It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …
Quick.
Name that book. (And don’t use Google!)
My guess is, even if you’re not much of a reader you recognize that line as the famous opening sentence of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.
A Tale of Two Cities is an absolute classic with more than 200 million copies in print. It is hands down one of the most popular books of all time.
Could This 200-Year-Old Marketing Trick
Put More Cash In Your Coffers?
The date is 30th April, 1859.
The place is Victorian era London.
People are lined up by the hundreds at street vendors throughout the city eager to get their hands on “All The Year Round” – a new literary magazine published by Charles Dickens.
Why were people willing to wait for hours in queue and shell out two pence (a decent amount of coin in those days) for a copy of “All The Year Round”?
Because that was the only place you could find Charles Dickens’ new novel A Tale of Two Cities.
By the mid-19th century Charles Dickens was an absolute rock star in England, Europe and America.
Folks were drooling for his latest masterpiece.
“Hang on a second here”, you might be thinking. “What does this have to do with email marketing? Are you telling me I need the literary chops of Charles Dickens to crush it with email?”
Nope.
The lesson isn’t what Dickens wrote, it’s how he published it. Let me explain.
A More Profitable Email List
The Charles Dickens Way
A Tale of Two Cities is a big book: 45 chapters spread over 460 pages.
And while Dickens gets his just desserts when it comes to being a literary master, few people give him the marketing props he deserves.
You see, Dickens popularized the idea of serialized fiction – content that is spaced out and published at regular intervals – and it made him one of the wealthiest men of his generation.
The 45 chapters of A Tale of Two Cities where published across 31 issues of “All The Year Round”.
This kept the circulation of “All The Year Round” well into the 100,000’s – at a time when London’s population was just over 2 million people.
Dickens knew that if you offer up great content on a routine basis you’ll have people hanging on your every word.
Are you sending an email here or an email there to your list?
Do new subscribers trigger an auto-responder series and you leave it at that?
Then you’re squandering one of your business’s most valuable assets.
You want people checking their inboxes for your message with the anticipation of a Victorian era Londoner awaiting the next installment of A Tale of Two Cities.
And that means:
- You MUST email your list regularly – as often as once a day (I will be reveling some INCREDIBLY insightful information data about that coming soon…)
- You MUST ensure your emails are engaging and entertaining – they don’t have to be literary masterpieces but if you’re boring you can kiss your subscribers goodbye
Yes, it takes time.
And yes, writing that many emails and keeping them fresh and engaging can be a challenge.
But the payoff for this investment?
You generate more trust and goodwill with the folks on your list, you position yourself as a leader who has something to say that’s worth listening to, and – most importantly – you sell more of your offer.
Sounds like a pretty good ROI to me!
Of course, if you’re simply too busy running your business to devote the time and energy necessary to squeeze all the profits out of your email list, then I’m available to help “all the year round”.
Just mosey on over and have a look:
http://www.freelancecopywritermike.com/
To your success,
Mike