Tips & Talk 83 – What Do I Say in My Newsletters?

Hi there,

It's Sue and thanks for joining me for Tips and Talk

Day. These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions

and things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small

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As I worked on last week's tips and talk episode covering

how to find topics for your blog articles,

it brought up the thought that finding topics for email is

another challenging area,

so that's what's on tap for today.

Since content for your blog and content for your emails are

different, let's do a quick review.

Blog articles reside on your website and you use social media

and email teasers to prompt people to click over to read

the complete piece.

Never should you put your entire article up as an email

and leave it at that.

An email is a one and done communication,

right? All the hard work of writing that article will be

lost almost immediately when you put it on your website.

In a space dedicated as your blog,

you'll get the advantages of seo,

the ability to educate your customers and added credibility that all

builds on itself long into the future.

Your website is the online headquarters of your business,

and all avenues should point there whether you're linking to a

specific product,

talking about a blog article,

introducing a new product line.

All of these things,

even when you're on the local news or are written about

in the local paper or on a podcast,

these should all be in a in the news page on

your website.

The only time I'd send someone to a different site is

if you're attending a show or speaking at an event and

you wanna direct people there for the details and to register

to attend.

Email plays a different role in your business.

It's to keep you top of mind with your customers,

and so you can stay in contact with those who run

into you online or meet you in person and want to

stay in touch for a future first purchase.

Today we're gonna cover what to say in regularly scheduled emails,

not how to get and build an email list.

We also aren't going to talk about the very first emails

to send when someone joins your list.

This is often referred to as a welcome series.

Let me know if these are things you want me to

cover in the future.

Okay, so with an eye to content for regularly scheduled email

marketing programs,

this is something that you can start right now,

whether you have an email list of seven or 7,000

people don't delay getting this up and running.

It begins with deciding how often you'll send out an email,

even though I don't recommend it.

You can do as few as 12 emails a year,

so a monthly program,

and if that's all you can do,

start with that and build up from there.

Ideally, you should send weekly emails,

but I'll give you a pass for biweekly two,

and you'll see as we continue on here,

it doesn't have to be that hard or even overwhelming if

it feels like that to you right now because you are

going to have a plan.

These emails also don't have to be works of art as

your blog articles are.

SEO doesn't matter here.

Most of what you'll include,

you already have at your fingertips too.

Some of your emails can be just a few paragraphs and

some don't even need photos at all.

The most important thing is that they're interesting enough to get

your customers to open and read them with that.

Here are some ideas of things to include in your emails.

First off,

the obvious product,

promotions and sales.

Nobody can take advantage of your special offers if they don't

know about them,

right? So when you have special sales,

feel free to dedicate an email entirely to that.

Include pictures of the products,

the benefit the product gives,

the buyer the details of the purchase,

so things like price,

the percentage discount,

limited quantity,

if that applies,

deadlines on the offer,

all of those things.

And then don't forget a buy button or a link that

connects back to your website so that they can order.

Another thing that you can include in your emails are the

in-person events you're attending.

If you're doing a weekly farmer's market all summer long,

bingo, that's part of your weekly email.

Include a picture of you and a customer from the prior

week or some fun interaction that you've had with another vendor

or how you managed the rain last week and how the

forecast for this Wednesday looks great.

Add your personality to these messages.

This makes it so much easier.

Just write like you're talking to a friend.

Number three,

email list only specials.

Treat those who have offered up their email address and are

now on your list as a special group.

Maybe they get the first look at your new product line

or special offers only for them.

Send the message that being on your email list is valuable

because they are the one and only ones who get to

be in the know and can take advantage of certain things.

Number four,

blog teasers.

Here's the place to give some information about your latest blog

article. Tell them what they'll get out of reading your article,

and then link over to the full version that you got.

It has a home on your website.

Depending on the topic,

you can recirculate your blog articles too.

Pull from topics that you talked about even eight months ago

if it still serves your customers.

That's the value of evergreen blog topics like the 10 Health

Benefits of chocolate,

or cleaning directions for your leather accessories,

or three ways to store your jewelry using things you already

have in your house.

I'm making these up of course,

but you get the idea.

And finally,

my fifth category of ideas of topics that you can use

in your blog articles are behind the scene stories.

Don't discount the interest your customers have in these types of

things. Unboxing videos continue to be popular.

Ask those on your email list to vote on the next

flavor for your new seasonal popcorn or share a mishap that

happened in your production area that's entertaining and funny.

What you wanna do is train people that opening emails from

you is worth it.

If all you do is show a product and a price,

meaning selling in every single email,

people won't open it if they aren't in the purchasing stage

for what you sell,

but if you show them that there are other things in

your emails that will serve them,

your open rates will be higher,

and when you have higher open rates,

your emails are more likely to stay out of spam and

the promotion folders where they're never seen or even have a

chance for more ideas.

Look at the emails you receive,

what subject lines catch your eye?

What do they include that makes you want to open each

and every one to make this email strategy something you'll actually

do. Set a plan.

Let's say you've decided to send out emails weekly.

Create a couple of different models of emails,

templates, if you will.

Some weeks you do to the point promotion product price.

Buy some weeks,

you create a longer email that includes a behind the scenes

story with a photo and then perhaps a small blurb about

your upcoming subscription box theme with a stay tuned teaser.

Another template could be linking to national theme days,

just like you see on Social National Best Friend Day.

How about treating your bestie to our latest tea and cookie

combo to show that you're thinking of her or national Apple

Day? We don't grow apples,

but our apple red scarves certainly put you in the mood.

Be playful and creative.

Make opening your emails.

Fun. That's the point.

And guess what?

Are you aware of the connected social media planner that goes

with my Content for Makers program?

I've heard that some of you are using these to plan

out your emails too.

What a good idea.

I didn't even think of that when I created this product,

and I use mine now also for planning social posts,

blog articles,

and email topics all in one organized spot.

If you wanna take a look,

go over to give biz unwrapped.com/connected

and you'll see what I'm talking about.

The term the money is in the list is really true.

Collecting emails and then actually communicating to those people will bring

you in new and repeat sales.

That's what this is all about today.

Now's the time for you to put it into action.

Decide on an email frequency,

set up a template plan,

add in your unique details and press send.

That's a wrap.

I'm a get to the point kind of girl,

and this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

sessions. Now it's your turn.

Go out and fulfill that dream of yours.

Share your handmade products with us.

We want them,

and they bring us both.