Please mister, can you spare a quarter?

Josh Earl
Josh Earl
Jul 10, 2017 · 3 min read

A programmer friend of mine trying to market his new “alpha” software app told me:

I don’t know how to grow a mailing list without sounding like I’m just begging people to sign up.

The first time you try to “market” or promote something — whether it’s a blog post you just finished or a book you’re selling — it’s easy to feel like you’re sitting on the sidewalk with a tin cup in your hand.

No one likes pleading with hurried strangers to grant unearned favors.

It puts you in a position of weakness, dependent on another to take pity on you.

Marketing feels like this at first.

The great crush of people hurries by on the Internet as you watch with baleful eyes.

*Please, mister, would you stop by my site and leave a comment?*

*Miss, can you spare an email address?*

There are a couple of reasons why you might perceive yourself as an Internet panhandler.

First, you likely feel that you’re asking someone to do you a favor that you haven’t earned.

What have you done to deserve their email address? Why should they buy your product?

Second, you know that you stand to gain from the transaction, and it’s easy to feel like you’re benefitting at their expense.

They’re surrendering their privacy (by giving your their email address) or their livelihood (by parting with cash for your product).

You win, they lose.

Thing is, you’re NOT a panhandler.

Imagine, for a minute, a different twist on the analogy.

In this version, you’re not the guy sitting on the sidewalk.

Instead, you’re a generous stranger who approaches the panhandler and offers to buy him a cup of hot chocolate and a warm meal.

And as he’s finishing up his meal, you say, “Would you mind telling me your name and where you’re staying? I’d like to make sure you have a blanket to keep you warm tonight.”

That’s you.

You’re helping people, so don’t be shy.

If you focus your marketing efforts on *helping people*, you never have to feel like you’re begging.

The key to avoiding this feeling is to always do more for the other person than you’re asking in return.

Instead, you’ll seem like you’re asking for a trivial favor, one that, if granted, will allow you to help them even more.

I used this approach to build my very first email list.

At the time I was selling a book for programmers about the Sublime Text editing tool.

Shortly after I published the book, I set up a Twitter account with the intention of using it as a marketing vehicle for my book.

Many authors do this, then proceed to tweet endlessly about their book.

But I took a different tack, setting aside time each week to sift through hundreds of tweets about Sublime Text. I’d retweet several hand-picked tweets per day, helping my followers to learn more about their favorite text editor.

I was doing dozens of little favors for my Twitter followers every week, and the account gained a following over time as people learned what I was doing.

I was helping them out by pulling the best Sublime-related news into one place, making it easier for them to keep up with new tips and plugins as they come out.

And a couple of times a month, I’d ask my followers for a favor:

Sign up for my free newsletter.

In exchange, I offered more free information, a 12-page sample chapter from my ebook.

I could do all this without feeling like I was begging.

I knew I was helping my followers learn about Sublime Text, and I knew that my offer will help them even more.

Naturally, I benefited as well; I got an email subscriber out of the deal, and maybe even a customer.

Helping people doesn’t get you off the hook, though. You do still have to ask them to take the next step with you.

But by this point, you’ve helped the other person enough that asking for their email address feels like the most natural thing in the world.

So don’t beg.

Ask, and ask confidently, and hold your head high.

Because you’re NOT the beggar, you’re the benefactor.

Here’s another marketing mental block — thinking that a successful marketer has to ‘trick people’ into buying. Not true.

Josh Earl

Written by

Josh Earl

I’m a copywriter and email marketing expert. I show entrepreneurs how to tell stories that sell in my daily newsletter: https://joshuaearl.com/newsletter

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