Nomad Internet Marketing March 2017 Issue 03 | Page 23

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Now, I know you’re building your list with
people who have ASKED to be on your list. And
when they want to leave your list, you have that
handy dandy link they can click.
But…
What about those times when you’ve
contacted someone – say, another product
owner, a business owner, a blog owner, etc., - and
proposed something?
“I have this URL which is really close to yours,
wanna buy it?”
“I have this great product your list would love,
wanna promote it?”
“I have this terrific service that will bring you
new business, wanna look at it?”
These are all technically spam. And if reported
and acted upon by the FTC, you could get into
trouble.
Now, most folks will never bother to report
you, even if they are miffed. But it only takes one
or two to start trouble.
So in this case, what might you do?
First, I’m no lawyer. Remember that. This is
NOT legal advice. But I can tell you the methods I
use:
• If I get a referral from somebody, I use that
referral in my initial email. “Jake told me
(this and this about you) and he said I
should contact you and see about
possibly setting something up.” No one (in
my experience) is going to mind getting
this email because you’ve mentioned the
mutual friend. Heck, it wasn’t even your
idea.
•
I don’t ask for what I want in the initial
email. Frankly, I might not ask for days or
even weeks. Instead, I focus first on
building a relationship. “Hi Ellen, I see
you’re in the __ field and I just wanted to
introduce myself.” No one ever has
enough professional contacts, so this
nearly always gets a positive response.
• I give them kudos for something they’ve
accomplished. “Rashim, I just finished
reading your book and I loved it. Here’s
what you taught me (Here I list my 3
biggest takeaways). Anyway, just wanted
to thank you for writing this great book, I’m
going to recommend it to my fellow
marketers.” This nearly always gets a
response.
In any email I send, I put my contact info
including website, social media and Skype.
Whether I ask them to contact me or not, they
almost always do, and usually it’s by email after
they’ve checked out my website.
Out of respect for their time, I keep initial
emails short and to the point. I don’t solicit. I do
close with something like, “If I can be of help to
you, please let me know.” Don’t worry about
offering your help – professionals generally don’t
take advantage of each other, and if they were to
ask for something crazy, you could always say no.
If I had to sum up how to send an unsolicited
email to a fellow marketer in three words, it would
be this:
Make it personal.