How to hype with a newsletter
For 2020, I would like to spend less time scrolling on Instagram and focus more time on upskilling in other areas of my business. Here is what I know about email marketing right now.
Hadrien and I both took an email marketing course last year with David Hieatt. We got really excited, learnt loads and then promptly only sent out a further 4 emails 🤦🏻♀️.
I’m too scared to even properly analyse how much time I spent “growing” my business on Instagram last year but I do know it was probably enough to have written 40 newsletters.
So, one of my goals this year is to focus more on alternative channels to hype myself and my business. Test and learn.
Here are my key learnings from that course and my first foray into email marketing*.
1.Invest in a good newsletter design.
This was something that David said whilst Hadrien and I were nodding our heads in more unison than the arm of a happy cat. As I recall he spend £1,000 for his newsletter banner. Initially this might sound a lot, but cost per wear, its actually a very cost effective way to make your brand look brill. Luckily, Hadrien is a designer AND to make it even less reliant on him helping me, he created templates for me to edit in Canva so each time I can do without him.
Pro tip: thanks to @its.samjones - you need to make the banners of your newsletters less than 800 pixels wide or you can’t read on a phone.
2. Give. Give. Give then ask
You don’t want to be selling all the time to your audience. Give them the content they need that they will find useful. Then, by the time you ask for the sale, it’s ok because you will have a relationship with them.
3. Be the face of your business
Um, could David BE anymore hype yourself right now (if you have not bought a copy my book is going to tell you all about how to do that) but simple things that can improve open rates is sending from your own name.
4.1Test, test and test
How often, what time, length, subject headers. These are all things that are different to each individual and brand. What works for a competitor might not be what works for you. So try it out and look at your own analytics. Use something like headline analyser to get the most compelling subject line.
4.2 Dress rehearsal
As part of your testing process, make sure you send to yourself and check format on laptop and mobile before going far and wide.
5. Just start
The first time we sent out a newsletter nothing happened. We got a few unsubscribes. The world didn’t change. I kept putting it off and I’m not even sure why. I always think it takes so much work. Reality is, with my easily editable template in Canva, it is worth taking off some time in insta to do. Far better for my mental health and keeping my contacts warm for the long game.
Next post… I will tell you how we actually grew our list from 0-1,000 in a year. I will also reveal where our top sign-ups come from.
*Im not an expert in this area but these people had clever things to say about it on my insta feed:
Phoebe Dodds - Founder of BURO155, an agency that teaches you how to create content that works 10x harder
Hannah Flores - Founder of Digital Nourishment, she now specialises in digital growth for wellness but has rafts of email marketing experience
Menekse Stewart - Expert in seo & marketing for creatives and has golden nuggets on email marketing content.
If this was helpful and you want more PR tips my new book Hype Yourself is available on Amazon or all good bookshops now. Please support this small business support other small businesses.
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