If we’ve learned one thing as online marketers it’s that perception is everything. This isn’t a ballpoint pen I’m trying to sell you, it’s the tool that will unlock your earning potential when you sign your name in the right place. That isn’t a towel, it’s the solution for all of life’s little messes. The more we can sway our audience’s perception to come into line with our sales goals, the more successful we will be at marketing.
So, is there a way to use this knowledge to our advantage with email marketing and list building? Absolutely. Email marketing is often thought of as a one-sided facet: you create your newsletter or email responders, send them out and hope for opens and click-thrus. If you get them, great! Wash, rinse, repeat. If not, you adjust your campaign and move forward until you find that optimal email formula for your market and niche.
Rethinking the Newsletter with Content Events
Instead, let’s change the perception about a newsletter or email by creating a recurring content event. A content event is a simple thing to pull off, you set a date and time, provide a medium, send out invites, get RSVPs, perform and then offer replays. If you’re thinking this sounds like a scheduled webinar, you’re absolutely right, but that’s because you think like a marketer.
As a recurring content event, you’ll be able to draw in more of your audience and have them captive. Why? Because this event goes in the Google Calendar. You have to RSVP to it. It only happens at a specific time and date and if you attend, you get something out of it, a reward. So what does this mean? Well, it turns the newsletter from a dreaded “something I have to delete again” into an event, a happening.
How to Set Up Your Content Events
People will attend your content events simply because they seem more special than a newsletter, that’s the perception. Of course, if you actually do make it more special than a newsletter, you’ll have recurring guests at your content events. To get started:
– Set a date that works for both you and your demographic. If your demographic works days, don’t do it at 2pm on a Wednesday. Create a great name for your event that piques your audience’s curiosity, tell them what you’re going to talk about and why they’ll want to attend.
– Pick your medium. Most content events take place on webinar or tele-class software. There are tons of free options out there for hosting free video seminars or free conference calls. You can even resort to Skype, but that’s as low-tech as you should go.
– Focus on your goal before creating content. What’s your endgame with this content event? Do you want emails? Sales? Build authority? When you know your goals, start creating your presentation including slides, main points, outlines, openings, closing, supporting websites, documents, a call in section, etc.
– Start sending out invites and when you get acceptances, put them in a separate email list so you aren’t sending redundant emails. The people who accept, thank them right off the bat and even send a free gift for signing up. This will prompt them to follow through with the RSVP.
– After you host the content event, you’ll want to send out a follow-up email, so it’s a good idea to have that all ready. Put the replay of the event in another follow-up email and send it to those who didn’t RSVP. You can send the replay to those who attended, but make sure that email is focused on closing rather than information.