I’m enjoying my latest project with one of Bredemarket’s clients, because it allows me to do something I normally don’t do as a consultant.
Write emails.
Normally it’s not economically feasible for me to write emails for Bredemarket, since I (for once) agree with the experts and keep my emails in the 100-word range. Because my normal minimum word length is 400 words, I usually don’t write emails for clients.
Except when the demand generation director on this client’s project envisions AN ENTIRE SEQUENCE of emails.
The demand generation director’s desired email sequence
You see, the demand generation director…um…demanded that I write an entire email sequence.
- The first email in the sequence introduces the client.
- The second one provides more information about why the client’s services benefits their customers.
- Further emails build upon the previous information.
- At the end of the sequence is the final email, with a clear call to action for the prospect to visit the client’s “landing page” and request a meeting with the client.
Actually, EVERY email in the sequence includes a link to go to the landing page and request a meeting. These are called “discovery meetings” in the trade, but you don’t have to call them that if you don’t want to. As noted above, I refer to my client meeting as a “content needs assessment.” Call the meetings wildebeests if you feel like it.
Back to my client’s demand generation director. The sequence of emails they requested tells a story. But rather than telling a short story in a single email, this sequence includes multiple emails, in which the content in each email builds upon the previous email, like chapters in a book.
Which leads me to Charles Dickens.
Charles Dickens gave birth to your marketing email sequence
When 20th and 21st century readers encounter the works of Charles Dickens, we are handed a complete novel.
But that’s not how Dickens published his stories. Dickens’ tales were published in serial form.
Most of the novels, including Nicholas Nickleby, Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Little Dorrit, and Our Mutual Friend, appeared in monthly parts following a very specific formula developed by Dickens and his publishers with the release of Dickens’s first full-length novel The Pickwick Papers (1836 – 37). The Pickwick Papers appeared in 20 parts over a period of 19 months. (The last part was a “double issue” that included parts 19 and 20). Each part contained 32 pages of letter press, 2 illustrations, various advertisements, and came wrapped in a flimsy green-paper front and back cover. The price for each part was one shilling (except for the last “double issue,” which was two). This price was very cheap compared to the standard price of a book, which at the time was 31 shillings 6 pence.
From https://dickens.ucsc.edu/resources/faq/by-the-word.html.
Other than cost savings, why did Dickens and his publishers share his content in serial form?
Dickens’s 20-part formula was successful for a number or reasons: each monthly number created a demand for the next since the public, often enamored of Dickens’s latest inventions, eagerly awaited the publication of a new part; the publishers, who earned profits from the sale of numbers each month, could partially recover their expenses for one issue before publishing the next; and the author himself, who received payment each time he produced 32 pages of text (and not necessarily a certain number of words), did not have to wait until the book was completed to receive payment.
From https://dickens.ucsc.edu/resources/faq/by-the-word.html.
And there was one other extremely personal benefit for Charles Dickens.
It was largely on the strength of his generous monthly stipend for The Pickwick Papers that Dickens was able to marry Catherine Hogarth in 1836.
From https://dickens.ucsc.edu/resources/faq/by-the-word.html.
So serialization helped Charles Dickens create demand, generate wealth, AND get the girl. Can’t argue with that. (Although they subsequently separated.)
What about your stories?
I am not Charles Dickens, but I’m trying to incorporate storytelling into Bredemarket’s work.
For example, the email sequence I created for the demand generation director shares details about how the problems the prospects may face, and how the client has helped their customers overcome these problems.
It all fits into the client story.
What’s the most important question to ask before telling a client story?
No, what ISN’T the most important question.
As I’ve said before, WHY is the most important question.
If you’d like to see all seven of the questions that your content creator should ask you, look below. And no, it’s not in seven serial mini-books, but in a single volume.
Although I did serialize the questions on Instagram. Chuck would be proud.
Bredemarket 