Magnus Marketing Blog

Jill Kornrath does it again: Jill Kornrath blog link . Here she talks about targeted emails. Soon, she will run a seminar on how to do this. Let me save you the $79 dollars.

Starting at Hexaware in 1999, I moved the salesteam to this method of getting business. Calling it the "research, target, destroy" methodology of account penetration, the email direct marketing phase is step one of a three step process (Research, Email, Call). The results can be phenomenal.

But First: Look at this email that a salesguy actually sent from one of my clients. Things have been changed for anonyminity.

My Company can help you with your Computer requirements. Our specialized national corporate technology service options include......
* Service 1 - As an award-winning company with roots in service, my company offers services for all types of stuff.
* Service 2- Trained personnel audit/test to insure the maximum value is gained. Through our proven channels, my company provides you the industry's highest returns Our proprietary internal technology provides complete reporting.
* Service 3- Free service if you meet certain requirements.
* Service 4- Your company will suffer if you don't do this work properly with us.
* Service 5 - We provide all these other things. (There are 3 more services listed)
Why My Company?
- Over ten years of industry-leading experience, offering low-cost,
high tech service.
- Guarantee complete compliance
- Selected by the award winning bestower as only one of X-number national firms to do this service.
- Winner of the prestigious Industry Award.
- A "100% Customer Service Policy",

Bored yet? Do you care about anything? Of course not, this doesn't talk to me, it talks at me about nothing of any relevancy to me! Delete.

Here is an email I sent on behalf of a reseller of multiple technology products. This is typical of the type of emails I craft. This email was forwarded to a VP and sent across the organization to Europe counterparts. The company is a Fortune 1000 firm.

Dear Name,

I understand that teams usually form to develop games and toys which typically integrate focus group information and customer feedback. Web-based collaboration tools are becoming a standard in terms of team collaboration and even as a means to facilitate feedback.

Adobe Connect, with the ability to connect up to 2,500 simultaneous users and launch at a click of a button, is a cost-effective, easy to implement, collaboration tool. Integrating this tool for your product development staff makes sense…

Consider the following potential applications:
• With some difficulty experienced in the “visualization” of a new game or toy, Connect can allow the designer to author and narrate a product demonstration-type presentation for a group of people to review and discuss. This ensures clarity of vision and “on the same page” behavior.
• Consider how Connect can integrate into the Product Development process. Leverage it as a technological tool to facilitate “higher touch” collaboration and a way to reduce engineering/design translation errors, especially since Your Toy Company is more process driven.
• Consider an interactive meeting by Connect led by R&D to educate marketing, graphic design, and research on the new toy.

Based on Flash technology installed on more than 97% of desktops, Connect allows rapid deployment of customized material for marketing, training, or sales. No special software is needed and your organization can be up and running in no time.

With Connect products you can:
• Create large or small net meetings instantaneously including webcam video-conferencing
• Start collaborative meetings right from Adobe Reader or Acrobat
• Transform basic Powerpoint presentations into Flash interactive multimedia published on-demand
• Own turnkey webinar functionality for in-house custom authoring
• Select from a variety of hosted plans or purchase a server outright

Comparatively, Connect product(s):
• Are more cost-effective than leading web-conferencing solutions.
• Offer potential for real-time PDF document collaboration
• Require little technical knowledge to install and run
• Enable VOiP functionality for mass conferencing (Connect Professional).
• Extend across platforms more smoothly and conveniently then competitive solutions.

Reseller. (www.reseller.com) offers Adobe’s full line of technology solutions, plus other leading hardware, software and support services. We invite you to preview the capabilities of Adobe Connect at www.adobe.com/products/adobeconnect and consider the integrative possibilities.

I look forward to learning more about Major Toy Company and discussing how Connect can cost-effectively bring your team closer to their goals.

Sincerely,

A great deal of research went behind this email to learn how the company did product development. The idea was to find the departmental fit for the solution and see how the product can make a difference.

Paragraph 1: Business issue and trends in the industry are highlighted or touched upon. I show I understand what is going on.
Paragraph 2: Proposed solution that can fulfill the anticipated need.
Paragraph 3: The intelligence, some ideas as to how the solution can work in the department, man - this stimulates some interesting conversation and gets attention.
Paragraph 4 & 5: Product differentiation, why this solution is the best to review.
Paragraph 6: Differentiating the reseller - in the final email sent, I believe I added a bit more about the reseller. Driving people to company website and demo.
Paragraph 7: The close and promise to follow up.

This took work to create, a lot of work. But it got us to the point of a potential Fall Demo.

Beware: You cannot b.s., you must be educated and ready to discuss the ideas and thinking behind it and ask clarifying questions if there are any assumptions made that were incorrect.

Research: Dig deep into the company
Target: Develop a compelling reason to look the product/service and buy from the company.
Destroy: Follow up with a killer call, in this case the contact emailed me and I followed up with her boss. Kill the prospect with intelligence. Throw some good support collateral with that also to literally seal the deal.

If you want to know more about this, email me. I just saved you $79. I can save you even more money and get you visibility at the VP level too!! :)