The
Ultimate Follow-Up Strategy
Copyright 2005 Stacey Morris
Here’s the scenario: a visitor finds your site through Google. They
sign up for your ezine, report, audio—something free that your
visitor sees as valuable. You get their email address when they sign
up. In the Multiple Streams model we call this freebie the pink
spoon, after Baskin-Robbins© appetite-whetting sample. The report is
automatically downloaded and your visitor- now a prospect-reads or
listens to it over the next couple of weeks. They really like the
information and they decide to put it to use. After a couple of
weeks your prospect finds out it really works. Wow-that was great
advice! Maybe they remember where it came from, but maybe they’ve
forgotten all about you…
What if your prospect downloads your pink spoon and doesn’t read it
right away—in fact, what if they forget about it altogether? It
downloads into a temporary file and disappears. If they have trouble
remembering you under the best of circumstances, and they do,
they’re certainly going to forget you when your pink spoon is gone.
The bottom line is that we rarely make a significant purchase
impulsively. We think about it, mull over it, discuss it with our
friends, and choose to buy it or forget about it. There’s usually a
contemplation period between our initial exposure to a product and
our purchase. So if you’re not marketing your services and products
to prospects consistently over time, you’re losing out on valuable
sales.
So what is the least expensive, and yet extraordinarily impactful
method of staying in touch with your prospects and customers?
Autoresponders.
An autoresponder is a sequence of emails that is sent automatically
to a prospect or buyer. For example, if you buy a service or product
online you will usually immediately receive a response or electronic
receipt via email. Anytime you make a purchase from Amazon, for
example, they send you a prewritten confirmation email of your
purchase.
Therein lays the power. Autoresponder messages are prewritten. Once
you’ve written them, you load them into the autoresponder server,
and they’re sent automatically to anyone who signs up for your
ezine, report, product, or service. The messages can be very
personalized or more general, depending on how much information
you’ve requested from the prospect.
Once your visitor has given you their information, you can continue
to send messages over as long a period as you wish. The type of
information you send should have some interest to the prospect—more
information about your products, announcements, tips, new ideas
you’ve heard about. By consistently sending information and not just
more sales pitches, you’re keeping your business alive to the
reader.
If you have a variety of offerings, ranging from a free report to an
ecourse to coaching services, an autoresponder is invaluable. Not
only will you be able to stay in touch with your prospect, but you
can also guide them through your marketing funnel.
The first step is capturing your visitor’s email address by offering
something of great perceived value. Your autoresponder sequence can
then continue to provide valuable information related to the initial
product, and also suggest ways in which your other products and
services could be of help. Anytime you develop a new product or
service, you can develop an email campaign that introduces your
offering and allows your subscriber to take a free test drive.
NEXT STEPS
Some of the most popular services for autoresponders include Aweber
and Constant Contact. Explore these products briefly, and compare
fees and services. How much will they charge monthly to send out
your ezine? Is the cost based on how many subscribers you have? How
easy is it to put a subscriber form on your site? How many messages
can you send? Over what period of time? Both of these have
tutorials, and free trials.
Your next quick assignment is to write your first three messages for
a made-up email campaign. Take a service or product you already
offer, and play with some ideas of how to promote it over 3 email
messages. Again, these are people who have voluntarily signed up for
your free pink spoon already, so don’t be afraid of marketing “too
much”. If they like what they’ve gotten already, they’ll be
receptive to more. And if they didn’t care for the pink spoon, they
can always unsubscribe…
About the author:
Sign up for your FREE REPORT “12 Steps to a Profitable Website:
Online Marketing for the Overwhelmed", and launch your service-businessl!
http://www.ServiceBusinessCoaching.com http://www.OnlineServiceBusiness.com
StaceyMorris@FocusCoach.net
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