Foolish Adventure

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Tim here with an update on the “Tax Day” promotion training emails I sent out last month.

Two Foolish listeners, Matt and Melissa, each ran their own promotions that did really well for them. I’ve included what they sent me after their promotions ended.

The “Tax Day Sale” training I sent out were essentially what’s nicknamed a “fire sale.” You provide a large discount on your product or products for a short period of time and you do it for a stated reason such as owing taxes for a tax day sale or in Melissa’s case because she had a baby.

Don’t take my word that promotions work, check out what Matt and Melissa said about their success. Then check out the email training series I’ve republished below and then run your own “fire sale.”  I’ve edited the original emails to remove most the promotion I ran for Foolish University though you will see some mention of it.

How to run a special promotion for fun and profit “special” edition

As I said in yesterday’s email, I’m going to run a special promotion, but
I’m going to do it Foolish-style.

I’m going to show you how to do a special promotion while doing a
special promotion. I know, how “meta” of me.

At the beginning of the year, I taught Foolish University members about
creating a marketing calendar. It is something I’ve done for myself and
for clients and…

It’s a very powerful profit tool.

See, a marketing calendar keeps your promotional efforts top-of-mind for
you. Back when I owned my swimming pool company I would run a
promotion every month and my calendar helped me keep my promotional
ideas fresh.

Some promos were holiday related like Fouth of July pool party supplies
and Memorial Day sales to get swimming pools in top-notch shape for the
summer.

The thing is you can do a promotion for any reason you want as long as
it makes sense to your customers. I’ve done promos on my birthday and
my daughter’s birthday. I’ve done a Dead Presidents promotion on
Presidents Day.

One famous promotion in the US is the Tax Day promotion. It goes like
this…

Around April 15th you send a series of emails to your list about putting
one or all of your products on sale because you have a huge tax bill to
pay.

Your first email should go something like this:

[Subj:] Totally unexpected problem…

Hey Joe,

I just finished doing my taxes and just discovered I hadn’t paid the
IRS enough money through the business year. So, I’ve got to write
a BIG check on April 15th.

You’ve probably felt the pain of writing out a check to the Tax Man
when you were sure you’d had enough deducted from your paycheck.

Well…

My pain is your gain.

Until midnight [two to three days from now] you can get my entire
[awesome product] for HALF OFF.

Here’s where you can take advantage of this offer:

[link to your awesome product sales letter]

I’m doing this sale so Uncle Sam won’t come knocking on my door
looking for his money.

Get [Awesome Product] For 50% and Get These [X] Bonuses… Free!

If getting my [awesome product] for half off isn’t enough for you, I’m
going to sweeten the deal with these 3 gifts for helping me out.

* Bonus 1 with description
* Bonus 2 with description
* Bonus 3 with description

I’ve never given away all this before let alone with such a big
discount on my [awesome product] and I hope to not have to do this
ever again.

Go here right now to get [awesome product - hyperlinked to sales
page] for 50%.

Your sign off phrase (like Enjoy your Foolish Adventure),

Tim

PS. You only have until midnight [two to three days from now] to
take advantage of this Half Off Tax Day sale.

[link to sales page]

Ok, tomorrow I’ll give you email #2 in the Tax Day sale promotion.

Here’s the deal with my Tax Day Sale promotion.

I don’t have to write a BIG check. I actually paid in enough through the
year that on Monday I have to mail in a $35 check.

Kind of anti-climatic, right? Where’s the drama?

Here’s the thing.

When you run a promotion, don’t lie. I could have put a bit of spin on the
truth because I did pay the government way too many thousands of dollars
for my own tastes, but I felt that would be kind of shady.

So to do my Tax Day promotion, I thought I would teach you how to do
one of your own.

Ok, ok… I know you don’t want to wait till next year to use a promotion.

The cool thing is you can just rewrite the sample emails I’m sending you for
any promotion like an Aliens Abducted My Elvis Lovechild sale (only if
your audience will think it’s funny… or TRUE).

Here’s part 2 of 4 of the “Run Your Own Promotion” series

Hey again,

This email won’t be all “promotional” for Foolish University. I’m gonna cover
email two for you to send in your own Tax Day Sale promotion.

I want to be clear, this series I’m giving you works for any “sale” you want to run.
Just change the content enough for it to make sense. You want this to be a Black
Friday promotion, no problem. Remove where this series talks about Tax Day
and write about Black Friday.

Like I said in yesterday’s email, you can use nearly any reason to have a sale.

Without further ado…

Email #2 in the Tax Day Sale

[Subj:] Save you a bundle this tax season…

Hey Joe,

Yesterday I wrote to you about my BIG bill I’ve got to pay in taxes this
year. And I’m sure you’ve felt the pinch of paying taxes too.

So we can help each other out. You get Half Off my [awesome product]
until midnight tomorrow, April 15th.

Get 50% off right now: [link your sales page]

Here’s the details in case you missed the email from yesterday.

Get [Awesome Product] For 50% and Get These [X] Bonuses… Free!

If getting my [awesome product] for half off isn’t enough for you, I’m
going to sweeten the deal with these 3 gifts for helping me out.

* Bonus 1 with description
* Bonus 2 with description
* Bonus 3 with description

I’ve never given away all this before let alone with such a big
discount on my [awesome product] and I hope to not have to do this
ever again.

Go here right now to get [awesome product - hyperlinked to sales
page] for 50%.

Your sign off phrase (like Enjoy your Foolish Adventure),

Tim

PS. You only have until midnight [two to three days from now] to
take advantage of this Half Off Tax Day sale.

[link to sales page]

Okay, you might notice that most of the email is still the same. This is an old
copywriting technique because most people skim over emails or even don’t
read them. Sometimes they jump down to the offer and just buy.

One thing that I was worried about when I first learned to email a series was
people who already bought.

I would think, “Won’t they be annoyed and unsubscribe?”

“Should I remove them from my main list when they buy the product so they
don’t get the rest of the series?”

What I learned is that people who have bought from you almost always don’t
want you to take them off your main list if that means missing out on what
you send to everyone else. And people who have committed to buying from
you will forgive your “sales pitch” as long as you don’t hit them too much
with pitch after pitch.

Think about Foolish Adventure….

I don’t send “pitches” very often. In the last 2 years, I’ve done a total of 7
promotions (maybe 8). In reality this is way too few and I don’t recommend
you do so few. Four per year isn’t enough. I’ve got friends who do at least
one a month and their lists are just fine with it.

I know of one guy who has a link to his product in every single email and he
emails every day.

AND…

His list isn’t just fine with it — they’re happy to get them. Crazy, right?

I hope you run a promotion as soon as possible and see for yourself just how
powerful it can be.

Part 3 of 4 of How To Run a Promotion – The Last Day

This series is nearly complete. Today you’re going to get two emails from me. This
one and the Final Notice email.

Note: before I go into today’s promotion email, you can do a four or five day
promotion. I’m doing this one over 3 days, which requires the Final Notice to go out
the same day just hours before the deadline.

One email subscriber has already got a promotion going this week. He modified the
emails I’ve been sending for his market. I wish him the best of luck and hopefully he
makes a bunch of sales.

Email #3
[Subj:] Bad news…

(note: ever since Frank Kern used the “Bad news…” subject line 5 years ago
it has been used a lot. However, I’ve still had success with it in different markets.
Don’t use it on the same email list more than once or twice a year.)

Hey Joe,

Today’s the day. Hopefully, you’ve sent your taxes off weeks or months
ago and you’re able to just sit back and relax today.

Whether you’ve got to send off your taxes today or not, the bad news
is today’s the last day you can get HALF OFF of [awesome product].
At midnight tonight, I’m shutting down the sale just like the IRS makes
midnight tonight the last post mark for your tax return.

Hurry and check out all the details here:
[link to your sales page]
50% OFF [Awesome Product] Ends At Midnight

As I’ve said, I’ve not done anything like this Tax Day Sale and I hope
to not ever need to do one again.

[You need to add a paragraph saying what your Awesome Product solves for
your prospect. You should have at least 3 benefits of using your product listed
(how it solves the problem or fulfills the desire).

Ex. As you're following the Mega Slim Down Solution, you'll gain more
energy, your skin will be healthier and your confidence will skyrocket.
Being fit and eating delicious and easy to prepare meals does so much more
than just peel off the pounds -- it reveals the true you that's always been there.]

Get [Awesome Product] For 50% and Get These [X] free Bonuses

If getting my [awesome product] for half off isn’t enough for you, I’m
going to sweeten the deal with these 3 gifts for helping me out.

* Bonus 1 with description
* Bonus 2 with description
* Bonus 3 with description

I’ve never given away all this before let alone with such a big
discount on my [awesome product] and I hope to not have to do this
ever again.

Go here right now to get [awesome product - hyperlinked to sales
page] for 50%.

Your sign off phrase (like Enjoy your Foolish Adventure),

Tim

PS. You only have until midnight tonight to
take advantage of this Half Off Tax Day sale.

[link to sales page]

In a few hours you’re going to get the Final Notice email. You should send it with
at least 2 hours before the deadline and maybe as much as four hours before.

Part 4 of 4 – How to run a promotion — Final Notice

Just like I said in the previous email — this is it.

You’re at the end of your promotion. You need to give one last push. Why?

Because lots of people just may not be paying attention, or they are procrastinating
or maybe they just want to see if you’ll actually end the promotion like you say you
will.

Nearly every promotion I’ve ever done, from launches to sales, after they were over
I had one, two and sometimes more people email asking if I’ll make an exception for
them.

I never do. And you shouldn’t either. You have to let your market know that you
mean what you say.

Before I get into the Final Notice email, this email is also the final notice to get an
annual Gold level membership to Foolish University for nearly 65% off –
that’s just $299 for a year.

The Tax Day sale ends at 10pm Pacific. That’s just a couple hours away.
(assuming you opened this email immediately.)

That’s it. That’s the last pitch to get you to join the U. There won’t even be a link
in a PS or nothin’.

Enjoy your Foolish Adventure,

t

Email #4: The Final Notice

[Possible Subject Line Variations:]
Final Notice — sale ends in X hours
Last chance to save this tax season

Hey Joe,

This is it. The last time I’m going to email you about my Half Off Tax
Day Sale. After midnight tonight, you’ll have to pay full price to get
[list 3 benefits of your product].

Oh, and you won’t be able to get the bonuses either. They’re the icing
on this Tax Day Sale cake and they go away at midnight too.

Act now because I hope to never do another Tax Day Sale because I
won’t let myself get surprised by the tax man again.

Go here to get [Awesome Product] before it’s too late to save BIG this
tax season.

[Link to the Sales Page for Awesome Product]

Your sign off phrase,

Your Name

PS. Just a reminder, here’s the bonuses you get when you buy
[Awesome Product] before midnight tonight.

* Bonus #1 with short benefit driven description
* Bonus #2 with short benefit driven description
* Bonus #3 with short benefit driven description

50% Off [Awesome Product] Tax Day Sale

That’s it.

You’ve got the ingredients to making a special promotion. You shouldn’t wait till next tax season to run a promotion. Find any reason to do one and test it out.

I bet you bring in a nice chunk of money for your business.

t