On December 3, 2012, a marketing legend by the name of Jim Straw passed away. I didn't know Jim Personally, but I was on his mailing list. I learned a lot from being on that list but it wasn't what you would think. Anyway, in this article, I'm going to share some of the wisdom I got from Jim over the years.
One thing you will hear marketers repeat (in fact it was posted at the Warrior Forum the other day) is that Jim said it's okay to repeat messages. In fact, by doing so, you increase sales.
Confession time. I've been so wrapped up in my own life lately, mostly because of Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath, that I haven't really been paying too much attention to the rest of the world. But I do check my emails daily.
Jim sent me one almost every single day. Of late, I didn't get time to read them but I did notice something. He would repeat the same email more than once. After a while, I would notice the subject line and think to myself, "This time I'm going to read it" if for no other reason than I'd want to know what the heck was so darn important that he'd send me the same email twice.
There are so many things that Jim did that most marketers would never do because they would think it wasn't productive or worse, annoying. But I wasn't annoyed. I was curious. I eventually needed to know what was in that email that he had to send it to me not once, not twice, but THREE times.
As you have probably guessed, this article is as much about Jim's genius as it is about his passing. I'm sure going to miss those emails.
However, his passing has left me with a thought and I'm going to pass that thought onto you in the hope that MAYBE it might get you to look at things a little differently than you do now.
I admit that I sometimes get caught up in the rat race of doing things the way you're "supposed" to do them. I've stopped taking chances. I've been playing it safe. If it works, don't mess with it. And there is something to be said for holding onto the tried and true.
But can you imagine what the world would be like if NOBODY ever took a chance? Would we have some of the things we have today? Would we have iPods? Would we have electric cars or at least hybrid vehicles? Would we have iTunes? Would we even have Google and YouTube?
Somewhere along the way, SOMEBODY took a chance and said, "Why don't we try this and see if it flies" and then actually put it into operation and turned the world upside down. The Internet itself was never meant to be used the way it is today. That came about because a few people took a chance.
Do you remember the early days of Internet marketing? We didn't have any of the automation tools that we have today. An autoresponder service like Aweber? Get real! That company came about because of a crying need for such a service. And that need came from somebody saying, "Imagine if I could build a list of prospects and send them emails pitching my product."
This stuff wasn't just THERE. It took a lot of thinking and planning to get to where it is today. And yes, we take it so horribly for granted. Such is the way it is in this world. Until a hurricane hits and you're without power. I never knew what it was like to live in a home without power for four days. And I just turned 55 this year. Yes, the things we take for granted.
Something tells me that Jim Straw didn't take anything for granted, good or bad. Meaning, he didn't send out one email with a subject line and, if it didn't bring in sales, say to himself, "Oh well, won't use that again." I'm sure he tested multiple sends to see if by the 3rd or 4th time, the email got opened and actually responded to.
We need more innovators like Jim. I'm too comfortable in my current lifestyle to become one, but maybe one person reading this article isn't too comfortable. Maybe they're just starting out and they're hungry and eager to try new things. After all, if everybody was like me, the world would stop progressing. Heck, I was happy with my turntable and 33 RPMs. I certainly didn't need CDs.
Maybe YOU can think of the new followup method for mailing lists. Maybe you'll think of something as crazy as optional opt ins. You give the person the choice of several lists and several followup sequences depending on what they're particularly looking for. Sound crazy? Maybe. Or maybe somebody will run with this idea and see how it works.
Or maybe somebody will come up with the multiple page sales copy. Each page gives them just a little piece of the copy and in order to get to the next piece, they have to click a link. I can see a use for this. If you tracked each page hit, you can see PRECISELY where in the process prospects are bailing out. Imagine being able to calculate WHERE the sales page is failing and fix JUST that part. At least until you find the next part that doesn't work. Crazy idea? Maybe, but who knows.
Whoever thought that man would fly? I think history tells us that people called the Wright brothers crazy.
Yeah... crazy like a fox.
Jim Straw wasn't afraid to do things that most people would rule out for whatever reason. But that's why Jim Straw was so successful. That's why he wasn't most people. And while I didn't know him personally (I'm really wishing I did) I learned a lot from his emails. No, they weren't like most other people's.
The good ones rarely are.
To YOUR Success,
Steven Wagenheim
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