Igor’s 5 Email Marketing Rules

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Hi, my name is Igor Kheifets and this is the List Building Lifestyle, the only podcast
which delivers cutting edge conversion strategies from the online trenches straight to
your earbuds. Download the transcript of today’s episode and all future episodes at
listbuilidnglifestylesshow.com. I also invite you to grab a free copy of “The Wealthy
List Builder’s Survival Guide” at listbuildinglifestyleshow.com/survival and now
once again it’s time to claim your List Building Lifestyle.

Jonathan: Welcome back List Builders to another edition of List Building Lifestyle
with your man, your mentor, your buddy and your guru, Mr. Igor Kheifets.

Igor: You know, I’m worried about the term, I mean we kind of gave “guru” a bad
feel early on. Right?

Jonathan: Yes, it’s something that you got to play with. Sometimes it’s good,
sometimes it’s bad, you got to keep people guessing so that they know that you are
superior being to them.

Igor: Oh right, that’s right. Then you should position me as one of the good
gurus. It’s like the Green Lantern, there’s the green people and there’s the
yellow guy. So it should be obvious on whose side I’m fighting. I’m fighting for
the people, Jonathan, and you should make it clear to them.

Jonathan: I’m going to have to think about how to make that more clear, but I
thought just by the fact that you are here, they should already know that. See,
I’m taking things for granted too, Igor.

Igor: Yes, that’s right, you’re assuming, and that’s not good. Just like I have
assumed that when you email your list you have to give them valuable free stuff
back in the day, I paid dearly for it, was just killing my list, and completely
killing response, which is why I want to touch upon some rules when it comes to
email marketing today. To do this, to devote this episode to sharing some do’s and
don’ts with the List Builders about how to email their list for big profits.

Jonathan: Good grief, I can’t wait to hear this. So what you got for us, man?

Igor: Before to share the rules, I really want to share something with you. So
earlier I mentioned, I think it was couple episodes ago, that I’m working on his
guide, that I’m working on this ultimate guide to Solo Ads. Now obviously a part
of that guide should be how to email your list. I mean you can’t really do Solo
Ads unless you’re building a list, and you can’t be building a list and not do an
email marketing. That’s just sort of like getting a driver’s license and not
driving your car. Doesn’t make any sense. So I’ve done this chapter about
unsubscribes, and you know I feel about them, right? Unsubscribes to me, it’s just
a celebration. It means I’m missing some people off, I’m driving some people off
my list, and that means that other kinds of people that are the opposite to those
who leave will actually buy from me. So unsubscribe is just proof that my list is
alive and it cares. Because the last thing I want is indifference. The last thing
I want to people to not care and not to get upset about what I write, because that
means that they will not fall in love with me, which is the other side of that
spectrum. And again, this is something we’ve discussed at length and then Ben
Settles talks about it. Anyone with even a little bit of sense when it comes to
email marketing always recommends to never create indifference with their list.
I’m not going to ramble about it anymore. Don’t try to convince me, Jonathan.
Don’t ask me any questions about it because I’m not going to do it.

Jonathan: Alright, alright.

Igor: Obviously, I wanted to present it in the creative, and so I started looking
for the kind of stuff people write about unsubscriber rates, and I stumbled on
this article where they quoted “expert”, Jonathan, she is a marketing expert. Her
name is Gloria Rand, and this is as straightforward attack on what she said and
what was quoted in that article. Basically, here’s what she said, “Some people
unsubscribe because every email they get from you is an advertisement to buy your
products or services. Don’t bury your subscribers will sales emails all the time,
instead” she says, “follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of your email should feature
helpful tips or strategies related to your industry or free ebooks, templates or
registrations for free webinars. The other 20% of your emails can be sales
related.” This is the exactly the kind of dense advice that got me spinning my
wheels for a month when I was a newbie email marketer. Mrs. Rand, I actually went
to her website, I kind of checked her out, she’s an SEO expert, she’s an expert at
helping you rank your website on page one of Google, not sure how successful she
is, but that’s what she claims that she is. You know what, if you apply this 80/20
rule to SEO where the game is just all content, the game is pure content. In fact,
the guide I’m writing is for SEO. The thousands of words I’m putting on paper in
the form of a guide is for the SEO purpose that I’m doing right now to rank higher
for the term Solo Ads and buy Solo Ads and solo directory, that is good advice for
that. But if you’re talking about making money with email, that is the absolute
worst advice, and an SEO expert should not be allowed to tell you how you should
or shouldn’t email your list.

Jonathan: Amen.

Igor: So let me tell you then what you should do and how you should feel about
unsubscribes, spam complaints, and anything else you might be getting from your
list. So here’s the five golden rules of email marketing. First, do not hard
teach. So the thing that she said, send them free e-books and make them attend
webinars…

Jonathan: If you want them to stop reading.

Igor: If you want them to stop respecting you, do that. Avoid sending out
helpful tips and tutorials and blog posts.

Jonathan: It’s like putting out on the first date, Igor. It’s like, “I don’t want it
anymore. Forget about it.”

Igor: Yes, it’s like paying for her dinner. That’s right. I used to be that guy, I
used to be that guy both in dating and in list building. I used to send them the
free tips, I used to show them how to build squeeze pages, I used to like do all
that stuff, I used to let them walk all over me, consume my free advice and go buy
from other people just like with the girls, I told you that story Jonathan, where
I basically paid like 50 bucks to send her flowers, she was really flattered and
everything, but later that day I caught her making out with some asshole in the
hallway. He had never done anything like that, in fact, he was married and she
knew it, and he had a kid, and his wife worked in the same hotel. Yet, she made
out with him, and she walked all over me. So, do not hard teach your list, no
value in that whatsoever if you’re in it to make some money. Number two, don’t
give value. It’s related, but not exactly the same. Marketers are taught to earn
their list trust by giving away lots and lots of value. This is outdated advice.
All it does, it puts you in the same bucket as all the other broke email marketers
who are busy sucking up to their lists instead of selling.

Jonathan: Igor, did you read “The Game”? Have you read it already?

Igor: Yes, of course.

Jonathan: I think there’s a confusion here, and these, if you remember they called
them AFC, Average Frustrated Chumps. The Average Frustrated Chumps of emails, I
think they have a confusion on the idea of giving value versus demonstrating
value. What I’m hearing you saying here is demonstrate the value without giving
it, they have to come and pay if they actually want to get what you have.

Igor: That’s a very good way of putting it, because giving value does make you
seem a needy. It’s like you’re trying to prove to them, “Hey, look at me. I am
worth something, look how great I am, look at my content.” What people usually try
to achieve by giving away free content, is to make their customers go, “Oh wow, if
that’s his free stuff, imagine what his paid stuff may look like.” But what they
end up achieving is that they condition their list to say, “Oh, so he’s giving
stuff away for free. That means I should expect more free stuff from him and
that’s about it. I don’t need to buy from him, or maybe I’ll buy some inexpensive
item because I’m sure he’s going to give away stuff for free.” But demonstrating
value, I mean this is spot on, this is such a great way of putting it, I don’t
think I’ve ever heard anyone put it in a better way, demonstrating value makes you
attractive and desirable by a target market. Demonstrating value in an overt way,
in a like under the radar way, not in an obnoxious, way of course, not trying to
push it, but that will make people literally cling to you and want to be a part of
your universe. That is the kind of value, that’s the kind of value play you want
to have with your marketing.

Jonathan: What’s next?

Igor: So, the next one is, pitch in every email. Yes, I know you’re uncomfortable
with that. I know, I know you’re not supposed to, I know you’ve been taught in
schools to be nice and that sales people are bad people, but honestly, you want to
tell me that if you had a list of 1000 cancer patients and you are marketing a
pill that cures cancer, that you would not pitch it in every single email you send
out? Chances are, you would mention it any time an opportunity presents itself for
any reason, like whether you had a reason or not, you’d create a reason to mention
that pill because you know that pill saves lives. Now same should be true about
your product, and if it doesn’t go sell something else. Go sell something you
believe in. Even if it means creating that thing yourself. Because let me tell
you, Jonathan, there’s so many people out there, they are ashamed of what they’re
selling.

Jonathan: Really?

Igor: They’re just ashamed of it, yes, and they’re ashamed to admit about it to
their friends, to their spouse. It literally feels to them that they’re dirty for
doing what they do, and I find it to be, again, I think it’s just sinful. Because
if you’re in it to make money if you’re in a to build a lifestyle, then why are
you selling something that you don’t fully believe in? It doesn’t make any sense.

Jonathan: I feel bad for people doing business like that, it’s no wonder they
can’t succeed.

Igor: Yeah, exactly my point. Rule number four, be infotaining. Now amateurs, they
use email to give value as we’ve explained and to get the clicks. So the first
part of the amateur group is people who are just sending you the free shit, and
the other part of them is the ones that are using the click bait swipes. You know
like how like, “Claim your commission here” and “Your account is pending” that
sort of thing? So the professional email marketers, they infotain. Now
infotainment is a form of communication that is designed to inform and entertain
of the same time, which is by the way, a way to demonstrate value to your list.
Your subscribers, they have low tolerance toward straight up pitchers, I agree
with that, but they love to be infotained. That’s really how you get away with
selling in every email, even if you’re emailing twice or three times a day
sometimes like I do.

Jonathan: I’m digging it.

Igor: Jonathan, I know you want to add something about infotainment. You do it
every day.

Jonathan: Correction, we talked about this. I stopped emailing every day, so I
want everybody to be aware that I love these gurus that teach me, but I’m not
afraid to just buck the system once in a while. But it’s another one of those
things, look, the right thing is I was reading “The Game” and so I can’t stop
thinking about it obviously, and it’s one of those things where people are out
there trying to buy a drink versus the guy that goes over there makes the girls
laugh. Who are they going to go home with? They’re going to laugh at the chump
that bought them the drink, and they’re going to go home with the guy that made
him laugh, so that’s just a case for being entertaining, infotaining.

Igor: Yes, but I know you don’t email every day anymore, but I know that you post
on Facebook every day, and you said it works for you right now.

Jonathan: You’re right.

Igor: I’m sure the content, I mean I haven’t checked it out because you know I’ve
been off Facebook, but I’m sure the content you’re putting on Facebook right now
is infotaining.

Jonathan: Yes, it’s getting better. I don’t even want to talk about it, but I’m
having a struggle with being the sidekick like I am on most shows, versus being
the leader, so I’m figuring that out and I think that’s part of emailing every day
or creating content every day or doing something every day, is doing it, getting
some feedback and figuring out what works.

Igor: Right, but as long as you do it every day, even if you’re bad at it, you’re
still way ahead of most people. I mean I don’t have to tell you that, you’re
making money off that stuff, so you’re good.

Jonathan: Thank you.

Igor: Now you the last rule… You’re welcome. The last rule is don’t be vanilla.
Now what I want you to understand is that nobody’s going to buy it from you if
they’re indifferent to what you’re saying, if you’re not alienating some people,
if you’re not making other people fall in love with you, if you’re not pissing
some people off, you can’t be neutral all the time. Like imagine the classic
version of a blog post, the one that start off with, “There are many different
ways to skin a cat, so if you want to skin a cat fast you could try this, or if
you want to skin a cat slow, you may want to go for this. Now we try to do this
and we try to do that.” So it’s always vanilla like that. There’s no controversy,
there’s no conflict, there’s no anger, there’s no tone, there’s no emotion in it.
It’s the opposite of this podcast that is so infotaining and entertaining and
educational. So what I want to do is I want you to find a group of people you
disagree with and blatantly attack their point of view. Do not apologize, do not
hold back, draw a clear line in the sand and state your case. Just like I did at
the beginning of this episode where I pretty much just went against with Gloria
Rand, the in marketing consultant said about unsubscribes. Right?

Jonathan: You’re going to have her on this show, bro.

Igor: Maybe. I hope she doesn’t sue me, but in case she does, I’m willing to stand
for it because I honestly believe that she is 100% wrong in saying what she said.
Now I’m not saying that she should go out there and create personal, just attack
people personally. I can do it now because I feel confident to do it and because I
have lots and lots and lots of data to back me up on this, and besides let’s face
it, I can probably benefit from the controversy by stirring up the argument. But
if you’re afraid to piss people off, which is okay when you get started, don’t
attack the person. Just attack a group of people, just attack the general idea, a
belief system. I mean Jonathan, if I had to break down my emails into like
categories, I’d say about 20% of my emails are these kind emails where I take a
belief system, where I think of a group of people that believe that a certain
thing is true, that subscribe to certain school of thought and I just attack their
beliefs. I don’t attack anyone personally, Gloria here’s actually an exception,
but I attack their beliefs and I sell against those beliefs and that works really
well. I mean let’s just take my Solo Ad business, you love it when you give
examples from my Solo Ad business. You know that I attacked Facebook feed, that I
attacked people who believe Facebook ads are superior to Solo Ads, you know that I
attack you know people who don’t email every day. In fact, I think I attacked them
in today’s episode. They’re afraid to offend their list, and I said, “You should
email every day, in fact, you should pitch in every email.” So I’m literally
attacking the belief system. Now what it does to you as a marketer, it allows the
person reading your emails to realize and recognize exactly what you stand for.
Because they won’t do business with you until they do, they need to understand
what stance you take on these subjects, especially the subjects that are closely
related to whatever you’re trying to sell.

Jonathan: Igor, as you open this up I thought of a new quote, “Nobody is going to
buy from you if everyone likes you.”

Igor: That’s right.

Jonathan: That’s how I would sum it up, because that’s it if everyone likes you,
you’re not being controversial enough, you’re not attaching people to you, you’re
not bringing people close and repelling the other. So can we do a quick recap of
those five rules?

Igor: Oh yes, absolutely. So the five rules are, in quick succession, don’t hard
teach, don’t give value, pitch in every email, be infotaining, and don’t be
vanilla. Jonathan: I liked it better when you said, “Don’t be a pussy.” but
anyways. What do you have coming up for us next time?

Igor: Well next time we’re going to chat about the thing that I started with
today, and that’s unsubscribes. Because the question, how to deal with
unsubscribes is a big one, it comes up a lot. In fact, I’ve had a client,
Jonathan, complain to me that my leads are bad because she receives unsubscribes
on her emails. Can you believe that? Like the fact that there’s actual real human
beings deciding that they don’t want to hear from her anymore for whatever reason,
she said that means you sending me fake leads. Fake leads! Can you believe that?
You know what a fake lead is? A fake lead is the one that doesn’t even bother
opening your emails because it doesn’t even exist. If somebody’s actually
unsubscribing, they’re a real person. So I had to address the whole unsubscribe
issue, and on the next episode we’re going to be chatting about what does that
mean for your business, is the good, is the bad thing, and what should you be
doing, what you should not be doing about.

Jonathan: Man, looking forward to that. So another List Building Lifestyle show’s
in the can, be back in your ear buds next time. Thanks for tuning in.

Thank you for listening to The List Building Lifestyle Show, make sure to
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one conversion tactic we share on the show might double your list and double your
business. Download the transcript of today’s episode and all future episodes at
listbuilderslifestyleshow.com and don’t forget to claim your complimentary copy
of “The Wealthy List Builder’s Survival Guide” at listbuildinglifestyleshow.com/survival .
This is Igor Kheifets until next time we talk, have a good one.

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