This is Part 2 of our blog post, “Capture Your Audience with ‘Sticky’ Content”, (Read Part 1). In this post you will learn 3 easy ways to create content that captures your audience’s attention.

#4 Use Authoritative Sources

This principle is used to build immediate credibility with your audience.

Let’s say you’re in the market to buy a book to help strengthen your sales skills. You might have never heard about the book “The Ultimate Sales Machine” – but as soon as you see that sticker that say “NY Times Best Seller” and “Amazon.com Bestseller” you know it’s worth checking out. This is referred to as an “authoritative statement.”

You are more likely to trust that product because an authority on that field says it is worth reading. Other similar examples are “As Seen on TV”, and “Featured in Inc Magazine.”

Celebrity endorsements are the second way to prove credibility. Don’t worry if Oprah didn’t pick your product for her favorites before her show ended. You can still creatively use celebrity endorsements.

For example, if you are a financial planner you could gain credibility by writing a blog post that references Alan Greenspan.

#5 Strike An Emotional Chord

The “emotional” principle focuses on answering the question, “How do we make people care about our message?”

One of the best ways you can implement this principle is to create an association between your topic and something your audience can relate with.

We recently gave a presentation on “What Makes A Website Great?” Our goal was to make the audience understand the downfalls of a bad website and how it reflects poorly on their business. Instead of diving into our morning PowerPoint presentation, we first asked the room full of 30 people “How many of you have ever been into a store, where you can’t find what you’re looking for and the first thing the store employee does is come up to you and try to sell you something?” Every one raised their hands – with a groan, looking at each other, hating that exact situation.

“Well sorry to say it, but that’s how most of you are making people feel when they come to your website.” It struck an emotional chord. People could relate to the feeling, and it was much easier for them to understand the importance of having a website with great navigation and informative content.

#6 Tell A Story

“If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at one, I will” Mother Teresa once said. That is why we recommend creating your content to focus on one person’s specific story and telling their struggle, show their worry & pain, and then highlight what you did to help.

In 2000, Subway first ran their TV ads that went something like this:

“This is Jared,” the announcer said. “He used to weight 425 pounds” – we see a photo of Jared in his old 60-ince waist pants – “but today he weighs 180 thanks to what he calls the Subway diet.” The announcers describes Jared’s meal plan, and how when combined with a lot of walking – overtime it lead to his extreme weight loss.”

Subways sales immediately picked up, and since then Jared has made it easier for all of us to remember where we can go to eat, when we are trying to watch our figure.

Instead of telling you to eat Subway because it’s healthy, they highlighted Jared’s story and showed you an image of him standing in his old big pants that you will never forget.

Remember, you can extract a moral from a story, but you can’t extract a story from a moral.

People will always remember your stories and not the facts in your content. That is because stories ignite feelings. People forget facts, but not how you make them feel.

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. Not great numbers if the purpose of a headline is to get someone to read your material.

Before you read more, your takeaways from this from this article will be:

1. Headlines are a promise to your reader
2. Have a set goal before writing your material
3. Write, rewrite, test, and rewrite
   
4. Headlines with lists and “how-tos” are very effective
5. The best headlines are specific and straightforward

Headlines (and email subject lines) are a promise to your reader of the value that you will be providing; specifically, what they should expect to takeaway from the article or email you crafted. Therefore, you have to promise that what you are offering will make an impact and is worthwhile.

It is essential to have a goal prior to writing an article, email or blog post, usually to receive a response from your target audience. In business, you normally want a response that causes the reader to act (i.e. for the reader to comment and like your post or in this case to connect with me on Linkedin).

Writing and rewriting – investing the time and effort to tweak what you have started writing will help you make the headline useful. Typically you should give yourself a day away from the material so you have fresh eyes. If you are writing your sales page or website landing page, you should write a dozen headlines and test which works best.

Numbered and list headlines are successful because they tell you the amount of information the reader will receive. With a headline such as, “99 Tips to Makeover Your Home”, your reader knows exactly what they are getting by reading your article.

Stating the specific outcomes the reader will get by reading your article is extremely effective. For example, a headline that reads “7 Tips That Will Help You Save 130% on Your Summer Vacations” will grab more readers because it tells them what to expect. By reading this headline we know the number of tips we are getting and the amount we will save by following those tips – pretty straightforward.

A great tip I learned was to emulate headlines on the front cover of magazines in supermarket aisles. Those headlines only have a second to get the shopper to buy the entire magazine – they need to be powerful.

Remember “repetition is the mother of skill.”

Click here to connect with me on LinkedIn.

Whether you own a small business, run a non-profit or are an individual professional, email marketing has become a must. If executed properly, email marketing is inexpensive, customizable, and measurable. Today, there are dozens of programs that allow you to send emails to multiple addresses and will give you analysis about your email campaign; these programs comply with anti-spam laws, to ensure the safety of your emails.

You are now ready to start your email campaign and want to know the best methods to achieving your email marketing goals:

1. What is the best way to create/build an email list?

Marketing standards say that you should only build your email list through subscribers who have given you permission to send them emails. Some of the best ways to gather emails include:

Placing a sign-up form on your website.
Collect emails at a trade show or networking event.
Utilize social networking sites to ask for emails.

Typically, people will have a greater incentive to give you permission to send them emails if you offer something free or of value.

As a professional marketer I know I am suppose to say only send your email marketing to those who opted-in; however, I truly believe it depends on your content and frequency. I know that our firm sends out emails infrequently and that we include emails of people who we have had conversations/relationships with and would enjoy/benefit from our newsletter. There are many people on our list who have not opted in but now ask when the next email is coming…so I’ll let that answer the opt-in question. People that don’t want to receive them can easily opt-out.

On the other hand, there are those who send out promotional emails on a frequent basis (once a week) and need to be wary of who they email and the importance of content. If this is the case than the best way to do so is to ask for permission in your first email, this way you will have credibility and trust right off the bat.

2. If you could you segment your email list? You must!

Some companies are still not segmenting whom they send their emails to! Why miss out on a chance to target your audience. For example, if you are an insurance company you should not send emails about Life Insurance to your 20 year old customers, this will just lead to them clicking on the do not email link. Every email you enter in your database should include:

First & Last Name
Gender
Location
Age

However, when getting information for your email list, be careful not to ask for too much information. Although, more information means improved customization, it could lead to fewer prospects.

3. Be creative but not too creative.

Consumers are inundated with emails since email marketing has become a staple for many businesses; this means that your emails have to be executed with content that is valuable and easy to comprehend. The design of your email should be simple and a reflection of your brand. Always keep your brand identity in mind whenever you promote.

Subject lines are the first point of contact for the consumer, which is why it needs to be straightforward and enticing. Subject lines should either be short and to the point or longer and descriptive – depending on the subject your email, of course.

4. Creating the Design.

Many email-marketing programs include built in templates you can choose from, they range in a variety of colors and industries. If you have to choose a template, try to choose one that is closest to your brand. The other option is custom newsletters; most email marketing programs give you an option to use your own code to create your newsletter or email promotions. You can create one using HTML, just follow the guidelines they provide such as using in-line CSS and which HTML tags to use.

5. Test, Test, did we mention to Test!

You should test your designs on each type of email client to ensure that the content and look of the email is uniform throughout. The most popular email clients include; Gmail, Yahoo, Microsoft Outlook, & Apple mail.

And yes emails do look different on each email client – so test.

6. Ready for deployment…almost!

You are almost ready for a perfect deliverability rate, however there are some aspects of your email that need analysis so that it is not recognized as spam by your email program. Stay away from using words such as “free”, “buy now”, and “discount” in your messages because your spam rating may become higher.

7. Generate & Analyze The Results.

Most email programs will provide you feedback that will include:
Percentage and number of emails opened.
Percentage and number of bounces (bounces are emails that did not reach the recipient).
Percentage and number of clicks (most programs read how many people clicked on links and who clicked on those links).
Percentage and number of opt-outs (people who have asked to be removed from your email lists).
Number of forwards (this reveals the number of people who passed your email to friends).

Successful email marketing requires understanding your recipients and proper execution. Because of its low cost and customization, there should be no excuse for your company not to include email marketing as one of your current marketing tools.