Going back to the fantastic graphics I posted about on Wednesday, I wonder if you’re advertising enough in your marketing emails.

If you recall, the image that represented “marketing” was a single statement, while “advertising” was the same statement repeated several times. This brings us to your email marketing message, whether it’s a newsletter or a straight sales email. I’m sure you have a call to action, but do you repeat it?

I don’t know about you, but there are days when I’m as dumb as a box of rocks. On those days (and most others if you ask my wife), it takes several times before what my wife is trying to tell me finally sinks in, at which point I grunt and go “Of course I was listening!”

I keep trying to explain that this means I’m just being a husband, but it’s not getting me anywhere.

Back on topic, are you repeating your call to action enough times to make the recipients of your email drop their paper and say “Of course I was listening!”? There is no hard and fast rule about how many times you need to repeat it, but it’s almost a guarantee that once is not enough.

How many times do you repeat your call to action, and why did you settle on that number?

The internet provides some of the most exciting sales and marketing opportunities in the world today. However, even this long after the advent of internet sales, there are still those that spend quite a lot of time on their product or service and forget one of the simplest rules of sales when it comes time to sell it. When putting together your marketing message (any kind of sales, whether it be online or off), this rule always applies.

You have to ask for the sale.

It doesn’t matter how well-written your sales message is, how wonderful your product or service is, or how your price point compares to competing products or services, those that clearly ask for the sale and make it easy for the customer to say yes will always see a higher conversion rate than those that don’t. It’s called the “call to action”, and it can make or break you.

• “Order before midnight tonight!”
• “Supplies are limited, order today!”
• “Click here to download your package.”
• “Visit our website at (your website here) and place your order now!”

These are all examples of calls to action, and your sales message needs a call to action to be effective, and you should make it as simple as possible for the customer to take that action. If you’re marketing on the internet, give your customers an easy, straightforward, internet-based way to make their purchase from the email or webpage your call to action is located on, whether it be an order form, a link to a purchase page, or an email address “for more information or to place your order”.

There are people that want to buy your product or service…they’re just waiting to be asked to, so make sure you do ask.