“It’s not good. Our next promo must do better.”
The conference room was icy cold, like the winter in Siberia. Six people were in the meeting, yet no one made a beep—because the last promo…
BOMBED
This happened a few years ago…
I was working with an e-commerce as their new email copywriter. 80%+ of their revenue comes from running a promotional launch each month.
Now, this isn’t cute little 24-hour flash sales.
It’s high-stake, all-man-onboard, win-or-bust promotions.
You spend over a month planning, and run the sales event for over a week. So, it’s not all fun and games when the ship goes under.
But while the room was silent like a tomb…
*slurp*
The marketing director turned and looked at me.
I was casually sipping my water.
Then…
She let out the first smile of the day.
“Good job, Wuyen. The CMO is really happy with your campaign.”
I wasn’t involved in the promos.
Instead, they brought me in to experiment with a new strategy –
Can we create a new income stream—using story-driven broadcasts—without relying on launches?
The numbers that month:
* The May Promo: $12,691
…
…
* My Story Campaign that week:
$13,231
(from one email plus one follow-up)
Now… of course, I AM saying this to brag.
But that’s not the only point of the story.
I also want to share the #1 mindset for running any promotional event.
(1111, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, New Years, you name it)
Ready?
Launches should be a bonus, not a paycheck.
Here’s what I mean –
You should NOT be relying on a successful launch to pay the bills.
When hundreds of families are on the line… waiting to put food on the table with one successful promo… the pressure is unbearable.
When you’re under this stress –
~ you cannot fail (“we need to move these inventories immediately”)
~ you cannot relax (“great, awesome promo. Now, next month…”)
~ you cannot test new ideas (“stick with what worked”)
Here’s a better plan:
Build a system that makes it rain every day. This strategy should focus on progress—trying to be 1% better daily…
…allowing you to grow without needing a home run every game.
Because winning every point is impossible, yet…
You don’t have to win every point to profit.
“In the 1,526 single matches I played in my career, I won almost 80%. But I only won 54% of the points. In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half the points.”
– Roger Federer, #1 Tennis Play for 310 weeks
Cheering for you,
– WYH