Hello all,
Now that I seem to be back on the right path to good health (not quite
there yet, but I can see a faint light, so I'm heading towards it!),
it's time for me to answer Emil's questions. (I'll also post them to
the forum, if I can manage to locate the thread.)
Emil wrote:
/
I've got a question for you, fellows. (James, your opinion would be
much appreciated also, after you're recovered from the cold)
It's about email marketing. Now that I've learned how to write, I am
going to regularly post on my website, but I also want to start to do
email marketing to my list (which is small, but it will grow faster
after I actually write more on the blog AND send them emails).
I didn't do any mailing until now. I received some free email courses
on email marketing from GetResponse, AppSumo, and Natalie Lussier, but
didn't study them yet. I plan to do so after setting my editorial
calendar and starting to write posts regularly./
James answers:
There are some students to whom I sometimes recommend a follow-up
course, but to be quite frank, very few in this group (and none of you
reading this) need it.
You see, learning is great, and valuable... but there's a time to stop
learning, and start doing. You must DO something with what you've
learned, or else you just fall into a pattern of continual learning
that only leads to procrastination on the actual doing part that gets
you places.
I'll be honest: there are a lot of people out there who make their
course or ebook or whatever sound really good these days. And you
could continually fork over money thinking you've hit on THE thing
that teaches you what you need to do.
THE thing is your action. Not your learning. Not the next best coolest
sounding course. I've seen far too many people blow thousands and
thousands of dollars in my time, and they're still in the same place
they were 5 years ago - learning lots!... but doing nothing with what
they've learned.
There's very little difference between what you've learned in DFW and
applying it to email marketing. VERY little. Email marketing is
essentially sending articles to your list that engage them, build
trust and that steer them towards eventually taking the action you
want them to take.
You've learned that. Now go use it.
/1. Do you think it is enough to know how to clearly convey a message
through writing (DFW style) and there is no need for learning
"specialized" email marketing training? Or do you thing that is more
efficient to take a course on email marketing? A course in email
marketing may not be all about writing, it may have swipe files with
some email templates, headlines, etc./
Swipe files are nice, but to be honest, you can spend a small fortune
on swipe files - everyone's putting out one that's slightly different
from the next guy, but they all say the same thing.
And frankly, swipe files mean this: "I don't have to understand what
I'm doing. I don't have to think. I just have to fill in the blanks."
That's quite nice when you're in a rush, but you guys all understand
what you're doing, and you don't really need any swipe files.
So they can be handy, yes. Do you need them? No.
/2. If you think a course on email marketing would be a good idea, can
you recommend me one?/
To be honest, I've been looking, and I haven't found one yet that I
can recommend beyond a doubt. "Inbox Dojo: 12 months of email
blueprints to fuel your sales engine" is not too bad at all, if you'd
like to grab something with templates that fuel your ideas, but... yeah.
(Note: I got Inbox Dojo off App Sumo way back; I don't know if it's
still available for purchase, but it's likely you can find it through
a Google Search.)
Most email marketing courses I've seen will teach you what you already
know. They'll say it in different words, perhaps, but it all means the
same thing in the end, and it's unlikely you'll find something that
teaches you something new and useful that you didn't already know.
/3. Can you take a look at this email marketing course offer I
received from Derek Johanson and Ian Stanley and tell me what do you
think about it? The sales page is here:http://8020emailcopy.com , but
I attach also one email from them which contains some more information./
Looking over the list of what you'll learn, you've learned 90% of that
in DFW already, so this won't be new. Just different, or presented in
different words.
That said, if you have money to spare and are curious, the price point
is okay.
What's interesting is that his offer is only available to 20 people
and "not false scarcity" - I quote. And yet it's been over 2 weeks and
the offer is still there, so that means either 20 people didn't buy or
that his "only 20" is a crock.
This doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things and doesn't
devalue the actual product he sells, but it does mean he's a sly one
full of sweet words. Takes a little bit of the shine off it.
/These guys refer also to Autoresponder Madness (Andre Chaperon) -
http://autorespondermadness.com/ and John McIntyre -
http://www.themcmethod.com/, or Ryan Deiss -
http://www.digitalmarketer.com/the-email-machine/, when comparing
their course with the other guys in the market./
I know of John McIntyre, and while I've not seen his product in action
with my own eyes, I've seen enough to know that this might be worth a
peek. But again... you won't be learning anything new. You'll just
have different tools and resources on hand to do what you need to do.
In other words... it's the doing that matters now, not the learning,
unless you want to use learning as a method to put aside the doing for
a little while longer.
Without wanting to throw my own hat in the ring (but that's kind of
exactly what I'm doing here), if you're interested in more of the
doing side of things, and want to focus on taking action, without
losing the learning side of things, then the Damn Fine Writers Club
might be a perfect match.
www. damnfinewritersclub.com <http://damnfinewritersclub.com>
Peter and I are currently working to set up a 1$ trial offer that
we'll release in January, but the Club is currently active right now,
with members who've been part of it for 5 months and more, and you can
join right away if you'd like.
Also, on a final note, I've attached a handout that comes from the
Damn Fine Writers Club that might be useful for your email marketing
goals. There's a link to a webinar in the handout that you might not
be able to access without Club membership, but the rest of the handout
should definitely help orient you in the right direction.
Whew! Hope all that helps!!
Cheers,
James Chartrand
Damn Fine Words/Damn Fine Ebooks
www.damnfinewords.com <http://www.damnfinewords.com>
Connect with me: <http://twitter.com/menwithpens>
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