This morning I received an email that made me want to unsubscribe. It’s a paid subscription. I will not make that money.
What is the sad part? It didn’t have to be this way. This young woman could have made more money with my subscription. She had to change a few words in her mail. You can keep your money safe.
Let’s get started
I will use the Message I received this morning for our case study. I won’t name the person out of respect for them. I won’t give details. I will only include enough information to do the job here.
The Message is:
How it was delivered (or shown).
Ask Yourself What the Message is
Our case study proved that a college degree is worthless. Please understand that I am not presenting this Message. It is simply repeating the Message that was given to me. This is a case study or example, if you prefer.
You can follow your content marketing campaign from your home or workplace. However, you can do it with us. But, use your drive and find out what Message it conveys.
Verification is also essential.
If we take the example of discussing college degrees, should we check if we have correctly identified the Message? Are we clear about what it is? This is also true for your example campaign.
I deliberately stated a message I didn’t believe to be the Message. Why did I do this? I did it to show how easy it can be to miss the Message or the purpose of the information being shared, even before we evaluate the presentation.
If we look at the email, we will see that she is trying to sell a program that teaches people how to do things similar to what she did in college. The program is only $500 in this instance. $500 is a lot. It’s only $500, but comparing it with a $100k college education sounds like pennies.
Sometimes the Message is more important than the Objective.
While it may be true that she feels that her college education was a waste, is this the Message she is trying to convey? What would she gain from that? Her followers will prefer to avoid getting an email filled with complaints. This prompts us to dig further. This is when we realize that her goal is to sell her program.
Comparing a $500 program with a $100k degree is fantastic if you offer the same education. We all know one course will give you less education than multiple courses. But that is why we need to see the other side.
Some people value education and the degree we get. She stated that she only wanted to be able to make money. She believes that the program she created would help people make money. It also has a higher ROI (return on investment) than if they paid $100k.
She’s right!
Final Assessment of the Message
We need to not only define the Message and the true Message (based on the Objective) but also understand the motivations. The assessment of HER by this gal was correct. She wasn’t an “academic” who loved going to school just for the fun of learning.
This applies to many!
There are “academics” out there. I am one of these people. As long as I do these two things, learning is not wasted.
The process of learning is something I value.
I always try to find something new, so even if I know most of it; I search for the bits I don’t.
Learning is essential to me (even $100k) as an academic. It isn’t wasted, especially when I get my fun doctorate!
Digging Deeper
Am I an oddball? Possibly. The target audience may include non-academics.
This is what I want to emphasize. As an academic, I am keen to learn and acquire knowledge. Even though I paid $100k for my university degree, I’m still interested in learning and will pay $500 for her program.
What happens if her presentation is to focus on college admissions? I will flush the email and unsubscribe her, and she will lose both the monthly subscription as well as the sale of the program.
Is that what you would want if you were her? How can you achieve your goal of earning money if you’re losing $1.1k per year over one email?
It could have been better presented! She could have given it correctly and could have retained her subscription fees. She could also reach academics like myself and non-academics she seems to be targeting.
