Every marketer since the dawn of time has been screaming about having an email newsletter. (Yes, I’m pretty sure even when humans were in caves one of them was like, “Would you like too see my hieroglyphics every week? Sign up and get a free PDF!”)
You know what, they’re mostly right. E-mail marketing is still worth it years later.
It sounds simple, right? You go to Mailchimp, or whatever service you prefer, sign up, and boom, email newsletters created.
You get some people to sign up. How exciting!
Now, you’re stuck with coming up with email content.
How to come up with content
Here’s what most marketers do: Talk about current sales and the company or products.
“Here’s a coupon!”
“Here’s a new product!”
“News about us!”
Sure, depending on your company, that’s a worthwhile strategy. However, most of us are small business owners. Building a connecting with a customer is far more important than sales.
How do you build a connection? Stories and giving value.
Why?
Because that will actually keep people around. Simple: if they feel like you care, they’ll stay around. If you provide value, in a sea of “buy my stuff!!!” emails, you’ll win.
If you’ve been around this blog for any length of time, you know I’m big on telling stories and providing value instead of filling everything with useless information. We’re all already busy enough, and being known for getting right to the chase and providing REAL solutions will get you ahead.
(This is where I should also pitch my own email newsletter, right? Cool.)
When it comes to creating an email strategy with clients, the first thing we do is sit down and list the three biggest problems their clients have.
From those three biggest problems, we break it down and create three to five newsletters addressing each problem and a solution to each of them.
Let’s break this down with some examples, because it’s so easy to talk theory without practicality.
Examples
#1
Let’s say you are a personal trainer. The three most common problems your clients have are: losing weight, staying consistent with their diets, and staying motivated.
So, you’d sit down and write three of your three favorite solutions to each of these problems. Some examples include: easy meals in under 30 minutes, weight loss myths that aren’t true, finding your “why” for working out. If you only send a newsletter out once a week, that’s 9 weeks of content already done.
#2
Or, let’s say you sell planners. You’d write down that your customer’s biggest problems are: getting organized, feeling in control, and organizing competing priorities.
Then your newsletters contain tips like organizing finances, how to make room for side projects, and how to determine what’s the most important thing to do each day.
But how do I make that cash $$$$$$$$$$?
See, that’s where most people get stuck. They expect to send newsletters and instantly see growth in their bank accounts. Or they feel like they can’t send a newsletter without having it fit into some perfect sales funnel.
Spoilers: You don’t need a perfect plan, you just need to help people.
Focus on that, and it'll all come together.