Innovating The Ordinary
Inrepco LLC
* Improving your Sales is our Business * Pairs Suppliers & Sellers Worldwide * Like a dating app... for INDUSTRY
By Michael H. "Mick" Kaplan with Tibor Bartalos
February 2023
Not Sure If You Saw My Last Email…
Lately I’ve been getting too many “wrong” emails.
How is that possible? The address is correct. My name is spelled right.
But I have a feeling they weren’t meant for me. I mean, me – not the thousands of others who got the same email. This morning’s batch included pitches for SEO, a 10% sale on personal assistants in Manila, and a notification that I had just won a chance to attend Davos in 2023.*
Wow! That’s three topics of no interest to me. Let’s hope they didn’t pay too much for that prospects list.
Thankfully, it only took a minute to select and delete them all simultaneously. Hey, maybe I deleted one of yours this morning.
How many millions of emails got deleted since you started reading this article? More than 20 million?
Let’s be clear. This article is not a rant. It’s a gift, with several easy-to-implement ideas to help you?INNOVATE THE ORDINARY.
If you send emails and if you care about revenue, keep reading. Otherwise, as Meghan Trainor sings it, “If that’s not what you’re into, then go ahead and move along.” No treble.
What follows are practical suggestions that could increase sales for your company. After all, without sales, there is no business.?
Change The (Email) Attitude
A colleague of mine with enviable business savvy, Mr. Tibor Bartalos, recently advised, “Change the attitude of email.”
That’s it. Mr. Bartalos summed it up brilliantly in five words.
What does it mean? It means there are other (read: better) ways to utilize an email for marketing. Tibor was referring to the actual email. The content, the subject line, and even the recipient.?
But he also refers to you, the sender – your purpose, expectations, and commitment.?
In this article, we’ll briefly explore three concepts related to Tibor’s insight:
Let us know if you profit from any of these suggestions. We’d like to celebrate with you.
Having A Wonderful Time, Wish You Were Here
Sometimes nothing but a formal letter will do. A request for a job interview. An invitation to sit on the board of directors. And the ever popular notice of termination. (Your services are no longer required…)
Marketing is different. And that includes emails. The good news is that making changes can be easy, simple, and painless -- with NO IMPACT on your budget. We're talking BABY STEPS, not a three-minute mile.
Here’s an example of an easy technique you can try.
Eliminate the salutation:
It’s an email. It is not a formal letter. Salutations in emails do not improve content. However, they do take up space.?
More importantly, those superfluous words delay readers, like me, from reaching your crucial point.
It’s not about being polite. It’s something more important.
Respect your audience. They are smart. They know the email was intended for them because you sent it to their email address. Time is money, so respect their time. Anything you can do to save them time is a good thing.?Less is more.
The next time you intend to send an email, write it and wait. Ten minutes later, read it. Better yet, read it aloud. Do this twice. First with the salutation, and then without it.
Was your message weaker the second time sans the salutation? No. Why not? Because a greeting does not make your message any more compelling. And the rules of grammar don’t apply.
An email is more like a postcard than a letter.
Postcards are terrific; they have a small space for text, and usually come with a picture on the front.
Who doesn’t like getting postcards? They’re harmless. No one complains when they get a postcard. Good ones can be amusing, eye-catching, or even provocative.
Less text to read means they often DO get read.
That’s worth repeating. Less text to read means they often DO get read.
Don’t you wish your marketing emails got that kind of attention? Less trash, more opportunities.
Next time try this. Use a postcard as your email template. If it helps, buy a postcard and edit your marketing copy to fit on it. It’s more challenging than it sounds.
Note: Writing copy is an art and a science, and has been discussed in countless articles and textbooks. If you want to read from one of the most remarkable “ad men” of all time, get a copy of David Ogilvy’s “Confessions of an Advertising Man.” Don’t miss Chapter 6, “How to Write Potent Copy.”
If you need more convincing, consider this vital but subtle point. Most people look at a postcard before deciding whether to toss it in the trash or display it on the refrigerator door.
For a brief moment, most postcards get attention. Isn’t that what you want for your marketing? And for your emails?
Making A List, Checking It Twice
Garments made with spandex are almost a cure-all for fit, function and fashion. We wear it because it flatters our appearance. It’s like the panacea for pants, the summit for shorts, and the tour de force for tops. Imagine Santa in SPANX. You get the idea.
Sadly, marketing emails are not made of spandex. They don’t stretch. (Except maybe the truth.) So why are most marketing emails treated as a one-size-fits-all, perfect stretch for everyone, product?
The answer is that it’s easier than any alternative.
Earlier in this article I wrote, “Let’s hope they didn’t pay too much for that prospects list.” That wasn’t meant to be funny.?
Today it is de rigueur to buy lists for email campaigns. That’s how companies like yours can “touch” thousands or millions in a few seconds. And that won’t change. It’s too easy, too convenient, and too affordable not to buy lists for blast emails. Besides, marketing departments love to tout those numbers, especially to impress the CEO.
So why aren’t the results more lucrative?
Because one size does not fit all. Your potential clients want / demand to be recognized as individuals with unique needs and wants. They do not want to be one of the few strands of spaghetti that stick to the wall.
The good news is that there are alternatives. The bad news is that it takes work, time and commitment to “change the attitude” of a marketing email.?
Instead of buying a list, consider the benefits of assembling your own laser-focused list of prospects. It takes effort to do the research. But if done right, you’ll create a growing directory of very high potential (qualified) candidates. And those are the prospects worthy of your energy and investment.?
Naturally, this includes personalized messaging and content that appeals to each unique prospect. It takes work.
If this idea makes you uncomfortable, that's good. Contrary to popular opinion, marketing is hard work. But when done right, it works.
By the way, is it a coincidence that so many different images are printed on postcards? Racks are filled with them at popular tourist destinations. Why? Because a picture that appeals to one person may annoy another. The opportunity to choose the best postcard image of Tokyo or London is directly related to our desire to be individuals with unique needs and wants.?
Try this experiment: continue with your current marketing activities, but schedule time to research and develop a mini directory. This should consist only of high potential accounts. Start with just three. Research them, and create a custom message tailored for each. Next, reach out to each with content designed just for them. Finally, be sure to track your results. Don't be surprised if the ratio of "winners" (including direct contact with the prospect) exceeds your mass messaging efforts.
There are companies today embracing the concept of higher potential marketing as a better business strategy. Later in this article, we’ll look at one.
Do You SEE What I Mean?
Let’s continue to innovate the ordinary. If this next idea is new to you, we think you’ll like it.
The objective is to jumpstart your marketing email program for increased attention, excitement, and conversions.
First, let’s look at a traditional marketing email method. Next, we’ll see it in a whole new light.?
You could send an email with copy like this"
BEGIN
Your company, Widgets Inc, needs to eat… Meet Royal Lunch Box.
The freshest, tastiest lunches delivered right to your door, right on time.
Place your order on our friendly website and prepare to eat like a royal.
<Click here to get hungry>
PS Staff will love you if you splurge once in a while!
END
It’s all right. It’s brief and to the point. It’s common. It’s boring. It isn't tasty.
But what if this email was?more than just text?
What if the content was embedded as an image, with a clickable link?
Like this:
Yes, it’s precisely the same content. But with an entirely different impact. No, it is not an attachment. It IS the email, with the image embedded into the body. No additional text required.
An email with minimal text but with an image. That sounds almost like a postcard.?
This version was just one example. You can do the same for your product or service.?
Chances are that this second example will?get seen?more than the plain text version. That is the goal. Right?
Innovate The Ordinary
The concepts explored here share one theme: business can benefit from innovating the ordinary.?
From not treating emails as formal letters to choosing quality over quantity (individual’s needs vs. blast emails) or turning the humble postcard into an email template, your company can profit by innovating the ordinary.
Does this sound familiar??
It should. It closely resembles the Japanese concept of “Kaizen” (改善), which encourages continuous improvement, from products to processes.
A few businesses today are innovating the ordinary with impressive results. One such company is Virginia-based Inrepco. Their private platform for industry replaces outdated systems while improving global supply chains and sales channels worldwide.
You, too, can implement and benefit from the concepts presented in this article. If you do, or if you have comments, contact the author at?[email protected].?
*To the person who emailed me about attending Davos next year, my calendar is open, and I don’t mind sharing a private jet.