This post is part of the Mac Book Pro Challenge it’s not to late to get involved and start your journey to a shiny Mac Book Pro.

Email is on my mind

So with the Email Gathering Firesale which is continuing as I write this but will be over in a couple of hours, I noticed a couple of familiar email addresses of people who joined our challenge. So I think its worth throwing around some ideas around to help you get the most out of your potential new niche addresses without exposing yourself to a torrent of abuse and potentially your affiliate accounts shut down.

I do not approve of spam

Given I have spent yesterday telling you how to get clean, and verify your emails I strongly believe that if you are unsure of the legitimacy of how the address was collected then you never send more then a single introductory email.

Pressure selling via the first email never works

This I think is something that needs to be emphasised over and over again, and I know I covered it in the other article but throwing your affiliate links down peoples throats in the first email is not the way to convert them.

Instead try to build trust, given yesterday I managed to rewrite the Firesale opening letter 4 times and by the end it was a grammatical nightmare (sorry to the commentator who wrote the long comment on building trust with spelling at 7 in the morning you were deleted) to the point where people were questioning not only me but the information behind the letter. Suddenly after the initial rush people were holding back it is amazing but sometimes just spending time spell checking is enough!

Trust is getting close - trust is about persona

Remember our persona’s post from a few days ago? Well let’s put them to good use, the niche your targeting will dictate the style of the email. For example:

Is very unlikely to say…
Hey guys whats up? check out my new site its really cool!
Is she?
Well maybe she does but it is not what her peers and therefore the target audience will expect fit the language to the persona.

Sell the idea, then the product

If you are not planning a long recurring relationship with your new contacts? Why not? then at least get what you came for and grab the sale, or in our case entice them into the dream. Most Affiliate sites quite rightly do not approve of spam. So our process of verification is simple…

• Present your offer in brief
• Present the way forward (a link to your site and landing page)
• Present a way out

Remember your targeting this group of people because you think they are interested in your offer. If they are not then you do not need to waste your time and resources there are plenty of fish in the sea.

Introduction shot

If you have been given or got hold of a list and need to verify then the introductory email is critical. Clearly emphasis that it is a welcome, single email and that they will receive no further communication without there expressed permission. Explain why they are receiving the email, don’t be shy if you bought the address be honest tell them. Offer them the opt out even if you are never going to contact them again. Finally make your offer/sign up page easy and quick. If they have clicked your link you have them on the line so to speak don’t waste the opportunity.

Spam sucks - be personal

Seriously the way to avoid being classed as spam is to personalise your content, names, IP addresses you name it what ever you got that is personal to your target. The fact you are actually targeting a niche and not the masses gives you lots of potential. But remember if you want to flog Viagra no amount of me to telling you nice ways to present your information will help you will be just another spammer.

So I think it’s time to start building our landing site and looking at the idea of landing pages. There are loads of good articles out there on making persuasive sales pages, I will start up a resource list but if you have some articles let me know in the comments?

As promised the FireSale has started 2 people already have access, what are you waiting for. 5 Hours and the price goes up!

What do you get:

• The Article
• A Free program worth $47 and no its not a harvester
• oh and a pair of mailing lists ready for your use

So how do you get the password simple send me an email t.nash @ venture-skills.co.uk with subject Let me in or visit this thread and leave a comment for more detail on pricing visit the firesale post.

First wave gone! new price $15! till 10am GMT

I have uploaded a password protected post, in that post is an interesting article on getting hold of very niche specific email addresses for marketing purposes. It does not “hack” systems but could be considered a little greyhat when you combine it with some of the ideas in the article. The article also contains over 4000 Dutch email addresses and 400 Email addresses for working mums.

If you’re interested in this article and the other content then you can get it right now!

The price

• For the first 5 hours till 1am GMT 28th of March the price for this information will be - $10 a measly sum indeed
• For 5 to 15 hours (10am GMT 28/03) into the sale the price is - $15
• After that it’s $20

If you have missed out on the first discount prices don’t worry you can still get access to the post at the regular price.

Oh I’m also going to throw in a few useful additional goodies, because I’m such a nice guy!

To claim your access to this content simply make a Paypal payment to t.nash @ venture-skills.co.uk but remember to check the time if your close to one of the Firesale marks, when I receive payment I will send you the password to your Paypal address, if you don’t want the password sent to this address use the notes field when sending payment to provide an alternative.

Any questions or if you’re worried I might miss your Paypal content then feel free to email me, please use the subject let me in So I can respond quickly!

Not only that for those of you on the Mac Book Pro Challenge I will be doing a post after the sale on how to legitimately use your email addresses.

What are you waiting for, people are already staking their claim can you afford not to?

Don’t forget if you don’t manage to get access during the Firesale you can still get access at the regular price of $20.

This post is part of the Mac Book Pro Challenge, but don’t worry it’s not to late to start, so why not join us?

Getting a face

Think of the Mac book Challenge as a marketing campaign the goal (ahem wish sorry) is to convince people to join in your version of the challenge by presenting them with the information, the incentive and the reason. Now for a little game who do you want to target?

Seriously its that simple forget careful keyword research or demographic studies go with your gut who do you think you can convince to join up and encourage their friends. The reality is just about any demographic over the age of 18 is going to be interested in a free laptop be they a student, a Gran or a Working Mum so which group do you think you can appeal to which group can you get your head in.

Once you got your target we are going to create a sales person an online persona who will front your campaign just like any good advertising campaign. Now before we even think about web sites etc I want you to think personal the key to a good campaign is when the person on the receiving end (believes) they are on a two way conversation.

So lets look at some social groups and try and decide the best person to front a campaign for each of them.

18-25 Male Students
You got to hand it to them by far my favourite source for this kind of affiliate marketing, they are generally poor, most want to get rich, nearly all want beer and they all like pretty young girls. Ok so a few sweeping generalisations there but on the whole pitching to sterotypes works even if its not politically correct.
Perfect Persona: Pretty Girl Next Door

House Bound Mum
Wants to earn a bit on the side, is more cautious about giving to much personal information away. Often looking for things to fill short gaps, ideas have to be pitched as not time consuming and not evasive.
Perfect Persona: House Bound Mum alternate: Dashing Gent

Silver Surfer
The internet is not just home to young, more and more elderly persons are getting online, highly cautious and much more careful with their details. The silver surfers are a great long term revenue source and have fantastic networking capability.
Perfect Persona: Silver Surfer

Affiliate Marketers
Strong willed and expecting a con, they have been there and done that however as they know the business they make great partners and can easily expand any affiliate network. In many ways they are the best and worst people to pitch to.
Perfect Persona: Me

These are all stereotypes and pretty generic in most cases like encourages like but such as the case of our 18-25 Male its not always the case. Once we have an image in our mind of our persona it’s time to go out and make them a reality.

Bring a persona to life

Your sales persona needs to be fleshed out; create a name, and find a suitable picture if you can’t use yourself try getting friend, family, local model to pose for you. If all else fails then look for a suitable photos online try to avoid the free stock photo sites like sxc.hu and instead look at sites such as stockxpert.com. The reason is simple buying an image or set of images that have been rarely downloaded means that the chances your model has been seen before is limited. Try where possible to get a few images which can be used throughout your campaign. Given that in our examples we are aiming to get people laptops it makes sense to promote with images of your model with a laptop.

Above all try to keep it real certain people are just not going to promote certain things, Jessica Simpson is not the next model for a free laptop. When using an image make sure the model has signed a model release form and that the image is licensed for commercial use.

The more details the more customers

The more people can be brought into the site the more likely they are to bite, this may sound a bit manipulative but that is what you are doing it’s what the local shops are doing. For the ultimate effect try using video, if you have access to your model, get them to record a personal greeting/ sales pitch. Developing a character with personality quirks does not take much, try to create a short bio, include 5 things your new persona likes and dislikes what star sign are they and age. The more the better even if you don’t use these details on the site it helps build a stronger character a more believable character.

What’s next?

Next post we are going to start building a suitable site as our main sales site, we will look at the various elements needed on the site and discuss how sites look can influence a person. Through out these next few posts I will be building a sample site for you to play with complete with persona (no you can’t use it) but it will help you to understand some of the ideas and psychology behind such sites.