Tips & Talk 83 – What Do I Say in My Newsletters?
Email serves a different role in your business than your website, blog posts or even social. Its goal is to keep you top of mind with customers to deepen the connection leading to repeat purchases.
It’s also a tool to stay in touch with those who find you online or meet you in person. You want to keep communicating with them for a future first purchase.
In this episode, I give you 5 overall categories of email topics with examples to get your mind rolling – plus an action plan to put it all in play.
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Transcript
Hi there,
Speaker:It's Sue and thanks for joining me for Tips and Talk
Speaker:Day. These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions
Speaker:and things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small
Speaker:business. If you'd like to submit a topic DME over on
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Speaker:gosh, this year I've rolled out a number of new opportunities
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Speaker:As I worked on last week's tips and talk episode covering
Speaker:how to find topics for your blog articles,
Speaker:it brought up the thought that finding topics for email is
Speaker:another challenging area,
Speaker:so that's what's on tap for today.
Speaker:Since content for your blog and content for your emails are
Speaker:different, let's do a quick review.
Speaker:Blog articles reside on your website and you use social media
Speaker:and email teasers to prompt people to click over to read
Speaker:the complete piece.
Speaker:Never should you put your entire article up as an email
Speaker:and leave it at that.
Speaker:An email is a one and done communication,
Speaker:right? All the hard work of writing that article will be
Speaker:lost almost immediately when you put it on your website.
Speaker:In a space dedicated as your blog,
Speaker:you'll get the advantages of seo,
Speaker:the ability to educate your customers and added credibility that all
Speaker:builds on itself long into the future.
Speaker:Your website is the online headquarters of your business,
Speaker:and all avenues should point there whether you're linking to a
Speaker:specific product,
Speaker:talking about a blog article,
Speaker:introducing a new product line.
Speaker:All of these things,
Speaker:even when you're on the local news or are written about
Speaker:in the local paper or on a podcast,
Speaker:these should all be in a in the news page on
Speaker:your website.
Speaker:The only time I'd send someone to a different site is
Speaker:if you're attending a show or speaking at an event and
Speaker:you wanna direct people there for the details and to register
Speaker:to attend.
Speaker:Email plays a different role in your business.
Speaker:It's to keep you top of mind with your customers,
Speaker:and so you can stay in contact with those who run
Speaker:into you online or meet you in person and want to
Speaker:stay in touch for a future first purchase.
Speaker:Today we're gonna cover what to say in regularly scheduled emails,
Speaker:not how to get and build an email list.
Speaker:We also aren't going to talk about the very first emails
Speaker:to send when someone joins your list.
Speaker:This is often referred to as a welcome series.
Speaker:Let me know if these are things you want me to
Speaker:cover in the future.
Speaker:Okay, so with an eye to content for regularly scheduled email
Speaker:marketing programs,
Speaker:this is something that you can start right now,
Speaker:whether you have an email list of seven or 7,000
Speaker:people don't delay getting this up and running.
Speaker:It begins with deciding how often you'll send out an email,
Speaker:even though I don't recommend it.
Speaker:You can do as few as 12 emails a year,
Speaker:so a monthly program,
Speaker:and if that's all you can do,
Speaker:start with that and build up from there.
Speaker:Ideally, you should send weekly emails,
Speaker:but I'll give you a pass for biweekly two,
Speaker:and you'll see as we continue on here,
Speaker:it doesn't have to be that hard or even overwhelming if
Speaker:it feels like that to you right now because you are
Speaker:going to have a plan.
Speaker:These emails also don't have to be works of art as
Speaker:your blog articles are.
Speaker:SEO doesn't matter here.
Speaker:Most of what you'll include,
Speaker:you already have at your fingertips too.
Speaker:Some of your emails can be just a few paragraphs and
Speaker:some don't even need photos at all.
Speaker:The most important thing is that they're interesting enough to get
Speaker:your customers to open and read them with that.
Speaker:Here are some ideas of things to include in your emails.
Speaker:First off,
Speaker:the obvious product,
Speaker:promotions and sales.
Speaker:Nobody can take advantage of your special offers if they don't
Speaker:know about them,
Speaker:right? So when you have special sales,
Speaker:feel free to dedicate an email entirely to that.
Speaker:Include pictures of the products,
Speaker:the benefit the product gives,
Speaker:the buyer the details of the purchase,
Speaker:so things like price,
Speaker:the percentage discount,
Speaker:limited quantity,
Speaker:if that applies,
Speaker:deadlines on the offer,
Speaker:all of those things.
Speaker:And then don't forget a buy button or a link that
Speaker:connects back to your website so that they can order.
Speaker:Another thing that you can include in your emails are the
Speaker:in-person events you're attending.
Speaker:If you're doing a weekly farmer's market all summer long,
Speaker:bingo, that's part of your weekly email.
Speaker:Include a picture of you and a customer from the prior
Speaker:week or some fun interaction that you've had with another vendor
Speaker:or how you managed the rain last week and how the
Speaker:forecast for this Wednesday looks great.
Speaker:Add your personality to these messages.
Speaker:This makes it so much easier.
Speaker:Just write like you're talking to a friend.
Speaker:Number three,
Speaker:email list only specials.
Speaker:Treat those who have offered up their email address and are
Speaker:now on your list as a special group.
Speaker:Maybe they get the first look at your new product line
Speaker:or special offers only for them.
Speaker:Send the message that being on your email list is valuable
Speaker:because they are the one and only ones who get to
Speaker:be in the know and can take advantage of certain things.
Speaker:Number four,
Speaker:blog teasers.
Speaker:Here's the place to give some information about your latest blog
Speaker:article. Tell them what they'll get out of reading your article,
Speaker:and then link over to the full version that you got.
Speaker:It has a home on your website.
Speaker:Depending on the topic,
Speaker:you can recirculate your blog articles too.
Speaker:Pull from topics that you talked about even eight months ago
Speaker:if it still serves your customers.
Speaker:That's the value of evergreen blog topics like the 10 Health
Speaker:Benefits of chocolate,
Speaker:or cleaning directions for your leather accessories,
Speaker:or three ways to store your jewelry using things you already
Speaker:have in your house.
Speaker:I'm making these up of course,
Speaker:but you get the idea.
Speaker:And finally,
Speaker:my fifth category of ideas of topics that you can use
Speaker:in your blog articles are behind the scene stories.
Speaker:Don't discount the interest your customers have in these types of
Speaker:things. Unboxing videos continue to be popular.
Speaker:Ask those on your email list to vote on the next
Speaker:flavor for your new seasonal popcorn or share a mishap that
Speaker:happened in your production area that's entertaining and funny.
Speaker:What you wanna do is train people that opening emails from
Speaker:you is worth it.
Speaker:If all you do is show a product and a price,
Speaker:meaning selling in every single email,
Speaker:people won't open it if they aren't in the purchasing stage
Speaker:for what you sell,
Speaker:but if you show them that there are other things in
Speaker:your emails that will serve them,
Speaker:your open rates will be higher,
Speaker:and when you have higher open rates,
Speaker:your emails are more likely to stay out of spam and
Speaker:the promotion folders where they're never seen or even have a
Speaker:chance for more ideas.
Speaker:Look at the emails you receive,
Speaker:what subject lines catch your eye?
Speaker:What do they include that makes you want to open each
Speaker:and every one to make this email strategy something you'll actually
Speaker:do. Set a plan.
Speaker:Let's say you've decided to send out emails weekly.
Speaker:Create a couple of different models of emails,
Speaker:templates, if you will.
Speaker:Some weeks you do to the point promotion product price.
Speaker:Buy some weeks,
Speaker:you create a longer email that includes a behind the scenes
Speaker:story with a photo and then perhaps a small blurb about
Speaker:your upcoming subscription box theme with a stay tuned teaser.
Speaker:Another template could be linking to national theme days,
Speaker:just like you see on Social National Best Friend Day.
Speaker:How about treating your bestie to our latest tea and cookie
Speaker:combo to show that you're thinking of her or national Apple
Speaker:Day? We don't grow apples,
Speaker:but our apple red scarves certainly put you in the mood.
Speaker:Be playful and creative.
Speaker:Make opening your emails.
Speaker:Fun. That's the point.
Speaker:And guess what?
Speaker:Are you aware of the connected social media planner that goes
Speaker:with my Content for Makers program?
Speaker:I've heard that some of you are using these to plan
Speaker:out your emails too.
Speaker:What a good idea.
Speaker:I didn't even think of that when I created this product,
Speaker:and I use mine now also for planning social posts,
Speaker:blog articles,
Speaker:and email topics all in one organized spot.
Speaker:If you wanna take a look,
Speaker:go over to give biz unwrapped.com/connected
Speaker:and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Speaker:The term the money is in the list is really true.
Speaker:Collecting emails and then actually communicating to those people will bring
Speaker:you in new and repeat sales.
Speaker:That's what this is all about today.
Speaker:Now's the time for you to put it into action.
Speaker:Decide on an email frequency,
Speaker:set up a template plan,
Speaker:add in your unique details and press send.
Speaker:That's a wrap.
Speaker:I'm a get to the point kind of girl,
Speaker:and this is what you can expect from these quick midweek
Speaker:sessions. Now it's your turn.
Speaker:Go out and fulfill that dream of yours.
Speaker:Share your handmade products with us.
Speaker:We want them,
Speaker:and they bring us both.