This is an email sent to Robert Earl Keen’s email list on September 14th.
Why would I tell you about it on February 2nd? Because what they did will work for you over and over again.
It follows one of our golden rules for when to send out email and direct mail promotions:
Find unusual-but-relevant reasons to celebrate. Here, Keen is tying the message/promotion to an unusual theme.
This has two direct and immediate benefits:
- You won’t be emailing the same day as everybody else.
- Your email will captivate people – instantly passing through the gatekeeper in their brains on the lookout for boring, irrelevant stuff – but it will still have an impact because it’s not just weird, but weird AND relevant.
Tons of companies celebrate President’s Day with promotions. Everyone celebrates Black Friday with promotions. (And NO ONE should celebrate certain days with certain kinds of promotions.)
Look through the calendar… Google “unusual events in February” or “silly holidays.”
Brainstorm with your team on how to tie-in promotions to those holidays. (Here’s how to double the output of your next brainstorming session.)
If you’re a pizza place, maybe you celebrate the signing of the International Cheese Treaty.
If you’re a creative company, maybe you close on Jim Henson’s birthday.
If you’re an ice cream or fro-yo place, maybe you give away free cones on the first day of Spring.
If you’re a heating an air company, maybe you send out an email offering to change customers smoke detector batteries for free on the first day of Fall.
Conventional wisdom tells most companies to send out email “newsletters” on the first Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday of each month.
Why? Don’t you agree that conventional wisdom tends to be more convention than actual wisdom?
Avoid emailing or sending direct mail when—and why—everyone else does.
Find unusual-but-relevant reasons. Make them either unusual-but-relevant to your industry or your promotion.
