Developing an Email Marketing Strategy
Step 1: Know your target audience.
?Who comes to my store or web site, who actually buys from me? What are they like? How old are they? What do they do for a living? What motivates them? Are they conservative, or easy-going? What controls their decision to buy? Price? Necessity? Availability??
This is called marketing research, and as a poker affiliate, you should know about it. Too many business owners guess what their audience wants without going past the surface and thinking deeply about it. Once you understand your audience, you will understand how to sell them your product.
Step 2: Know your product, and why people use it.
Do you know how your customers view your product? They buy it because it solves a problem for them. So what is that problem? Emails to customers should address the problem and offer your solution. What are the benefits of your product versus the competition’s?
Why would customers want your product or a product like yours?
| Problem | Solutions |
| Highest sign up incentives | Bonus pages, ordered by top incentives |
| Learn how to play | Poker rules pages |
| Rakeback | No solution |
| Seeking specific game | Poker games section |
| Play better | Poker strategy pages |
| Easy to deposit place (convenience) | Sites that accept section |
| Site they can trust | FAQ |
| Be part of a community | No solution |
| Most popular / trafficked site | Rank sites by traffic |
| Site to play on Mac OS | Mac Poker page |
Step 3: Positioning
What do you offer our customers that others don?t?
Outstanding, individualized customer service, reputable sites being reviewed, etc?
Step 4: Create a killer headline
Cater to the basic needs of your customers. Step into their shoes and think of what the most important reason behind buying that you would have. Go over the above notes, and choose the most compelling reason for your target audience.
Ask a question
Example: ?Having trouble finding a poker room you can trust??
Pique their interest
Example: ?We have bonuses and offers you won?t find elsewhere??
Appeal to the younger, newer players
Example: ?Want that new car? The most profitable games to play are at these poker rooms??
Offer something unique
Example: ?Want to visit Las Vegas? We?re giving away a free trip. Details inside??
Step 5: Personalize your email
Use their name if at all possible. If the name can?t be scripted into the email message, use something personable such as ?Dear fellow poker player,? or ?Dear fellow chip shuffler.?
Step 6: Create lead paragraphs that pull people in
Take all the information you gathered in steps 1 to 3 and write a paragraph highlighting the main reasons why people buy from you. Use the language & slang of the subculture too, as its more inviting and personable.
Use the word ?you? other than ?I? or ?we.? You?re subconsciously communicating to them that they are the important ones. They don?t really care about you and how great you are, but what you can do for and how it matters to them is important.
Example:
“From the moment you walk into our store, we concentrate on you. We will spend individual, quality time to discover your needs, and to help you create a marketing plan that will help your firm grow-and make you more money.”
Step 7: Say it early
Not everybody is going to read your whole message, so make your first paragraph clear and concise. Throw the call to action link in there too.
Step 8: Give them reasons to buy
The main body of your content is where you sell them. You?ve already appealed to their emotions, now its time to give them the technical facts of why they should buy your product. A great way to think of this is to imagine yourself at a store, buying an item. What questions would you be asking the sales rep? Let them know why your software is better than your competition?s.
Example: ?The software is free to download, and free to play as long as you like. If you choose to play for real money, making a deposit is quick and easy. When you wish to collect your winnings, your withdrawals are available at your leisure.?
Step 9: Create a strong call to action.
Send a direct message to the customer that you want them to take an action. People don?t know that they?re supposed to sign up and play, unless you tell them to.
50% Examples: ?See our exclusive bonus offers now…? or ?Sign up and play poker now??
Be as enticing as possible. Instead of ?Click here to visit our web site,? choose some more compelling text. Pique their interest, and make them want to find out more by clicking the link (in your email). Use curiosity to bring them in.
100% Examples: ?Click here to see how you can make a living playing poker? or ?Visit our exclusive offers, where poker rooms will match your first deposit?
Don?t let customers put off taking action. Make your offers stand out and put a false time constraint on them by using phrases such as ?limited time offer,? or they?ll just put it off until tomorrow, and never take action.
Step 10: Offer an incentive
Offer customers something of value, and give it to them for free. Whether it be a free ebook, discount on products, match on deposits, etc. This incentive should be placed in the P.S. section of the website because, besides the headline, the P.S. section is the 2nd most read part of email messages.
Step 11: Keep the email short.
Reading messages can be time consuming and hard on the eyes. Many people scan over emails so they can move onto doing better things. For these reasons, most people spend less than 10 seconds on most emails, and won?t read anything that takes longer than 90 seconds to read in its entirety. Do yourself and your customers a favor, and keep them short.
