11 messaging "triggers"
Yo! Welcome to the next episode of The Content Strategy Reeder where 7,084 creators get better at content strategy and creation in 5 minutes or less.
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The holiday season is the time to use gifting to connect with prospects and build pipeline before end of year. BUT you have to have a reason.
You can't "throw money at the problem" and mass blast eggnog to everyone on your account list and expect results.
That’s why Alyce made it easy to create thoughtful and relevant gift campaigns in their new post Holiday Gifting Campaigns for Businesses. It even has templates you can use right now.
There’s a mad-dash right now to build (and close) pipeline before Dec 31st.
And outbound messaging is getting the spotlight. Gifting campaigns (direct mail), new email templates, and nurture cadences are all getting budget and facelifts.
I love outbound messaging because you can’t just throw money at the problem. You have to have a specific reason to reach out to someone if you want to spark a conversation.
Otherwise you’ll add to the white noise instead of piercing through it. As a marketing leader I get a lot of prospecting emails and direct mail, and there are two distinct groups: thoughtful and irrelevant.
The former gets my attention (and sometimes, my time.) The latter gets deleted.
Because if we want our prospects to give us their time we have to show them that we’ve already invested our time.
That’s why for today’s episode you’re going to see 11 triggers for better outbound, so you can spark conversations, book more meetings, and build qualified pipeline before the ball drops on New Year's Eve.
Ready? Let’s write.
Messaging triggers provide context to your content
In other words, they provide a reason (context) for your outreach and offer (content).
Without them, your offer feels random. It’s missing the why now that motivates recipients to say yes — like take a meeting— right now instead of February 29th.
Knowing what types of triggers to look for makes writing your outbound messaging faster and easier.
It also helps knowing which triggers not to use...
Avoid these outdated triggers
These tactics might’ve worked a few years ago before spam-ageddon blanketed prospect’s inboxes, but now they’re just noise.
- Saw you’re Head of Content at Clari…
- Congrats on the recent funding!
- Noticed you downloaded our ebook…
- Saw your LinkedIn profile...
These are obvious observations that do not capture attention because they’re either played out or too obvious. Everyone gets a million “congrats on the funding” messages which really read as “Heard you got some new budget! Wanna spend it???”
There’s a bunch more, but you get the idea. If it’s something that’s surface level and abundantly obvious, someone else is already using it. That makes it noise.
Use these triggers instead
Personalization triggers (one-to-one)
Personalized triggers are so detailed that they only apply to one recipient:
- Heard you on Metadata’s DEMAND event sharing your content strategy flywheel…
- Loved the Dreamville shirt you wore on your podcast appearance with John Barrows…
- Read your recent newsletter talking about “credibility converts”...
- Saw you retweeted Jack Butcher’s “Visualize value” graphic about focus…
- Congrats having your second daughter!
*Be careful not to get too creepy with personal details like these
These capture attention because (1) they're different and (2) they immediately show the recipient that you've done some research. You've earned their time (ie, attention as they read) by investing yours upfront.
Personalized messaging triggers require some research to uncover, but it pays off in more and better replies.
Observational Triggers
Some prospects aren't active on social or don't have much of a digital footprint that you can use for research. That's when you use observation triggers like these which are usually available by digging into their profile, company pages, and web site.
- Saw you just joined Clari, I imagine you’re still learning the lay of the land…
- I see you’re scaling your team (you have an open head count for a Content Marketing Manager online)...
- Noticed you and Julien Sauvage reunited at Clari after a good run at Gong...
These are less personal but still shows you’ve researched before reaching out because you're connecting details that you found online.
Familiarity triggers
Familiarity triggers are when you mentioned shared connections (literal or digital) to build trust immediately. They can be people on your team or company, or someone within your network.
- I’ve been speaking to your colleagues, Marisa and Nick about social media strategy to grow your following…
- I am working with your friend and ex-college roommate, Jil (she says hi btw!)...
- Just chatted with your previous colleague, Nehal, and she mentioned you're building a new content strategy...
These jump out more than anything else because they’re rare. Very few strangers (which, when cold prospecting, we are) are using shared relationships to create trust.
The key here is relevance. If you cite someone I talked to 5 years ago and don't know very well, it'll miss the mark.
Let's wrap
Memorable content is insightful, relevant, and actionable.
Messaging triggers are all about relevance. Remember, every time a prospect/buyer sees your outbound, they ask: what's in it for me?
If you can align your offer with something they care about or are familiar with, you'll earn their attention.
Use these triggers to add context to your content that hooks them in, and you’ll get better replies that lead to meaningful conversations (and pipeline).
Holler at you next Saturday,
Devin
PS: This episode took me ~2 hours to write. You can make me happier than Rumi eating strawberry ice cream by sharing this link on LinkedIn, Twitter, or sending to your content-creating friends.
(Even more) digital resources for creating memorable content
- Catch up on previous newsletter episodes here (scroll down to ‘Here’s what you missed’)
- Follow me on Linkedin and Twitter for edu-taining content on sales and marketing tactics, plus updates on my content journey.
- Check out my video course Content Strategy for LinkedIn if you want to elevate your LinkedIn personal brand. Be sure to use discount code “CSR” for 22% off