I’m going to be slogging away at the One Life Live exhibition from Friday 29th for three days and I’ve nearly completed everything that needs to be done. Every exhibitor is wondering how to maximise their response for the least outlay, but when you have virtually no budget it is even more demanding.
Whilst I was pondering this for the nth time yesterday, I received one of Sticky Stapylton’s newsletters. He runs Arrow Yacht Enterprises which provides sailing training courses. As usual I enjoyed reading it, and then realised that this was remarkable. I get stacks of newsletters which I religiously file in my “newsletters” folder, because I might find them useful – I rarely do. There just isn’t time to read them all. I even have to make myself read the Trendhunter and Springwise newsletters and they are full of interesting content.
So why do I read Sticky’s? I’m not even too interested in boats, let alone learning to sail!
I met Sticky at the London Boat Show last year. He was busily chatting to everyone in the cafes and signing them up for his newsletter in return for a chance to win a free training course. He must have collected hundreds of names and yet if didn’t feel like he was just pumping you for an email address, this was an incidental action at the end of every conversation. I clearly remember the conversation and the interest he showed in what I was doing, even though I can’t remember any detail about what we discussed.
Since then I’ve received his newsletters. Like yours2share’s newsletters, they are approximately every month – or maybe two. They are readable because you can really hear his voice talking in them, and they remind me of the conversation.
So perhaps that’s the answer. Be friendly, smile, chat to everyone, listen to what they say, empathise, converse, laugh, and ensure we obtain those email addresses whenever possible.
Then its up to me to hang onto those subscribers and encourage some to advertise with yours2share, by making sure the emails are readable and enjoyable. I’m not as good as Sticky but I’ll try!
