Hey everyone,
If you missed the first two issues of the newsletter, you can read those here:
In this issue, we’ll cover one of the least expensive ways to market; it’s something I’ve used more than anything else over the past 10-15 years: email marketing.
Some of you may have experience with email marketing and others may have none, or just a little. I’ll stick to some tactics I’ve used over the years that I hope will be useful for everyone, regardless of how experienced you are.
Let’s start with a perspective that guides me more than anything else.
More important than subject lines or calls-to-action
There is nothing more important in email marketing than delivering value. You’ve drawn the reader in with a good subject line. Now, you need to do something.
If your email is about how to win at fantasy sports, you better pack it with things that can help people do this. Don’t hold back on your readers. Otherwise, people will stop reading.
Follow this rule: After you’ve drafted your email, ask yourself whether there’s enough in it that you’d want to open the next one when it hits your inbox. If the answer is “no,” maybe it’s not time to hit send yet.
The value you deliver in your email is what will determine if someone opens the next one. And this is really what you want more than anything else.
Want to increase open rates? I wrote about three tactics in this article below.
Now, let’s get into the writing process itself for just a minute.
How I write my emails and aim to keep people reading
Here’s something I do every time I write a piece of marketing content.
With each line written, I ask myself if the reader would read the next line after the one I just wrote. I have the same mindset when I proofread and edit.
The objective is to keep the person reading from one line to the next until you get them all the way to the end.
But wait…can’t you end up with some very short pieces of content if you do it this way? Absolutely. It really forces you to make sure each line is interesting, valuable, etc.
Want a longer piece for your readers? Make it more interesting. Make it more valuable. Give them a reason to keep reading, one line at a time. Otherwise, keep it short.
Some tips for keeping the readers moving down the page
If you say something in your headline, you don’t always need to repeat it at the opening of your blurb. Use your headlines as a way to start your messaging that then continues in the blurb. Email blasts don’t have to read like newspaper articles.
Look for ways to build messaging into your buttons, so you don’t say something in the last sentence and then repeat it again in your button text. Save people a few seconds.
In email marketing blasts, look for opportunities to link out for longer blurbs. Your headline and your blurb only need to get people’s attention enough so they’ll absorb the basic information, and then they can click if they want to dive deeper into the topic.
Leverage images or video in your emails to say things in fewer words or through a different format. Maybe an infographic or an image, with just a line of text, will communicate something more effectively than a blurb. Different people absorb information in different ways.
With that last bullet point in mind, here’s a video.
@mikeholdendotcom Your email marketing must do this one thing. #marketing #marketingtiktok #emailmarketing #marketingstrategy
Want some homework? Go back to your old emails
After you’ve tried the tactics above for a few weeks, go back and read much older emails you’ve sent. Ask yourself if your newest blasts are shorter and more effective than your old ones were. Keep looking for ways to improve.
You can take an old email blast, rewrite it with skills you’ve developed and send it again to your list, potentially as a more effective piece of content.
Thanks for reading!
I’ll see you next week, when we’ll talk about segmentation; it’s a great way to get the right message in front of the right people at no additional cost.
Do you have a topic you’d like to see covered in a future newsletter? Reply to this email and let me know.
A final thought
It’s not just what you say; it’s where you say it. I like to test putting the call-to-action in different locations in emails and on landing pages. Different people click in different places. You can follow the data and do more of what works.
— #Mike Holden (#@mikeholden)
5:02 PM • Dec 22, 2023