Marketer Crew - ⚡ MC - Does Cold Email Still Work?

Welcome to today's Marketer Crew edition!

Does cold email still work?

Cold email can be a superpower, but it's not as straightforward as just sending something out. Here's how to make the most out of your cold email campaign!

Special delivery

First, you need to determine whether your audience reads their emails, and how. Who are you trying to target? Developers, marketers, executives, lawyers, journalists, VCs, founders? Having a thorough understanding of your target audience goes a long way.

Content matters

What are the elements of a cold email? Let's examine:

1. Subject line.
2. First line.
3. Value and pitch.
4. Call-to-action (CTA).

If you're not getting results, one or more of these elements need help.

Common mistakes

These are the most common reasons that your cold emails are not working:

1. The subject line is not relevant, so your email is not even being opened.
2. The first line doesn't "hook" the reader.
3. Your entire message is a pitch fest trying to extract value, instead of giving.
4. You don't provide a compelling reason for the prospect to take the time to reply back.
5. The CTA is too involved.
6. Not enough valuable follow-ups or outreach volume: Many follow-ups are along the lines of "Thoughts?" "Any feedback?" "Did you have a chance to check out my last email?" etc. None of this adds value.

Fix it or nix it

If your cold emails are guilty of one of the common mistakes above, here's how you can fix it:

1. Make the subject line relevant: Add your prospect's name or company name, use a keyword that they are obsessed with, talk about a specific goal hyper-relevant to them, etc.
2. Make sure that you're not coming across as being too sales-y: Don't just say "Found you on LinkedIn!" or "Saw you're into fishing!" That is not personalization; it's just pedantic. Either talk about specific pain points that they have, or compliment them on something that is also related to the pain point and your value prop.
3. Clearly show the exact benefit that you can give them, not a list of your features or who you've worked with. Be very specific.
4. Keep it short.
5. Go for soft closes: "Are you interested in more details?" "Would you be interested in hearing more?"
6. Follow up several times (my recommendation is five, one per week) unless they unsubscribe.

If you focus on them, thoroughly addressing their pain points, goals, and values, they will likely respond favorably!

Wrapping up

Most people send cold emails and follow-ups in a very value extractive way. This is the number one thing to avoid.

If you truly believe that your product or service is genuinely of value, and would greatly improve some part of your prospect's business or life, let them know about it!

As for the follow-ups, send things that add value to them: An actionable strategy that they can use with no paywall, a Twitter thread that would help them in some way, a list of best industry practices or tools, summarization of complex documents that they can use, etc.

No one is going to be annoyed to receive these things. Just add a casual CTA at the end, like this one: "Would love to chat to share more!"

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Snippets

• Tally - Create forms for all purposes in seconds without knowing how to code, and for free.
• Later - All-in-one social marketing platform for the top social networks. Plan, analyze, and publish your content in a few clicks.
• Jakob Greenfeld — My blog posts regularly go viral and are read by 100k+ people. Here is how I consistently create content that resonates.
• Frankie Hildebrand — How to sell any service (without acting like a pushy salesperson).
• Swyx — Crossed 40k followers. Thoughts on how my approach to slow, steady, authentic growth on Twitter evolved from 2018 to 2022. 

Worth Reading

1. SEO Silo Structure: Why It Makes No Sense (And What to Do Instead).

2. How Social Platforms Are Responding to the Crisis in Ukraine.

3. What is an open-ended question? How to use them in your research.

 Good Findings

• Want high quality lifetime deals for marketers? Check out RocketHub and why they're everyone's new crush. So is their latest deal for link builders & SEOs. Show 'em some love.
• Tired of giving the same webinar over and over? Learn how Catalyst, Later & Freshworks trust eWebinar to deliver the perfect webinar again and again, without you or your team there. Watch the demo to get a $25 free credit.

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