Can you imagine opening the lid to your toilet, only to discover a snake? What would you do? Here’s what my wife did…OK relax. My wife did not find a snake in the toilet. But this little exercise reveals the subject of today’s podcast…Using story-based emails and subject lines to capture your reader's attention.

There is more noise than ever before in the marketplace, and therefore there’s more competition to get emails opened and read. You’ve got to have something really powerful to hook people's attention. Nothing beats a great story. We’ll  explain how to use story-based subject lines and email copy in this episode.

Spiritual Foundations 

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow.

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”   

James 4:13-15

I don't think this means that we shouldn't set goals, but I think it does mean we need to have the humility to admit we cannot predict the future...that sometimes, God simply has a different plan.

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Story Based Email Copy That Gets the Click

One of the cardinal rules of writing is the importance of learning to “show and not tell”. So instead of saying “he had searched the room from top to bottom”, you might say instead, “He systematically begin taking things out of the top of the closet and throwing them on the floor. Boxes, shoes, sweaters...then he moved to pulling clothes from the hangers and throwing them on the floor. He proceeded to empty the drawers of the dresser, his face growing more and more puzzled the longer he searched."

Notice how the second version conveys a lot more drama and emotion. That’s what stories can do for any copy, and especially for email. Don’t say “this is very interesting” – you make it very interesting by telling a story about it.

Three subject line examples:

1. sent the email TEMPLATE by mistake – and our open rates went crazy…
2. when she opened the email, she screamed…
3. She found a snake in the toilet! (and THEN…)

Each of these subject lines paints a very different scenario. Each of them begged you to fill in the blanks in your imagination about what happens next. And that’s exactly what you want to occur whenever you send an email. You want the subject line to induce so much curiosity, the recipient has to read the email to find out what happens next.

But keep in mind, then you have to deliver. You have to give them something that satisfies the set up in the subject line.

It’s the best of all possible worlds when you tell me a true story that beautifully illustrates the point you’re trying to make in the email copy. Because the next thing you’re going to do is ask the reader to click through to get… “The rest of the story”…And to maintain your credibility you have to be telling the truth.

Take that headline about sending the email template, for example. True story. One of our best testing email open rates for a case when we sent an email with the subject line: “insert subject line here”.We even got tons of replies to that email. Not something you should do on purpose, and probably would not have worked as well the second time because it was an honest mistake. But that’s just a point. It was true, and it contained an element of story.

Start telling the story in the subject line, continue it in the body of the email, and have the reader click through to get the rest of the story on your landing page (or in your podcast, for instance)…

Are there “new rules” for copywriting? Undoubtedly. We are living in a different time now. We’re going to be spending some time going into these new rules during our Copywriting Academy Live event which takes place April 8th and 9th. This is a totally live, but virtual workshop. We’re going to spend these two days writing your copy together. You should register now, while the price is still just $197 per ticket – because at the end of this week (January 31) the price goes up. Get all the details by going to https://rayedwards.com/tcalive.

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I think of Entrepreneurs as Kingdom Builders - and I don’t think of kingdoms in some domineering, benevolent tyranny sense - but in the sense of the “King’s Domain”. Who is the King? For me the King is our Creator. The Kingdom of God that I know is one of peace and mutual benefit. That describes a good way to live, and it describes a good way to do business.

But hang on - This episode isn't about the spiritual Kingdom. It's about the earthly Kingdom I would choose for my business to emulate - The Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. I have some incredible, almost surreal memories from there (surreal because there is no other place like it on Earth). So how does such a mega-company provide such an inimitable, fanciful atmosphere full of employees (cast members) who seem genuinely enthused to be part of the experience? Lets find out, shall we?

Today we talk with the former vice president of Disney's Magic Kingdom, 26-year Disney veteran, Dan Cockerel. He has some fascinating insights about the culture of YOUR kingdom.

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10 X growth is what we discussed last week... and it cannot be additive, it must be multiplicative. Instead of going into specific tactics and techniques, I think it's important to first focus on the primary driver of everything we do in our company, which boils down to our culture. And I know no one more qualified to talk about “kingdom cultures” in the realm of business than Dan Cockerel.

Dan was, for a very long time, in charge of the Magic Kingdom at Disney. His book is called "How's the Culture in Your Kingdom?”. Dan took some time off the ski slopes in Breckenridge to chat with me about company culture - how important it is, and how to create “magic” at any size company. I stress "any size" because most of us don't have the resources that Disney has at their four-fingered white gloved fingertips. Dan's brilliant advice - Don't spend time getting your people motivated - hire motivated people and treat them like gold.

Links From This Episode

Dan's Book - "How's the Culture in Your Kingdom"

Event that can drastically change your life for the better: The Copywriting Academy Live

This really could've been entitled, “what I have learned after doing 500 episodes of this podcast.” But that seemed like a boring title.

Then I realized that around episode one marked the year my business made just over $100,000. After 500 episodes – a little over 9 years or so – our company revenue is somewhere between 1 million to 1.5 million per year.

That's roughly 10X. And now we're looking at how to 10X again. We can't do it by working harder – we have to do something completely different.

Unless you're totally new to this podcast, you probably know that writing great copy is my passion. In fact, I wrote this book which is an excellent place to start if you intend to master this skill.

Most of the copy I write is aimed at business growth…pretty much all of it in fact. But how do words make your business grow? If copywriting is the weapon, what is target?

Back in the 90's, I discovered a book that taught me many valuable (literally life changing) concepts. It taught me there are 3 ways (and only 3 ways) to grow your business:

1. Get more customers.
2. Get each customer to spend more with each purchase.
3. Get customers to buy more often.

You can learn more about this book and the brilliance of Jay Abraham in this video.

Succeeding at any of those three goals will grow your business, but if you succeed at all of them, even just a little (think 10% each), you're talking exponential business growth.

The key to doing all this is being able to write the appropriate copy for each stage. That’s why we’re having the Copywriting Academy Virtual LIVE Video Workshop, April 8-9. (Tickets are just $197 for a very limited time – price increase January 31.)

If you attend this workshop, you will not only gain some powerful, proven, business growing skills, BUT you will also get your copy finished, polished and ready for deployment. All the details on this are right here.