+JMJ+
Do you want to be average with your email marketing?
You DO need to do something different if you want to stand out in the crowd, and doing that well in your customer’s inbox is one of the best ways.
Why?
Because just about every Tom, Dick, and Elon in the world is on the internet these days and has email …
And they check their inboxes A LOT!
According to a post by Hubspot, there are 4 billion daily email users, AND …
One report shows that 99% of people check their email EVERY DAY!
NOW, following the money …
According to some numbers going back to 2021, Statista estimates that email marketing revenue will hit “$17.9 billion [US Dollars] by 2027.”
That’s a good chunk of change, so why shouldn’t you, as a #Catholicentrepreneur get a slice of that pie?
I’m not talking about turning into Gordon Gekko here, because greed is not good … it’s deadly.
But as #Catholic business owners, we can’t pull back from the world.
In fact, we have a deeper responsibility to feed our families, along with the people who work for us, which is why …
We can’t afford to be average with our email marketing, and that brings me around to Hollyweird and a short trip back to yesteryear.
The movie I want to look at is “Unbreakable,” directed by M. Night Shyamalan and released in 2000, when everyone was forgetting about Y2K, and yours truly was slightly younger, but no less handsome …
If you rummage through your old DVD collection, you might even find this one.
I’m not sure if you remember a lot about that movie, because I sure don’t; not that it was a bad film, because I remember liking it, but the year 2000 was the year 2000.
Unbreakable was a different sort of superhero movie about these two men …
Bruce Willis plays the good guy, a fella who has this “power” to never get injured.
Sammy L. Jackson plays this other lad who gets hurt super easily, and almost all the time – he’s pretty much Bruce’s exact opposite.
At least that’s what I remember about the film.
This was a good enough movie, which came on the heels of “The Sixth Sense”, when people were still excited about M. Night Shyamalan films.
What can I say? The year 2000 was a different time, brother … just sayin’.
BACK TO THE EMAILS …
The CinemaStix YouTube channel analyzed the visual composition of the movie and noted the average shot length was almost 19 seconds, with one cut lasting almost an entire minute!
“Children of Men” is another one famous for its long shots.
In the dystopian epic (yes, epic) from 2006, the director used these clearly obvious long cuts, like this one, where you KNOW you’re watching something different.
The technique stands out, especially when you think about how THEY keep saying attention spans are getting shorter. Maybe the movie industry is partly to blame.
Have you ever noticed the way Hollywood productions blast you with short, rapid fire shots that last around 3 seconds each?
Once you start counting …
It’s almost too difficult to NOT see it.
The mistake here, though, is this:
We’re NOT dealing with an ATTENTION problem with audiences, we’re dealing with an INTEREST problem on the creator end of things, especially when you look at how long some episodes of the @joerogan podcast can run for.
People WILL pay attention if they’re entertained.
“But, Mr. Marketing Trad, you handsome guy you, how does this relate back to email marketing?” is what you’re asking now, especially if you’re still reading this. (Thank you, by the way, if you made it this far. You’re a champ!)
Well, it’s simple …
Be different.
When everyone else is using 3 second shots in their movies, or writing short, rapid-fire emails, go long …
Get longer and more methodical with your approach.
It IS harder to do, but “hard” doesn’t mean impossible …
People just don’t like doing hard things. I think that comes down to a lack of discipline and a fear of suffering … which should be a wake-up call to all the #Catholic business owners out there.
I’m not saying short emails don’t work and you should never send them. To be clear, I’m not saying you need to write “War and Peace” either, which was a fantastic book by the way.
But, if I told you I had a quick and easy way for you to crank out longer and more compelling emails for your company, and all you had to do was buy this pill, most people would probably jump at it.
It’s not that I can’t help, because I can, but it takes work, and that’s what I do.
Stay holy my friends, and God bless.
Vic
The Marketing Trad
P.S. If you think longer emails will have your readers scrambling for the unsubscribe button, think again. If you want to talk about it, let me know: [email protected].
P.P.S. The Offertory Psalm from today’s Mass: Ps 44:15-16 – Behind her the virgins of her train are brought to the King. They are borne in to You with gladness and joy; they enter the palace of the Lord, the King.