In this post you are going to learn about how outreach is an important part of almost every business.
The guest post was provided by Dave Schneider who is the cofounder of NinjaOutreach, an innovative new Blogger Outreach software for marketers. He shares 5 great outreach scripts that work for a number of occasions and what makes them work.
Let’s Get Started!
Whether it’s sending cold emails to generate leads, promoting blog content, or simply communicating with our users, outreach is a fundamental part of just about every businesses day to day.
As a result, it may come as a surprise that the outreach process can be so nuanced.
The fact is, certain approaches simply perform better – and there’s data to back that up.
And it’s not wonder that the pros always seem to tick all the boxes with their outreach scripts.
I’m always on the look out for a new approach to outreach that I haven’t tried before, and I’ve gathered 5 amazing outreach scripts that work for a variety of occasions, and included an analysis into what makes them so effective.
Groove – Blog Announcement
If you haven’t heard of the Groove blog, it’s time to check it out. Alex writes once a week providing a behind the scenes look of growing a customer service application to $500k a month.
They have a very large following, but it wasn’t always that way.
There was a time when Alex was trying to get the word out just like the rest of us, and to announce his blog, he used this script.
There’s a lot of elements that make this script great, but a few stand out in particular.
- He keeps it short and sweet, even calling that out as a way of being respectful of the influencer’s time.
- He doesn’t shove anything in front of the person, but asks permission to do so. This is probably the most striking feature, which Alex credits Derek Halpern with.
The result of this outreach allowed Groove to surpass 1k subscribers in their first week (and 5k a few weeks later.
Ninja Outreach – Guest Post Request
I do a lot of guest posts to get the word out about my influencer marketing software.
In fact I’ve done over 25 in just the last two months.
When you’re sending that many requests, you really want to have a template that converts.
I’ve tried many different ones, but the one that I always refer back to goes like this:
This one is a lot meatier than the previous one we looked at, but it’s for good reason, as the ask is a lot greater. Here are the standout features.
- Defined the relationship by letting him know I’m a long time subscriber (6 months)
- Request to guest post on a separate line so it would stand out at a quick glance
- Shared my research, stating the exact articles I know his audience likes and the respective social shares
- Pitched him my idea for a similar type of article relating to entrepreneurship
- Explained the value to his audience
And let’s not forget the bold subject title to make sure it would be opened, while also stating upfront what the contents of the email would be.
Backlinko – Post Pre Announcement
Most of us think of outreach as an afterthought.
It’s something I do after I’ve already done something else, like written a blog post.
But not Brian – Brian thinks ahead.
Here’s an email I recently received from him, in anticipation of a post he was writing.
What Brian is doing here is asking for a mini commitment – it’s about the lowest level of commitment he could ask for that I can think of.
Psychologically speaking, the more mini commitments I make, the more likely I am to traverse the entirety of the funnel.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, the follow up email here is going to be the post itself with an ask to share it. Given that I’ve already requested to see the post, I’m far more inclined to follow through on that.
Get Vero – Short and Sweet Tweets
You probably thought that outreach was completely tied to email, but that’s not the case.
If you want to talk short and sweet, I’ve seen some people be incredibly effective leveraging just 140 characters.
Here’s a Tweet that Get Vero sent out after writing a monster guide on email marketing.
The switch to Twitter may seem counterintuitive at first, but it actually offers a lot of advantages over email.
Firstly, it is entirely nonintrusive. We know how protective people are over their email and inbox 0. Personally speaking, I have a much lower tolerance for responding to emails because I get so many of them. But I nearly respond to every tweet.
Seconding, the ability to share the post is that much easier. There’s essentially 0 friction to hitting the retweet button.
As a result of their outreach campaign Get Vero was able to generate 300 links to their monster guide.
YesWare – Voicemail Follow Up
Combining offline and online outreach can be extremely effective when executed right.
YesWare is a company that knows how to do outreach, and they’ve put together a fabulous voicemail follow up template with a 66% reply rate.
There’s nothing inherently sexy about the template itself, it’s pretty standard actually.
What makes it special is the event it follows – a voicemail.
Most of us are inclined to simply let the voicemail do it’s work (or not).
That said, thinking back to many of the voicemails I’ve left, the reply rate was abysmal.
By coming on from two fronts, and utilizing a subject line that incorporates an urgent need to address it, YesWare makes their outreach campaign significantly more effective.
Conclusion
There’s a lot more that goes into effective outreach than simply sending an email to someone.
Firstly you have to think of the channel – is email the best option, or is Twitter, as in the case of Get Vero, a more effective option?
How should I write my subject to maximize opens?
And when is it necessary to be short, or to go in depth?
We’ve put together a list of outreach must-haves when it comes to outreach for you to check out, and remember to always be testing!
David Schneider is the cofounder of NinjaOutreach, an innovative new Blogger Outreach software for marketers.
(Update – Dave no longer runs these websites, but can be found at lesschurn.io and daveschneider.me)