Marketing Emails?

May 8, 2015

We’ve put a ton of effort into assembling an email list. But if you’re on it, you might have noticed that in the entire history of Mosko we’ve only sent like 2 emails. We don’t even have a newsletter. Part of it is that I can’t stand getting junkmail, so the last thing I want to do is clutter up other people’s inboxes.

Earlier this week I had the chance to sit-in on a strategic planning meeting for my buddy’s ski gear company. This same question came up in that meeting and was debated by a bunch of smart business people. So now it’s back on my mind.

There’s this company (Mako Spearguns) that I buy all my spear stuff from. They sell direct (like us) and I’m on their mailing list. I never, ever open their emails. However, I don’t unsubscribe from the list either. I realized as I thought about it this week that I actually ‘like’ getting those emails from Mako. I always read at least the subject line before clicking delete, which is more than I can say for the other promotional emails I get. I like the company, and I like the little reminder of spearfishing in the middle of the day when that email pops up. It also keeps the Mako name front-of-mind, so it’s not a total waste of time for them either. Like right now I’m buying a new wetsuit for fishing, and I’ll just automatically go straight to Mako for it. So those marketing emails did their job in an indirect kind of way.

Now we’re trying to figure out what to do with our own email list. Obviously one goal is to sell bags: i.e. to promote a new product or offer a special deal or something like that. We also want to stay front-of-mind, like in the Mako example above. But we don’t want our emails to be “only” about marketing, otherwise they’ll start to feel a lot like “junk.”

What if we did a monthly email with three segments:

1) Our favorite read from the prior month: like maybe an advrider trip report we found, or someone’s travel blog, or some kind of interesting video or something. Doesn’t matter what kind of gear they’re using (i.e. it doesn’t have to be Mosko), we’d just be looking for something badass that we personally enjoyed. In fact maybe we could even request suggestions.

2) A handful of selected pics from the month’s Mosko blog posts. Maybe 5-10 pics total with a 1 sentence caption for each. Sort of like a “month in photos” recap on our business. No heavy reading, just a quick update of what we’re up to.

3) Finally, a marketing message. Some kind of discount, or promotion, or something similar. Every monthly email would have one of these, but it wouldn’t be the main point of the email.

Would appreciate any thoughts on the above or other ideas! We have this list, we worked hard to build it, and we want to use it. But we want the recipient to be stoked on getting the email, not pissed about another piece of junkmail.

Portland Assembly

The big deal in Mosko-land this week was the assembly run in Portland. I don’t have many pics because Lee was the one managing it all week, but we should have some pics for the next post. For now, the important thing is that Backcountry Panniers and Scout Panniers are in stock and ready-to-ship!

We ran into one small issue with the new logo plates. The attachment screws were a little too long, so now they stick out the back of the wedge. We didn’t have any other screws on hand so we just went ahead and finished assembly with what we had. We’ll get some new screws on order. The protruding screws don’t affect the functionality at all (the points face inward toward the bike) but we need to make sure we pack the bags so the points don’t damage anything else in the box during shipping. We’re thinking we’ll re-work the existing inventory as soon as we get some new screws, but in the meantime it is not worth holding up shipments. You can see the screw tips in these pics.

Adapters & Mounts

The BMW adapters should now be finished with powder coating, and we have all the mounting hardware in our shop. Hopefully we can start shipping them next week. We only have 20 of each set right now with 20 more on the way, so supplies are limited. We didn’t want too buy too many until we’re sure people like them. We’ve been getting a bunch of inquiries. We’ll post them on the site as soon as we have pics.

Andrew and Lee have also started working on a new injection-molded version of the mounting wedge and frame.

Mosko Nomads Reminder

In case you missed the blog post from a few weeks ago, we’re looking for a few good riders! Get a free Mosko tee-shirt and some stickers, plus your name and pic up on our website. Click this LINK

Overland Expo & Arizona BDR

Next week Lee, Andrew, and I are all headed south for Overland Expo in Arizona. After that, we’re going riding/camping with Dusty on the AZBDR. Then we’re headed back North, splitting up at the Alvord Desert. Andrew/Lee will ride back to Hood from there, and I’ll stick around to spend the weekend on the Alvord. So basically, we’ll all be on the road for a while.

Reckless Fitment

Simeon & Paul stopped by our shop to test fit the Reckless 40 & 80 on a DR350 and a V-Strom. Thanks for stopping by guys! Here’s some pics. The V-Strom has givi racks (with the little protruding attachment lip) and also a muffler offset.

Riding Season

Trail conditions here in the Gorge are currently pristine. Which, combined with longer and longer days, makes for some awesome singletrack exploring after work.