9 Ways to Personalize Your Newsletter [Infographic]

9 ways to personalize your newsletter



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Is Anyone Looking You Up?

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In the normal course of my day, I am constantly looking businesses up online. If I am going to talk to you, meet with you, consider buying your product or using your services, I've looked you up online. Increasingly, I am finding content that I am certain you do not want representing you. Maybe you think you do not need an online presence. Maybe you have an old website that you think is working to the extent you need it to. And maybe you are wrong. Think of all the reasons you Google a business: looking for a product or service looking for a location looking for directions or a map looking for a policy preparing for a meeting If you are using an online search to find what you are looking for, it stands to reason that others are as well. Many, many others. What do you want them to find when they look? We've said it before and it is worth repeating. Google your business at least quarterly. Set your website as your browser's default home page so you are seei...
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Current Contacts and CASL

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If the new Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) has you upside down in confusion, you're not alone. The part of CASL that seems to be the most confusing for business people is how it affects their current mailing list . The answer is not especially straightforward because the regulations spell out the law... and then there are supporting documents which help to explain what the law means and how to be compliant. By their nature, those supporting documents provide interpretations, and those interpretations will become more explicit as the law is brought into effect. As such, the following is my informed opinion and best advice. (Consider this my disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer.) To ask your current subscribers to re-opt-in... or not How many emails have you already received asking you to re-opt-in to a mailing list that you have already subscribed to? Kind of pain, isn't it? How many have you re-subscribed to? I bet not all of them. Even before you understand the detail...
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Yearly Content Planning Worksheet

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Planning is an important process - even if you eventually change the plan. Planning: forces you to think, to research, to consider, to brainstorm - to be creative ( Tweet This ) helps you get organized increases efficiency and productivity motivates you and increases your confidence identifies risks helps you make decisions gives you a clearer vision All of these things apply specifically to your content creation activities as well. Click here to download a content planning worksheet (Excel) to help you prepare for the year. (This is formatted for printing/handwriting as well.) Click to Tweet this Article
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No One is Immune from Mistakes

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Mistakes will happen. I've seen obvious mistakes in emails sent out by marketing agencies and email service providers when promoting their own products. I've even made a few myself - but I won’t point them out. A recent article on the Vocus blog inspired me to weigh in on the issue because, of course, I don’t completely agree with all of their advice. There is a point of no return. Once we hit send, we’re stuck living with the mistakes in our newsletters. Likely you won’t even notice the mistake until someone points it out or asks a question. Sometimes they’re just small errors, like typos, a missing word or the wrong preposition. Other times they can be disastrous: a big promotion to hype a new product and, oops, the link goes to the wrong product or an error page an event invitation that asks you to register but the link takes you to an event that’s already gone by the wrong phone number, especially when phoning you is your primary call to action the wrong addres...
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Prospecting Perils

For the first time in 4 years, I've been working to build a list of prospective clients. Mary Jane Copps, aka The Phone Lady , asked me to describe my target market for her. That was easy to do when we were sitting in Starbucks enjoying lattes. I have a pretty clear picture of my ideal client – I’m fortunate to have several of them already. Translating that description into a prospecting list has turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. First, I decided to take my own advice and check out who’s been reading my newsletter. Because my own newsletter isn’t about what I do though, it isn't easy to identify readers who might be interested in starting a newsletter just by looking at who’s opening it. On to LinkedIn... After a little grunting and groaning about the search process, I was able to make some progress, but not as much or as easy as I had imagined. There are 2 lessons I've re-learned through this venture: It’s easy to give out and read advice a...
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Find Gems in Your Sent Mail

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Perhaps you're wondering, "What the heck am I going to write about this week?" Look no further than your Sent mailbox. Over the past month or so, I've answered a lot of questions by email. I bet you have, too. Have you considered that, if one person has a question, many others likely have that same question? Maybe you replied with a 'how-to' or an opinion or a bit of free advice. Maybe you supplied resources to help someone find their own answers. All of these gems can be turned into a blog post or a series of posts even. If you're uncertain about reorganizing and rewriting your emailed messages, you might try a writing template from my  Quick & Easy Content Creation Workbook . You'll be done in no time. Click to Tweet this Article
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Three Words for 2017

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'Focus' has been my 'word of the year' since January 2010. When I did a little checking to figure out that date, I was surprised at how long I've been focussed on focus. Perhaps I'm as focussed as I'm going to get. This year I'm going to buck the 'one word' movement and go with three words: surprised by joy . It's a wish for how I want to be in 2017. The first line of William Wordsworth's poem of the same name is: "Surprised by joy - impatient as the Wind" I stumbled upon it recently while reading books by Canadian author Louise Penny . "Surprised by joy" is a recurring theme throughout her Inspector Gamache series. Maybe it stuck with me because patience sure isn't my best quality. Share your word (or words) of the year in the comments. Whatever they are, my wish is that you will be surprised by the joy of success this year. Click to Tweet this Article
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Storage for Great Ideas - Back of Book (BOB)

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Do you often flip to the back page of your notebook to jot down content ideas ? If not, start! When I'm teaching small business classes about online marketing, I insist they start a page in the back of their notebooks for jotting down ideas for blog or social media posts. This page will extend beyond one, but it's the start of something great. BOB (for back of book) becomes a new friend... your idea catcher . When you are looking for something to write about or post, check your BOB for ideas. Click to Tweet this Article
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Let's Play like Adults

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Yesterday I politely wrote asking to be removed from a mailing list after receiving a promotional email that was ugly, far from CASL-compliant, and for products I’m not interested in. I even included links to CASL info in an effort to help. I received this response a few moments later: “Please do the same for me.” This childish reaction came from an older man who had attended a free email marketing training I put on last spring at the request of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce. He sells products to my target market. Do you think I’m ever likely to recommend him to anyone now? Email marketing isn't a game, it’s a business strategy. I firmly believe we should unsubscribe from mailings that aren't of interest to us. I read many newsletters from people who don’t read mine. It’s not a “tit for tat” thing. Email marketing costs money. Why would we want to waste our efforts sending messages to people who don’t want them ? Go ahead, unsubscribe from the things you don’t w...
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Don't Dilute Your Message

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Let’s say you own a business that sells services to the general public. And, because you are so good at what you do, you also sell different services to other businesses in your industry. This is a common scenario for successful small businesses. You want to start an enewsletter - let’s talk content . Stephanie sells financial advice. She also sells advice to other advisors about how to sell and deliver financial advice. Stephanie's approach to financial advice is unique in her industry and she is a crusader. So when it comes to Stephanie's advice, what content will appeal to both of her target markets? Be interesting or useful to both? Be of value to both? Can you write a list of potential topics? It won't be as long as you might think. The type of financial advice that appeals to you and I is not what financial advisors want. A diagram of all the possible content might look like this: If you have two distinct target markets, yo...
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