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There lived a King. Though the King had built a bounteous and sunny kingdom, he was sad because he knew he was dying and his only daughter had yet to find her prince. So he summoned his advisors to ask how he should find a suitor for her.
The council was assembled and with a piff-paff-poof, the spam fairy arrived. "I can send a message far and wide into every crevice of the kingdom," she said. "I'll invite everyone to claim your daughter's hand in marriage - man and boy, woman and girl, nobility and peasants. Everyone shall know about our quest and join in with delight."
The King was tempted, but his chief advisor was outraged. "No!" he stormed. "We can't have royalty appealing to all-comers like this! They'd lose all respect for the crown if we wasted their time and they know as well as we do that most of them are too poor and ugly. Half of them are women too."
The Duke was wise but timid. "If I may," he began. "Surely there are only about five men you would let marry your daughter and they're all living in your castles throughout the isles. Why don't we have a quiet word with them personally to arrange a suitable marriage?"
There was a murmur of approval around court, but as it subsided two maids could be heard whispering and snickering in the corner.
"Believe me," said the spam fairy. "Whatever is wrong with them, that's something I can definitely help with."
Quality counts
We don't believe in dragons any more, but many people still believe in the myth of quantity over quality when it comes to marketing messages. That's got to change - badly targeted messages irritate recipients and sap your energy and resources.
One StoneShot client ran a campaign that went to 76 carefully selected key contacts. Don't think that's worth you bothering with? They picked up two clients worth over £2 million in total.
Success comes from getting a relevant marketing message to the right person, so it's important you seize every opportunity to invite good prospects to opt in to your email list.
Here are our tips on building a business-boosting opt-in list:
- Dangle a carrot: We can't all serve princesses on a plate, but you need to entice people to respond to website ads or mass-media advertising. Ask yourself what your customers would value and try to give it away. Creating a useful regular newsletter is a good start, but one-off whitepapers and tip sheets can also stimulate interest.
- Build a gateway: before entering the castle, everyone must answer 'who goes there?'. Have a gateway page on your website that asks for contact details and asks for permission to send your newsletter and email updates. Drive visitors through your gateway whenever possible.
- Educate the messenger: Add a line to your telemarketing script to ask prospects if you can send them news about your business and special offers.
- When holding court: don't underestimate the power of personal contact. When you meet clients or prospects, ask them if you can send them information. Build a system for recording these opt-in requests that enables everyone in the company to bring in qualified leads.
Living happily ever after
At court as in e-marketing, it's not about how many people you know, but about how influential those people are.If you don't get people to opt-in when you meet or talk to them in the course of conducting normal business - or when they make enquiries through your website - you might not get a chance to do so again. Important people defend their time (and by association their inbox) and can be unwilling to respond to a request out of the blue. By contrast, an offer to keep them updated on your business sounds much less threatening as part of an ongoing conversation.
As for the Princess? She found her Prince and they all lived happily ever after.
Except the King. He died.
