Issue #142
“Cash is king”.
I remember the head of the consumer division I worked for at Phillips Publishing, Bob King, saying those words…again and again.
And cash is king for your business, whether you’re a copywriter, marketer, or offer owner.
Without sufficient cash you can’t invest in copywriting trainings or events (which is crucial for getting GOOD at writing copy and being able to charge more…one of the best ways to increase the amount of “bacon” you bring in).
But let’s talk about how to bring in more cash for your clients or business. Because that’s obviously a good way to get paid more moo-lah, too.
Cash flow is critical, or else you can’t scale successful offers and grow your business.
But based on my years of experience on the marketing side–including running a $23MM-a-year supplement business–as well as my 20+ years as a freelance copywriter–many companies miss out on an easy way to get a big cash infusion into their business.
It’s also a way to build customer relationships, create loyalty, and increase lifetime value.
It’s to focus on the “back end”…meaning, those customers who’ve already bought from you before!
All too often, I’ve seen clients coming to me–just like they chase other “unicorns” who can write successful acquisition promos–and want me to write their next control.
For many companies, this is a big part of what they focus on: always bringing in new customers.
But as working with Jay Abraham to help build the Healthy Directions business, and when I was helping to publish his newsletter, taught me, by doing so you ignore the “hidden gold” in your business.
One of the reasons I was able to help grow the aforementioned supplement biz from $0 to $23 million (or about $40 million in today’s dollars) within its first 3 years was because from the very start, we focused on how we were going to bring in that NEXT order.
Everything was built from the ground up to not make it an acquisition business, but a RELATIONSHIP business.
I could write a whole book on this topic (and maybe some day I will), but I want to drop a quick example here…as it’s something you may be able to easily apply to your own business or the work you do for clients.
It’s something that came out of a “dash for cash” when I worked at Phillips Publishing and was running the Healthy Directions business. Basically it was a last-minute, company-wide challenge to come up with–and quickly implement–ideas to bring in more cold, hard cash before the looming end of the quarter.
At the time we had a number of people buying Dr. Julian Whitaker’s core supplement program for $39.95 a month. Many had chosen NOT to do the autoship option, in part because they’re older and may not always take all 14 recommended pills in the program every day.
So my team and I came up with a special “stock up” mailing that we sent to people who’d bought the program before. We made it an event, added a timeliness component (and urgency with a deadline), and created an irresistible savings offer–heavily pushing the 6-bottle stock-up option.
If I recall correctly, this mailing–which did NOT go to a gigantic number of people, generated at least $300k (more like half a mill today)…money that basically came out of nowhere and thus landed on the books before the end of the quarter, and created a cash infusion for the business.
Since then, I’ve shared this idea with other companies, and they’ve seen similar results. And at the supplement company I used to run, to this day they do event-like stock-up mailings for most of their products and doctors’ lines, and have a whole department of employees dedicated to implementing these campaigns.
This is an idea you can apply to just about ANY business. It works particularly well for consumable products like supplements, protein powders, or skin care.
But it can work for a wide range of products as well…think clothing “staples” for example (in fact, I have an example of one that hit my email inbox today I’ll share in a moment).
Combine this “stock-up” concept with any other event…say “Black Friday”, which is starting earlier than ever this year…and you could put together a hugely successful, cash-generating offer that will have you sitting pretty by year-end.
As you may know, getting people to buy MORE of the same thing they’re already buying in a upsell on a front-end offer is generally one of the best-performing upsells you can do (for everything from supplements to air purifiers to multi-year subscriptions).
But if you’re not doing it on the back-end, you’re missing out on a big opportunity to boost your cash flow and serve your customers in a way that builds loyalty and lifetime value.
So let’s take a quick look at that email offer that landed in my inbox early this rainy morning while I was sleeping in just a bit (that Green Bay Packers vs Chargers game last night was an exciting one!)
What’s in Kim’s Mailbox?
There’s not a whole lot of innovative creative strategy going on with this email promo I’m about to share with you. It’s really about the strategy behind it: getting previous buyers to “stock up” on clothing basics.
They may also be segmenting based on recency since I just bought from the company for the first time within the last month.
And they’re also throwing in another twist: tying the promotion to “Black Friday”…except they’re keeping it going all month long. Let’s take a quick look…
Check out that subject line: “Helloooo Black Friday Deals! ” It immediately signals urgency, that there’s a sale going on…and it also feels fresh because practically NO ONE is talking about Black Friday just yet. (Of course, that’s all going to change in the next 2-3 weeks…)
The email copy leads with the idea that they’re looking out for their customers by starting their sale early. They’re featuring some of their most “boring” staples like t-shirts, socks, and leggings…but they’re sex-ing them up and creating “Black Friday” excitement by referring to them as “doorbusters”.
And I really love how they include a CTA button with fun copy that ties in with that same theme: “Doorbust a move.” With a period, not an exclamation point because, we’re cool.
I had one concern that how the heck will they keep the excitement and urgency going on this promotion when it’s going on for so long (for the next month).
But as a current customer who knows they often sell out of popular items (i.e., those “cityscape” leggings I would LOVE to get, but they’re not available in my size), I know that if there’s anything I want at these irresistibly low prices, I better hop on it now.
This is a great example of how to combine the “stock-up” offer strategy with “creating an event” (and ideally one that’s repeatable–I’m sure this is something they can do every year or even multiple times a year tied to other events).
It creates customer loyalty because it seems to come from a place of service…it’s getting them more “addicted” to their high-quality, organic, non-plastic clothing by encouraging them to replace their wardrobe staples with this company’s…
And it’s likely going to generate a windfall of cash and profits the company can use to keep fueling its growth.
That’s all I’ve got for you today…I’ve got a ton of “to do’s” on my list (including getting my next Pact order in). Hopefully you’ll be able to put this idea to work, maybe even before Black Friday hits.
Speaking of which, I have a special promotion planned for you (you won’t hear about it for at least a few weeks). It’s going to give you the chance to get some of my best copywriting training bundled with that from other top experts (some of which have rarely made their expertise available, and are living legends).
It’s going to be a steal of a deal, too…so keep your powder “dry” and get ready to “stock up” on the best copywriting course training bundle you’ve probably ever seen!