Looking for suggestions on email outreach title/content

[BobGW]

Hello,

We created a "How to choose a product" PDF that we are marketing to resource pages and blogs in four appropriate niches. It's good, unique content that's useful.The PDF has it's own non-commercial page.

We will be doing email outreach with buzzstream.

Is it important to never ask for a link in the first email? We're offering one of the following four in exchange for the link (they get to choose one):

1. A link back on one of our other sites in the same niche (not reciprocal link)

2. $100 in adwords traffic including up to 20 keywords.

3. Facebook share of their URL

4. Tweet of their URL

Let me stop there and see what your feedback is. We're looking for (about) how many emails to send out building relationships before making the above offer. Or is there some way to make the offer immediately?

Also, what makes a good subject line?

Rand seems to indicate that you can make the offer right away in this whiteboard friday but every other article and video I've watched have said to build a relationship first.

Any help is appreciated. We'll be writing all completely custom, researched outreach emails, carefully crafted.

[BobGW]

Thanks Mike,

Very informative.

You mentioned blog commenting twice. Is it good to do this a couple of days before sending an outreach email

[MikeGracia]

Hi Bob,

Sounds like a great little workflow you have going there

At what stage are you mentioning broken links etc? During the blog commenting, or via email?

I would suggest email is the best - saves making them 'lose face' in front of their audience by people reading about it in comments (although I am sure they moderate their blogs!).

You might get better success rates if you were to point out the links in one email, then when they reply, respond re: the guest post of resource link request - However that said, if quick results are vital at this stage, I can understand why you would prefer to do it in a single email too

All-in-all, sounds like a good strategy to me. As long as you are making 'in-roads' with people, and managing to get a bit of a rapport going, I think that you have a good workflow laid out there!

Others may be able to give further input, but I think you are doing well.

If you are not doing so already, perhaps open the email with a little reminder of who you are - log their memory re: a comment you made/discussed with them, etc - it can help avoid their 'spam blindness' - We are all so cynical these days due to the shear volume of spammy dribble that get's sent, reminding someone right away that you are a real person, and have already been talking with them, can help with read-rates of our outreach emails.

Hope that helps... well done Bob!

[BobGW]

Hey Mike,

I've done a few now. Could you critique what I'm doing?:

If they are a blog, I build a little bit of rapport commenting on their blog, tell them if they have broken links (if they do) and offer them a guest post around my free resource PDF in exchange for $100 in adwords traffic & sharing their URL across my companies local channels.

If they have a resource section that I might fit in, I again build rapport with them, tell them about broken links and then ask them if they would list my pdf in their resource section and that I would be happy to do $100 in Adwords traffic and share them socially in exchange.

I'm finding the best person to email - a specific person if possible, but it's not always possible - and I'm doing everything in one email (My outreach has to get results pretty fast right now)

I'm using the buzzmarker and taking good notes

Your thoughts?

[MikeGracia]

To a large extent it depends on the site in question.

Blogs are the easy one - guest posting.

Static sites without resource areas are harder, I would check to see if they have a news section, or perhaps they have a mailing list they could send info to, for example.

At worse case, even if you are targeting sites that don't have frequently updated areas (blog/press section/news section etc OR a mailing list), then perhaps they could at least mention/recommend the pdf to their social following? (Tweet/LinkedIn share/Facebook post).

Other than that, would be hard to say without seeing the sites being targeted.

Hope that helps though

Mike.

[BobGW]

Hi Mike,

If they don't have a resource section, what are all the ways to offer my how-to-choose-a-product PDF to them? Some are blogs, some are not.

Thanks!

[MikeGracia]

Hi Bob,

Well personally, I agree with you. I always like to try to find a hook, common ground, or something to talk about with a prospect.

For others though, it's a numbers game, and the pleasure and higher conversion rate you get by being more personal does have to be compared with the lower conversion rate but higher volume of a less personalised outreach.

I like to go after higher value relationships myself, and so am fine with taking the time to connect with people - comment on their bogs, .help out with any problems they have on their site (broken links/broken social badges, etc) and build a relationship up first, before even asking about a guest post.

Sometimes though, when an outreach campaign is urgent, it can be good to know how to quickly assess a site, add to buzzstream, making comments in the notes section as a mental reminder of the tone of voice to use with a blogger, what would work well for their blog, and also any issues they have with their site.

I have been know to send an email to a prospect cold, help them by explaining they have a broken link (a couple of times it was badges linking to /# instead of their social account!), and also ask if they would be interested in 'xyz' too - and I usually get a good response

I find that in most cases making notes etc on things about them and their blog, then emailing them with that in mind, but being YOURSELF, and being honest, has the best effect.

Like I said above though, I would test this for yourself, find what works for you, and how you are happy working - split test a couple of different styles at first, and use buzzstream in-built reporting on which email template converts best to see how to progress from there

[BobGW]

Thank you Mike,

This is all to solicit a link to the PDF page, only soliciting to sites that look like they would directly benefit from providing this PDF to readers.

I'm convinced that you always build relationships first, but I'm open to testing if other experts have the same opinion.

[MikeGracia]

Hi Bob,

Although not the answer you want, it depends!

What I would do, is split test your outreach.

In one email, make the offer right away, and in another be a little more cautious.

To some extent, it does depend on what you are asking the bloggers to do. For example, are you asking them to write a review of the PDF? or do you want to write & supply a guest post?

In either instance, I wouldn't offer them the link back from another related site - that's just me personally. To me, that would look too much like one of the '3 way link swap' emails that I delete each week.

Offering the adwords traffic is an interesting one, however I would use that one as a contest personally - one of the reviewers picked at random.

In terms of offering a FB like or Tweet - I would instead tell them that you would be happy to share their post across your company's social channels.

The actual email you write, including the subject line, will depend to some extent on the tone of voice of the blogger you are reaching out to.

Re: Buzzstream

I have used Buzzstream a fair bit myself - what I tend to do is NOT use their inbuilt scraper (I don't like most serp scrapers!).

Instead I use the bookmarklet they provide, which then allows me to make notes (on the final page of the bookmarklet, after confirming their contact data etc), on things like: Their tone of voice, links to their guest post guidelines, any notes on if they do giveaways, etc.

Also, when first adding the prospect to buzzstream, be SURE to use tags that will be useful in the future (may be useful for other campaigns/clients etc). Doing things like using non-industry specific tags like 'giveaway' or 'contest' can help with future efforts, as you can search buzzstream for such prospects.

One other advantage of using buzzstream, is that if you do create 2 different templates for the emails, Buzzstream will try to automatically record the response rate as a percentage...

For the above reason, consider just bookmarking a set number first, say 10 to 20% of the total number of blogs you intend to reach out to, **but **ensuring you have enough sample data to be reliable. - The more folks you intend to reach out to, the lower the % can be, basically!

Then, before you launch the campaign in full, check the response rate of each of the respective email templates, and go with the one that had the best response

This way, you are testing the water, and getting some stats (other than opinions) to base your campaign on. I like this method, as no 2 industries are the same really.