MINING GOLD FROM YOUR LIST

Direct marketing professionals have bragged for years about the importance of keeping mailing lists of your prospects and customers. "Your list is gold!" they exclaim, but how do you mine the gold from your lists?

In this article today, I will illustrate a very powerful strategy you can implement that will help you grow your business and fatten your wallet, yet won't touch a single dollar of your advertising budget.

In fact, many of the big guys who market their products and services on the Internet use this same strategy to add tens of thousands of dollars to their income every year... and you can too, if you read this article carefully and follow it through.

I want you to take a moment and think about how valuable a list of your prospects, or your customers, is to your business. Providing you treat these contacts well, by sending them quality information, they will remember you and listen to what you have to say.

They may just be subscribers to your ezine, or customers of an ebook you sell from your web site, or maybe someone who has requested more information from you on a specific matter. But my point is, they know you, you've inspired their trust, and therefore, they're the most qualified prospects for any offer you have.

Have you recently launched (or plan to launch) a new product, or just read a fabulous new ebook you want to tell everyone about, or perhaps have a sale on which you'd like to let everyone know about?

Well, your list is the perfect vehicle for getting the word out. This form of marketing will result in unheard-of response rates, far exceeding those of typical ezine advertisements. And moreover, it costs you absolutely nothing to produce!

So, how do you write an email that gets results, and by that, I mean substantial profits? I'll let you in on a secret of mine I've discovered the secret to making your words sell with this strategy is to be personal and persuasive.

Imagine you're writing a letter to a friend, that's how personal it should be. Let your personality through and emphasize the benefits of your offer. If you're announcing a new ebook on creating high-profit information products, then entice them by describing how much money they'll make and what kind of lifestyle they'll live once they've successfully sold a huge bunch of these products.

However, remember that it's still a sales letter and the same proven copywriting principles apply. Use the email subject line as an exciting headline, instead of a simply stating an issue number, grab their attention by saying "A Rare Special Announcement" or something similar.

Also remember to use small paragraphs, keep your letter simple, and make it easy to follow. Instead of mentioning features or technical details, tell your readers what's in it for them. Any experienced copywriter will tell you that no-one wants to know about you, your product and your company; instead they want to know what you and your product will do for them.