by Wayne Porter

I think one overlooked marketing tool is to just set a good example. I’ll tell you a little story. A few years back, I was in charge of hiring at a company I worked for. One day I went out for a quick bite before my afternoon appointments. As I sat in the sandwich shop I noticed two well dressed young women eating their sandwiches. As they got up to go they left their table very messy even though the trash can was only a few feet away.

I headed back to work thinking “Some people…”

As you may have guessed the two young women turned out to be my afternoon appointments. Unfortunately their laziness cost them a good job, because I already had an indication of their work ethic.

Another example was a middle aged man I observed one day who zoomed up (and parked illegally) to run in the bank ahead of me to get some money from the ATM. His car had a cross hanging from the mirror and a bumper sticker saying “God is my co-pilot” and another one that said “I worship at (___) Church.” He didn’t seem very appreciative when I pointed out that it reflected badly on his church when he broke the law and was so inconsiderate of the traffic behind him.

The point is, you never know when your actions will come back to – er – visit you. Which is a good argument for simply making the decision to always set a good example. Not just because of how it might look to others, but because, hey – we’re sharing a planet here – let’s be nice.

When using email marketing, you have to grab someone with your subject line. A well-crafted subject line can make the difference between the “open” and “delete” button.

1) Be Specific.

Would you open an email with a subject line “Email” or “Newsletter”? Probably not. But how about a newsletter promising to give you some specific information about a subject you’re interested in?

2) Tell the Truth.

Don’t send out a newsletter with the subject “About last night…” with the hope that people will be interested and trick them into opening the email. Unless of course your email really is about last night.

3) Be Enticing.

What you want to do is give a little “come on.” Use a subject line that gives a hint but doesn’t give away the farm, so to speak. Encourage the reader to open and find out more.

4) Don’t Use ‘Spam’ Words.

There are certain words that will increase your ’spam’ score, increasing the likelihood of your email winding up in the junk folder. (Who can tell us why we didn’t include a list of such words in this article?) Contact us if you need advice on this.

5) Experiment: Find Out What Works For You.

One way to test your subject line skill is to create two really snazzy subject lines for your newsletter and send it out to half your list with one subject line and half with the other one and see which gets the most response.

For more help with your e-newsletters, please contact us.