Issue 10
Nathan Gibson · about five minutes
Relationship marketing is staying in touch with the same people over time. You already explained who you are. The next note can start from what they know. Chasing a new stranger for every offer means you pay the cost of an introduction again, every time.
The second note is shorter for a reason
The first note has to say what this is. The second note can say what changed. A new article. A step a company added. A question they asked you last time. A stranger needs the full explanation. A person who has read you needs the new fact. Write the new fact.
Repeating the entire introduction on every note tells them you do not remember them. They will treat the note the way they treat mail from a stranger, because that is how it reads.
A pace you can keep
Once is not staying in touch. Pick a reason and a pace you can actually meet. When a new article is published. When an offer’s steps change. Then do that, including the weeks when the note is short.
Six quiet months followed by a demand is a stranger’s pitch with their name on it. The relationship was the pace. Break the pace and you are introducing yourself again, to someone who now has a reason not to answer.
Use what you already know
If they already finished one offer, do not send the same first explanation again. Tell them the next step that fits. If they asked a question, answer that question before you ask for anything. If they told you to stop, stop. The history includes the no.
Writing as if you have never met them throws away the permission you earned. Permission is the right to send the next note. It is kept by remembering what the last note was.
Be useful on the notes that do not ask
A note that only asks for a signup trains people to skip you. A note that explains one step, or answers one question, is the reason they stay. The ask depends on those other notes. Without them, you are back to chasing strangers, only these strangers already know your name.
When there is an offer, ask once, in one line, with the steps named. Say who pays, and say that the pay waits on those steps. Then go back to the notes they asked for.