Last issue you were introduced to ProAutoresponder, easily the most powerful, flexible, and affordable vehicle for sending and managing business-generating e-mail. Despite this awesome power however, any drip marketing system is only as good as the messages that are sent.

This is the second of a three part series on e-mail drip marketing. This PART II article will focus on creating the content for your "killer" drip marketing campaign (which, as you know, is a series of e-mail messages sent at specific intervals). When creating a specific targeted e-mail marketing campaign, it is helpful to think of it as a well-orchestrated "symphonic" communication that converts prospects into clients in a powerful and compelling way.

"Harmonize" Your Content

"Harmonizing" your campaign content means that it: a) contains high-value information for a specific target market; b) builds expectation as to what each message will deliver; c) provides an invitation to interact with you at every point possible; d) gives them complete control over their involvement in the campaign. When you create a campaign message set that meets all these criteria, you are in harmony with your online prospects and have an unbeatable business-building e-mail marketing machine! Here is how you can address each part.

1. Provide High Value Information - It's assumed that each campaign is targeted for a specific type of prospect category (i.e. first-time buyers, FSBOs, relocation, etc.). This means that each message contains high-value content specifically for that particular niche market. Ideally, the messages take the recipient through a step-by-step learning process in which they look forward to the next "gold nugget" of insight for their unique situation. CLICK HERE to review PART I's example of a first-time buyer campaign to get a sense of this learning process.

2. Build Expectations - The purpose of the first message is to create recipient expectation as to what the campaign is all about. Ideally it starts out with a warm welcome and then provides a brief bullet point summary of what each future message contains and when it will be sent. Also, be explicit about how you will protect their privacy and not contact them unless they request it. Finally, explain how they can easily unsubscribe from the campaign at any time should they ever want to. (NOTE: ProAutoresponder makes this a snap!)

3. Create A "Call To Interaction" - This is the tricky part, yet, if done correctly can pay off incredibly well. Think of each message in the campaign (after the first one) as an opportunity to deepen the relationship with the recipient by creating a sense of "dialog". This usually requires interaction, and one of the most powerful methods I've ever seen to create this is a "call to interaction" within each message. CLICK HERE to review the entire article I wrote about this process. While not easy to do, it is well worth the effort!

4. Give Recipient Complete Control - This is the easiest part because ProAutoresponder automatically puts a link at the bottom of each message sent that allows the recipient to unsubscribe. Also, since ProAutoresponder allows you to "redirect" anyone unsubscribing to an "exit" Web page, it is advisable to have one set up that thanks them for participating and asks them why they unsubscribed —a great way to continually improve the impact of your campaigns.

This may seem like a lot of work to create the content for a well-written campaign —and it is! It takes the multiple talents of a content expert (you), a good copywriter (which you can find on Elance.com) and insight on how to put it all together.

The Easy Way

The easy way is to just wait for me to create all the custom targeted campaigns for you! They will probably take a couple of months to complete. However, as soon as they are ready, you will have the first shot at acquiring what hopes to be the most powerful, compelling, and profit-building e-mail drip marketing campaigns ever created!

NOTE: PART III of this series of articles on e-mail drip marketing will be in the May 2002 issue of ePOWER! NEWS. It will cover how to graphically design your messages for maximum readability and impact —so stay tuned!