I wanna make a real-life case study of how my email copy chops work on a small business… so I’ll co-found a cookie biz in Manila.
Here’s the story:
My girlfriend started a cookie biz during the pandemic (but was also put to a halt after the series of lockdowns). She sold it on Facebook and IG, but we both have no idea how to run social media marketing.
So as a direct-response marketer, I suggested we focus on Facebook Marketplace. (Right after selling to friends and fam).
It turned out to be a good decision.
I was a complete rookie in the copy game that time, but I stuck with a few old-school principles.
- Know who you’re selling to
- Emphasize what sets you apart from the crowd
- Give proof of your claim
- Give social proof
- Add a touch of personality
Surprise, surprise, sales went up. We even managed to add a few pastries to the menu.
If life didn’t get in our way, who knows what could have happened to that biz…
Well…
We’ll find out because we’re a couple of steps away in (re)launching that same biz.
It’s a highly saturated market, especially with the rise of Tiktok marketplace or whatever that’s trending right now. And yes, we still don’t have the guts to slave away from the social media marketing grind.
So the plan is:
- Start building a list of people who want that sweet little piece of heaven that she bakes (COOKIES). We’re doing this by tapping old customers, letting friends take part in the taste-testing process in exchange for their emails, tapping our pseudo-influencer circle, plugging the biz on my other email lists, and eventually, paid ads.
- Make a simple opt-in bribe to entice cold traffic on her list. We’re leaning heavily on a simple discount-on-first-order tactic, but we’re open to more ideas. A few on the list are free shipping coupons, curiosity/FOMO heavy stories, digital goodies, or I don’t know, maybe prayer intentions.
- Create a sales page/product page that focuses on word-painting to make the readers drool over the cookies. We’re selling consumer goods, and consumer goods need to have this veil of awesomeness that sets them apart from similar products. (A good example of this is the brand Last Crumb.)
- But we won’t just paint the cookies. We’re going to paint a world. And we’ll do it via email. This is where all the fun and selling will happen. Every single email has 2 goals: entertain and sell.
- Figure out a back-end offer. Now, this is a must-have. The front-end offer is the cookies. Once people are on the list, we’ll sell premium offers that only they, as a part of the list, can enjoy. But we won’t talk about the specifics here. List members only.
Pretty simple, right?
This is pretty much just an upgrade on what we did on our first try. We just have a few new tools to use and a whole lot of marketing experience.
But basically, the strategy this time is STILL to stick to what we know and what we enjoy doing.
We just have to do the work and follow the proven principles.
Have any questions about what I do in the copywriting realm? Go here: https://johnrillemanalo.com/