Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a solopreneur, or just new in business, creating partnerships and reaching out to “allies” in your niche is something that will benefit you down the line.
The aim is to build strong relationships between your brand and business and other brands, businesses, even influencers, and have the ability to set appointments with mid to large enterprises while holding your own and managing to get a mutually beneficial deal.
One of the most common – and most beneficial ways – to do that is with outreach emails, especially in the B2B niche. Here’s why:
It seems intriguing, and I know that email outreach is something that every new – and old, let’s not kid ourselves – business will look into. However, after some trial and error, I can guarantee that there is only one way email outreach can work: By trial and error.
You see, email outreach is a technique that is substantially different from other outreach strategies, and every niche has its own way of doing it.
That is not to say there are no staples to creating an outreach email that your recipients will actually read. So, let’s get to it.
Get the Right Tools
To generate more partners and have a better chance at creating meaningful partnerships, you can’t just have a general idea of what you’d like your campaign to look like. It would be best if you had the right tools to support your vision.
And while creating a top-notch email template for your outreach campaign, you need to invest in the tools that will carry the features to help you reach the number of people that would be beneficial for your goals. And you’ll need to pay some extra attention to those you can have an affiliation with, who can ultimately lead to a stronger relationship, like influencers in your niche, authority figures, or thought leaders.
Building a relationship with them won’t be easy, so this would be a time to be picky about those. Make sure to invest in one that will help you reach different outreach goals and allow you to try out various tools as well as strategies.
For example, if scheduling appointments for your recipients is one of the things you aim to do through your email outreach tool, you need something like MixMax. On the other hand, if you’re more into reaching out to people with similar content as you – influencers, authority figures, thought leaders -, then Pitchbox could be more useful.
“Too Specific” Is Not a Thing
Would you ever purchase something without having a crystal clear idea about how to use it? If the answer is no – and it most likely is -, you wouldn’t partner with someone who doesn’t know how to offer you something that benefits you.
The first thing to do would be to create a plan that would be beneficial on both ends. For example, when you reach out to a potential affiliate partner, you know your proposal: to promote your product or service to their audience.
But what’s in it for them? Are they going to receive a form of commission from this? Are you going to use your social media for affiliate marketing and promote them through your posts? You need to know how to present what you need as a solid business idea that is valuable.
Most of all, it needs to be tailor-made and beneficial. This is why you need to study your prospects a little and see what they’re lacking. If you could get them more traffic, this should be your end of the bargain. But if passive income is what they’re after, make sure to be able to offer that.
Make sure to present yourself, your brand, and your niche in your email in as few words as possible – you want your recipients to look for you only because they want to and not due to lack of information on your end. Nobody likes to do extra work.
Be Approachable, Almost Familiar
Why would you open the email of someone you don’t know at all and isn’t one of the brands you love?
When you’re creating cold outreach email templates, you’re trying to seem familiar to a total stranger, pretty much. And if we take into account that sending an email is like ringing the doorbell and calling the resident’s name, imagine how creepy it would be if a total stranger who isn’t approachable or inviting did this.
The point here is to create an emotional response – and build a connection as a result. This will help your case. After all, you need your recipients to read your email, move forward with what you’re asking of them, and, eventually, help you boost your conversion and ROI.
Just make sure to go beyond a name. “Hi, John Doe” won’t do anymore. Another thing you should be aware of, would be to create emails that will look and feel tailor-made and ready for your audience to connect with.
If you’re doing cold outreach based on a prospect’s eCommerce store, mention it. Tell them what you love about their brand. If you’ve got mutual connections or know someone who could benefit you both, make sure to let the recipient know. If their blog looked fantastic, let them know how much you loved it and what really stood out to you.
These are things that will elicit an emotional response in seconds because you’re complimenting or building your content around the recipient’s work, rather than just their name. Top that with a funny and interesting subject line. You could also use engaging elements like a GIF or a question that could be a bit of a puzzle.
These actions would make recipients engage and, in the end, remember you. And, of course, earn you boosted open and response rates.
Related: Email Marketing Series: How to Make your Emails Impossible to Ignore
Be Short and Sweet
This is according to UC Davis, a “public land-grant research university near Davis, California”, as Wikipedia mentions.
So, what is it that you want out of this email outreach of yours? This would be the body copy of your pitch, and it needs to be short, straight, and to the point. As the research above states, you can’t have more than 30″ of a recipient’s time. Therefore, you need your pitch to reach a maximum of 80 words. Saving the recipient some extra time is an integral part of your outreach strategy. Or, at least, it should be.
But how are you going to do that if the recipient doesn’t know what you’re all about? Well, this is where finding businesses within your niche enters the equation. Find blogs, influencers, social media accounts, anything that could be related to your niche – if you’re SaaS, you need SaaS; if you’re a publisher, you need fellow publishers, and so on – and let them know how you stumbled upon their content.
And then, make them a valuable offer. If you want a link swap insertion, mention something they don’t already have. If you’re into Instagram promotion, perhaps some featured content would be more up an influencer’s alley.
Use Actionable Language and Always Follow Up
An 80-word pitch is not the magical solution to your outreach emails – provided there’s an issue with them, to begin with. Nor is a personalized subject line what will give you a golden pass to acing your link-building strategy or other aspirations you may have, like branding or exposure and better market penetration.
If your language is not actionable and you’re not interested in following up, then you’ve created yourself a problem rather than a solution.
Your recipients are busy. It makes sense for them to scan through your email. It makes even more sense to forget to answer or forward your email to the appropriate person. So, make sure to use words that will help them understand what you need at a glance. “Check our work”, “Read our offer”, “Please let me know” are CTA ideas that lead the reader toward the action you need them to take.
Now, if they don’t take that action, make sure to follow up and remind them of your effort. It’s not uncommon for people to forget about your email outreach efforts. Just make sure not to be pushy about it, as this would drive even the most interested prospects away.
Try multiple outreach emails, but find the golden ratio that fits your audience and helps your case. Some would say two emails are enough, salespeople swear by five, and the truth could be somewhere in the middle.
Send your first email outreach campaign, study your audience and your data, and determine what works best for you.
The Takeaway
The idea behind creating outreach emails your recipients will read would be to give your outreach emails some extra thought and not just create generic content that would work on most occasions.
Be genuine, be relatable and be a “friend” – to the extent that this is possible, of course. A/B test your content, use robust tools that will further your email outreach efforts, and you’ll see how coming up with a partnership plan that will benefit both parties is as easy as A-B-C.
