E-Mail Blast Outcomes

By Rick Frishman - Oct 31 , 2008

Before you begin your e-mail blast to advertise your book, identify the outcome you hope to achieve; know exactly what you want to accomplish by partnering with others. Quantify it by setting specific goals such as sending your offer letter to 300,000 people, enlisting five partners that each has at least a 50,000-name list, or partnering with three bestselling authors whose contributions will be their participation in free workshops or teleseminars.

Ask your friends and colleagues about other blasts:

• Have they received blast solicitations?
• Did they buy?
• If so, what?
• If they didn’t buy, find out why.
• What were they offered?
• How was it presented?
• What impact did the offer produce?
• What did they like about the offer?
• What did they dislike about the offer?
• What convinced them to buy?
• What turned them off?

Often, your blast can produce more than just book sales. It can help you get a distributor for your self-published book or increase the number of people who sign up for your coaching program; your consulting services; or your newsletter, e-zine, or workshop. Some authors who run e-mail blasts are more interested in generating other lucrative benefits than they are in selling copies of their books.

Randy Gilbert believes that,

“The most important reason to know what you want is so that you proactively attract people who want to help you. It solidifies what you want, who you need, and how you can make it happen. Find the right people, partners whose lists, networks, and contacts you can tap into to sell your book and yourself.”

Special Tools

The website www.Alexa.com gives traffic statistics and links to sites that are operated by those who could make great blast partners. This gold mine of information directs you to the most popular sites and then lets you drill down to other or secondary sites that are linked to them. Alexa might send you to a site that would be impossible for you to partner with because it’s so big or because of its privacy policies. However, secondary sites that are linked to that site could be terrific blast partners. Often, they will be smaller outfits that would love to partner with you.

Find newsletter, e-zine, and blog owners that serve your target market; forums in which people share information on particular subjects; and newsletter and e-zine directories at www.Groups.Yahoo.com. It provides lists of active forums.

To learn more about your target market, join forums and subscribe to newsletters, e-zines, or blogs that target it. At www.2BPOP.com, you can download a free program to help you find contact information for website owners. To get the telephone number of a website owner or publisher, go to Google (or another search engine), search the owner’s name, and add words such as phone, address, or contact information. For example, your keyword search might be John Doe phone.

Directories of blogs can be found through Google, Blogwise, Blog Catalog, and technorati.com.

Since spam can be such a problem, check your subject line for spam content at Internet Register’s Free Spam Checker. Remove all spam or your e-mail will be blocked.

Bonus Gifts

People often decide to buy because of the bonus gifts that are offered. So, how you describe these bonuses can be a major selling point in your sales letter. It’s usually best to describe the bonus gifts directly, without hype or exaggeration. Tell people exactly what they will be receiving so there will be no misunderstandings or subsequent resentment. Some good examples are:

• The Goal Achieving eGuidebook. Peggy McColl’s masterwork; it’s the single source for goal-setting and goal-achieving templates. If you’re serious about achieving your goals, this is the tool! With it, you’ll rediscover your innermost desires and dreams, which you may have completely forgotten about. This powerful resource will put all your goal-achieving resources right at your fingertips.

• A Coaching Session with William E. Bailey. Get a free, one-on-one, 30-minute telephone session with William Bailey, a legend in personal development, business building, team building, and more. Join the ranks of industry giants that Bailey has mentored and trained, many of whom now bring in six- and seven-figure incomes.

• Unusual Marketing Secrets by Joe Vitale. This lively, innovative, and information-packed Special eReport is a transcript of a presentation by famed marketing specialist Joe “Mr. Fire!” Vitale, in which he reveals ten unusual marketing methods.

Explain why you are willing to give potential buyers so many valuable bonus gifts if they buy your book on the designated day. You could say:

We put together this amazing package to help Rick reach the #1 position on amazon.com. But we have to do it tomorrow, November 27, and we really need your help! For helping us, we’re going to reward you in a big—no, make that HUGE, way!

Or

Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 20, 2008, I will be selling my book to raise money for The Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities. Every dollar that is received for books sold tomorrow will be matched by a private foundation. But it will only match what we receive tomorrow. To benefit this worthy charity, please buy my book tomorrow. Thanks for your help!

Or

If you’re wondering how we can make this offer, here’s why. This series has been so wildly successful that our publisher specifically printed nearly 3,000 extra books that we have earmarked for this promotion. It’s our way of thanking you for your support. In just two days, we will run a second edition, so this offer will never be available again. To get your hands on this limited first edition, buy now because it won’t be around next week.

Action Steps

1. Explain the steps in conducting an e-mail blast.
2. List five benefits that your potential blast partners can receive from partnering with you.
3. State five questions that you should ask others about e-mail blasts.
4. Describe the information your sales letter should include.
5. Write three headlines for your sales letter.

Remember

• E-mail blasts can make your book a bestseller with an online bookseller. Here’s how they work: Accumulate lots of e-mail addresses by forming alliances with partners who have big lists and buy addresses from list brokers. Convince your partners to give you access to names on their lists and to contribute incentives to those who buy your book. Compose a sales letter that you and your partners e-mail to people, offering them free bonuses if they purchase your book from a particular online bookseller on a certain day or time.
• If a blast makes your book a bestseller, it will generate more interest in it and boost its sales. When you’re a bestselling author, the entire book industry takes notice. Instead of your having to fight for media coverage, the media will suddenly become interested in you.