This was the newsletter mail sent out by Serif to their subscribers last week.
Serif is a Europe-based company that directly takes on some of Adobe’s products like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign with their products like Photo, Designer and Publisher respectively. They are successful with their flexible model and the perpetual license model is still available with them.
Apart from the commercial model, their products are extremely good too.
The above screenshot is from one of their regular mails. Here, the Call To Action(CTA) is not about an offer and doesn’t nudge the reader to buy something, unlike other software and SaaS mails.
As a user, I am just asked to visit their video channel which I’d most likely do. I may even become a fan of their videos and end up subscribing to their channel, which would lead to a long-term relationship. This is far better than pushing a prospect to buy.
As a reader & user, it is only natural that I’d like to know more about a product before making the purchase decision.
As David Meerman Scott says,
The future I see is even grim.
With the poor reputation and performance of paid ads, the best option is to build and accumulate your assets that have the potential of working for you now and forever. Most contents are going to be digital assets like blog posts, video channels, communities, groups, your Twitter followers and more.
Though, unlike any other content forms, I see videos as the one which can have a huge impact on your business.
Here is why,
- Blog posts are on your site, and can only be accessed through search engines like Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo. The search results would have multiple formats displayed like videos, images, locations, webpages, and the challenge for getting displayed first on the results is real.
- Infographics and Images are the next best options, for which you can utilise Pinterest.
- Videos are an exception though. They can be accessed through smartphones, browsers and Smart TVs, from common platforms like YouTube, where the search results are only going to be videos. Once you’ve created your video assets, they are going to be immensely beneficial for your business.
While a lot of brands are reaping the benefits of building their video channel, you can start today, to stay ahead of your competitors.
Does the future of marketing depend on your assets? Yes, it appears so – indeed, obviously.
