, where something bad could be happening to them if they don’t purchase your product.
For example:
Let’s say that you own a car repair shop that specialized in brakes. The headline of your customer email might read “Did you know that the number one cause of traffic fatalities is brake failure? Protect your family today”
Maybe you own a landscaping company and you are pushing mulch this month- “Did you know that without mulch, you could lose thousands of dollars in landscaping in a single, hot day?”
…or maybe you have a professional consulting business of some kind that sell intangible products- “How the average business owner can get sued if they avoid doing this one thing”
It’s all about getting that email opened. Remember, you can write the best mail possible, but if there are no eyeballs looking at it, then you have wasted your time.
Fear marketing is just another tool in your small business toolbox. It’s not something that you will use every day, but when you do, it can have a BIG impact on your open rate.
If you want to learn even more about copywriting and you want the simplest way to develop a sales letter, advertisement, or even an email that sells like golden hotcakes, then click on over to the Underdog Sales Letter System.
NOW it’s your turn. Give me an example of when you were influenced, or have influenced your customers with fear-based marketing.
Until tomorrow,
Joshua Black
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{ 9 comments }
This stuff works.
The reason I know this? It’s because I’m on your email list and I read the article on my iPhone last night.
Great article Joshua, I tend to think of copywriting as a black art, to some extent I guess it is, but proven techniques do work and it’s something I’m getting to learn, so thanks for sharing.
Thanks Matthew,
Copywriting isn’t really a black art, since you cannot force anyone to buy something they don’t want. It’s more of a study of human psychology, where you find things that people do like and then press their hot buttons to encourage them to respond and reward themselves with your product. A good marketer is just out there trying to help people by giving them more of what they are looking for.
-Joshua Black
Hey Joshua,
Great post. I have been trying to improve my email marketing skills. I recently started a new campaign where I generated over 200 leads in less than a week.
I have not been able to call everyone back, so I started to send out emails.
Thank you for the value.
BTW- would you be interested in joining a syndication tribe on Facebook? I mentioned your name to our group leader, Ana Hoffman. The tribe is by invitation only and doesn’t allow anything to be submitted. You publish great stuff and wanted to ask you if you were interested.
Talk to you soon,
Tommy D.
Thanks Tommy,
I will take that offer into consideration. Email is a powerful sales tool when used correctly, but the results will not be as good as you would get through direct mailing.
-Joshua Black
Small coincidence, I’d never heard of Anna Hoffman until today when Alex Whalley recommended it.
Here’s her blog http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/ – it looks good.
Yes, she seems to have some pretty good information on her blog.
I agree with your tips, Email Marketing is very effective but if used in the right direction.
Great article, and good tips … I’m glad I came across this article, since my lists are just starting to grow.
Thanks for stopping by Vitaly. Don’t get discouraged with list building. It takes time, but can be very lucrative once your list is big enough, with qualified buyers.
-Joshua Black
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