Is Email Marketing Dead?

We can hypothesize all day long about how successful email marketing is.

Some are gonna say, “It totally works for me!” While others claim, “My open rates are worse than my chances of finding gold in the Yukon!”

Why the differences in opinion?

IMHO it has to do with customer type. But even more importantly, a lack of education in using the tool. There are things about email marketing that must be understood.

1) A Tool Must Be Mastered

If I were to walk up and hand you the most expensive set of golf clubs money can buy, it doesn’t turn you into Tiger Woods — The guy who just laid claim to his 5th Masters win this year.

Is it the fault of the golf clubs that you can’t hit like Tiger?

No. Yet this is how some people react to email marketing. They believe if they buy a laptop with an email editor, they’re suddenly marketing experts.

It doesn’t work that way.

You can’t just buy a club, go to the driving range, whack emails into oblivion and expect dollars to fall from the sky.

Email marketing must be studied and mastered to see the success you want. What niche group are you sending emails to? Are they receiving what they opted in for? Are you connecting with them using tried and true approaches? Are you using automation to engage vs just blasting out information?

2) Know What Is Realistic

I personally follow a couple marketing gurus: Perry Marshall and Darren Hardy. These guys send out a lot of good emails. I open probably 5% of them.

Does that mean I’m not interested?

No. It means I’m overloaded and busy. But here’s the point you cannot ignore: Every 5% or so they’ll get me to open and hook me on a product offering. I just spent $2000 on training from one of them. Yesterday I registered for an online class from the other.

If the marketing teams at Perry Marshall and Darren Hardy were to only look at my open rates, it would be a fail. But the fact that I stay on their lists, and eventually purchase products is a huge success. At the end if the day, sending me those emails only costs them a few cents, and it was totally worth the money they invested.

3) Write and Rewrite

Would you drop everything to read the email you just sent to your potential customers? If your answer is no, you didn’t work hard enough.

There’s no way around it.

Be engaging. Tell stories. Don’t be enamored with your own writing. Assume it’s bad, because it probably is. Don’t jump into sales right away. Get personal and connect with people in the first few emails.

Write, test, rewrite.

4) Use “Evergreen” Automation

Everyone knows what basic automation is. Send email #1 out immediately. Send email #2 out the next day, and on it goes. Big deal. Real automation is intelligently interacting with people as they progress through your content.

Did they fail to open an email? Have your system wait a day and then send them a unique response. Did they click on a specific link? Have your evergreen setup respond to them based on that click.

Trust me, intelligently engaging with people works. You will see results.

5) Remember, Nothing is Easy

Creating a successful email marketing campaign isn’t easy.

But you should be happy about that.

If it were easy, everyone could do it. If you’re willing to put in the work, do some research and learn more about marketing, your email results will change.

If you’re new to Follow Hook, you can send emails from within Follow Hook, or integrate with Mailchimp or ConvertKit to take advantage of their sophisticated features.

So stop reading this blog post, and start marketing better.

Happy writing!

What is a CRM?

If you’re a small business owner, you might be in charge of a business with no business management experience. That means terms like CMS, MRP and CRM are all foreign concepts, and yet another thing to figure out!

We feel your pain. So what is a CRM?

It stands for Customer Relationship Management. CRM software has one mission: To help you keep important details from falling through the cracks with customers AND potential customers. Sales is a people business. It’s about nurturing a cold lead to a loyal customer and keeping it that way. Not always an easy task, and definitely more difficult if you forget things.

What A CRM Is Not

Before we explain what a CRM is and does, it’s important to know what you should expect. A CRM does not bring you business. It doesn’t fix your customer retention issues. It’s not magic – it’s a tool. A CRM can be VERY powerful and almost magical when used with an effective customer strategy. Before sinking time and money into a CRM, you should first dial in how your business interacts with existing customers, and how you plant to nurture cold leads.

CRM Basics – It’s A People Business

So how does software help your relationship with a person? It helps you track details and history. It helps automate communications (called touchpoints). A CRM helps you identify what your customers need so you can provide better services and solutions.

All of this depends on the CRM being used. Let’s go through an example:

Imagine someone gives you their email address via an opt-in form on your website. What happens next?

The person’s email can be automatically entered into your customer database as a potential lead. The CRM software can then perform tasks like sending out a series of emails or text messages and/or sending you reminder(s) to do certain actions. When you do interact with this new person, you can record the details so nothing is forgotten. Did their daughter just apply for a coveted scholarship? Did they just have a baby? Bought a Tesla?

The details matter.

Remembering the details shows someone you care. It makes them feel important. And if they feel important, you’ve just earned their loyalty. But as a sales person, you deal with a lot of people. You can’t possibly remember everything even if you want to. A CRM allows you to quickly access the details that matter, so you’re a rock star in your relationships.

Types of CRMs

There are many flavors of CRMs out there. Some provide a lot of features for large corporations and cost millions of dollars to implement (GASP!). Others have few features and cost nothing. It’s all over the map.

In addition to the particular features of a CRM, you have to decide where the CRM will be installed and run from. Example, some CRMs (like InfusionSoft) require you to sign into their system to access your customer data. These are called SAAS or Software as a Service. Other CRMs are stand alone applications, while others can run within your very own website.

A WordPress CRM

If you have a website, you’re probably familiar with WordPress. Over 74 million websites run on WordPress. Incredible right? So why have a WordPress CRM? As a WordPress user, you’re able to work in an environment you’re already familiar with. Your data is all contained within your website vs another 3rd party service. And another benefit, having a WordPress CRM plugin can cost a lot less than monthly SAAS options.

An Incredible WordPress CRM

So aren’t there other CRMs out there for WordPress? Sure, but some are bloated with features many people don’t need. Some are lacking in key features. Many of them are just too dang expensive — Even as a WordPress plugin.

Follow Hook™ delivers power with the bloat. It’s a relationship CRM focused on communicating with people. It doesn’t track sales pipelines or copies of proposals… Nope, not our cup of tea.

Follow Hook is all about helping you nurture relationships. It’s about turning people into loyal customers. We’ve designed Follow Hook to be simple, yet powerful. It has powerful tools to automate actions and protect important details that can make the difference in a “yes” and a “no.”

Supporting YOUR Customer Strategies

So again, what is a CRM? It SHOULD be a tool that fits in with your existing customer plans. How do you communicate? Is it different for specific groups of people? Do some want texts, others calls while others want a face to face? We invite you to check out the features of our WordPress CRM, and see if it’s the right fit for you. We’re excited that you may consider us for managing your customer relationships!

Remember, sales is about people. Treat them right. Put them first. Watch Jerry Maguire if you need help refocusing.

And above all, have fun!