Crash course on finding endless relevant content ideas that keep 'em coming back
+ how to create email templates even if you're not clear on your ideal customer
I’ll be honest: when I started this newsletter, I had no clue what I was offering (um… marketing “stuff”), let alone who for.
But I figured I’d figure that out along the way, and subscribers would come or go as it became more or less relevant to them.
Today I’ll share how “starting where you are” is a good idea for small businesses, and how to level up if you’ve already made a start with content. We’ll demo the process by creating an email for an e-commerce brand, but you can apply it beyond that.
Maybe you don’t do email marketing yet.
Maybe you currently just send image grids and blurbs about your product, garnishing with discounts.
Or maybe you email broader content, but it’s always last minute and the sky is falling and you run out of ideas and end up downloading free content calendars telling you to post about irrelevant stuff like “World Vegan Custard Day”.
(I googled. That isn’t a thing — yet...)
I’ll preach some LeSsOnS, then let’s get to the fun bit — a demo, and reverse engineering.
I hope by the end of this humble course you're as inspired as a middle-aged white dude from 1995 as he jogs through the park with a Zig Ziglar tape in his Walkman.
Feel the power!
“My product/offer is still in development, I’ll hold off email marketing until we are crystal clear on that”
Oh no you won’t! Get down off your perfectionist high horse at once.
See, you can do market research via your email list to find out if there is an obvious persona, need, or other patterns. You can build a relationship with them so they’re keen to help you tweak your product/offer. It’s like a focus group on demand.
Even asking them to share a survey with someone who matches blah blah criteria gets you closer to the goal, hey.
“I’m not confident enough to publish anything. Can I comfort eat instead?”
This may come as a surprise, but no, you can’t. You can gorge yourself silly on endorphins after you step out of your comfort zone, though.
Nawww I understand. But practising in public is good for you. You'll refine your skills, become familiar with email software, and find a content process and routine that works around your/team’s workload.
You’ll also build immunity to rejection and neglection.
Realizing most humans aren't scrutinizing your efforts and opinions is liberating. And you can get all the rookie mistakes out of the way before you have scores of ideal customers subscribed!
If you’re looking for permission to royally SUCK at first, I, Queen of Quivering, grant it to thee.
“What’s the point if my efforts don’t end up in a sale…”
Somebody get Sour Sally out of the room because she’s really greying up the sky.
Who said you won't? You’d be surprised how a terrible first effort can still land a sale or pre-sale. (Pre-sales being those people who say Hey I really want to buy this as soon as it’s available.)
But even if you don't, you can still use your email list to build a network of people who are interested in what you're building.
When I first launched this newsletter I had some people reply to my welcome email with “I have no idea what you even do, but I’m here for it!” These precious gems in human form can be sources of referrals as you hone in on your market positioning.
Share behind-the-scenes stuff, and base call-to-actions or giveaways around asking for referrals.
It is NEVER too soon to build your own database outside of social media.
“I would, but I don’t know what to put in our emails? So I find other things to keep busy with. I should update my will, actually”
Let’s start with DON’T.
Don’t just use email to round up all your other content. Email is the warm part of your marketing funnel. Like the pool water around somebody standing suspiciously still 😉
Rank visual, but it’s important to remember. You want to use email to warm people up to your offers — to build a relationship and trigger transactions. You could include the occasional link to your other content, or stuff you found on the internet, but it shouldn’t make up the bulk of your email broadcasts.
On the other extreme, making every email a grid of products will teach people to only buy when you offer discounts. Or that you don't add value from one email to the next.
What to DO?
I found an online store that
doesn’t seem to be doing email marketing yet
I suspect is still figuring out exactly who they’re for, and the parameters of their product range.
So we’re gonna look at how they could kick email off.
Welcoming to the stage: this very self-assured cardboard desk that I wish I looked as good as.
Refold launched on Kickstarter with their pop-up cardboard desk that lets you work from anywhere. They even did a TEDx talk about why they started it: to help design students land jobs in studios that had no space left to seat newcomers.
They’ve since added accessories, other cardboard creations, and a non-cardboard office range that is only available via a 3rd party.
Possibly a bit of mixed identity going on then. But their core product with all its function and novelty is still the original desk.
This is common. A business starts with one purpose but morphs into its own thing after a bit.
Consider how in demand this desk would have been during the lockdowns! Or now, with remote work growing.
This brand NEEDS to be doing email to close leads.
I know this because I’ve had them on my wishlist for over a year, but never made buying their desk a priority!
That’s what email does. It warms people up to making your offer a priority.
If I were them…
I’d set up automated sequences to
nurture new subscribers
bring back people who ditched their shopping cart
re-affirm people who recently purchased
get reviews.
Because you can set and forget automated email, and they have the most bang for buck. (I’m planning on moving my own newsletter because Substack doesn’t have this feature.)
But. Not everybody buys within the timeframe of a nurture sequence. And you want buyers to get awesome results from the product so that they recommend it, buy it again, and buy your other things now and in the future.
So they also need a regular broadcast option.
As trendy as it is for fellow copywriters to proclaim that sending an email broadcast once a day works ⭐🦄⭐WONDERS⭐🦄⭐ for profits, many small businesses don’t have the capabilities or time to do that; or the budget to outsource on that level.
Refold are likely a small team, and it looks like the founders are involved in other ventures.
I’d recommend a newsletter-style broadcast sent fortnightly or monthly. When they get into a good rhythm, they could consider weekly.
But even a fortnightly newsletter can cause panic attacks if you don’t know how to come up with relevant and stand-out ideas!
So, bucking another trend of blacklisting the use of templates… USE A TEMPLATE.
The key to success with templates:
make your own, don’t be generic
make it audience-centric, not all about your own interests
focus content on the overarching goal that your product helps achieve so that subscribers stay close to your brand in order to get even closer to that goal. And so you can come up with endless content rather than feel like you’ve said everything about your product so now the well is dry.
Review it now and again to check if it’s still serving you. In 6 months, you might
be clearer on your persona (design students vs. remote lockdown workers have different lifestyles and problems)
realise some sections are a hit, others are a miss — so do more and less accordingly
see enough ROI to ditch templates and go for a more intense, strategic angle and frequency.
Focusing on overarching goals that your product helps people achieve gives you themes to eternally tap into.
Whether Refold is pitching to students or remote workers, they aren’t selling a desk.
They’re selling:
GETTING STUFF DONE. Well, because, they actually are selling a desk. Being productive. Being productive while remote working. Being productive while studying from a dorm room during a lockdown. The goal is to focus and accomplish.
GOING GREEN. Notice their product is biodegradable. They make accessories with the offcuts. Notice they encourage you to be in nature with it. Notice they manufacture locally.
GOOD DESIGN. Notice their artist collaborations to fancy up the desks. Notice their focus on ergonomics… a desk you can customise, carry without getting shoulder strain, stand up to work at. Notice they care about ideal body proportions and your eye level aligning with your tech. I mean hey, they are designers who wanted designers to get jobs with designers 😉
LIFESTYLE. They want you to work on your terms. Up a mountain. At the beach. In the backyard. In your hallway. Start your own business without cluttering the dining table with paperwork. It fits either side of performance-enhancing morning routines and a self-dimming UV light to help you wake up naturally. An optimised life — your way.
COMMUNITY/COLLABORATION. Their Instagram posts asking for idea submissions to repurpose off-cuts. Their artist collabs. Their backstory about connecting graduates to employees. The founders going on to create a coworking space. Sending desks to aid schools in disaster-struck areas.
Exploring those topics instead of dumping a catalogue into the inbox every time (or drilling subscribers with product info until they catch pink eye) means the brand aligns with the interests of real humans. Cos face it, not many people spend the day longing to know the features of a [cardboard desk] by heart. (Insert your own product there.)
Not every one of your readers will be interested in every one of those topics. Doesn’t matter, cos you have a handful of them. Over time, you can stick to the most popular ones according to feedback, engagement, or the direction you want to focus your brand.
Of course, you don’t want to never talk about your product. But you earn attention when you do, if you’ve been giving value in some way.
Ewkay, example time.
Subject: How to arrange your environment to get more done
Preview text: Plus, a way to shut the 🚪 on distraction
Break it down:
1. I came up with 2 templates they could alternate between each fortnight, to cover more of the overarching goals and spread out the workload
I won’t go into the section ideas for the other template here. But 2 templates also allows them to see if one outperforms the other, so they can refine future content accordingly.
This template has a section to gauge interest or take preorders for a potential product. It leans into getting stuff done from home, repurposing off-cuts, collaborating with customers/subscribers, and innovation/design.
The bottom section focuses on the big goal of getting stuff done and the CTA goes to the sales page for the desk. The tips are relevant whether or not the reader already owns a Refold desk.
Templates are not rigid! They’re a guide. Things can be swapped out. If they wanted to run a discontinuance sale, they could pop that in the area where I put the new product pre-launch/idea.
They may not have a new product every month, after all... but they can swap it out for a product highlight or collab with another brand that complements the productivity goal. For example, a chair/stool recommendation.
2. Used a less is more look and layout
The founders are professional designers, and it's a design-centric product, so both the founders and customers might expect more than plain text emails.
But “pretty” emails have downsides when it comes to deliverability and conversions, so I kept it minimal. Overly focusing on aesthetics in email marketing can compromise functionality and human psychology.
So while some brands pump out stunning emails, unless you have team members dedicated to email creation, a strategy to bypass deliverability problems, and sales results to back up this approach… most emerging brands should not create their entire email inside of design software and just plug it into email software.
It can also make more work than it needs to be, especially if you have a review-before-sending policy.
For example, the buttons were made in Canva (I’m not a designer OK? Canva it is) to resemble the website buttons, then inserted as a clickable image. This means if they decided those buttons needed to say something else, they’d have to add more steps to update them. Not the end of the world, but you want to make content creation as frictionless as you can if you want it to become habitual.
If a brand is happy to get away with even less than my demo did, its a win.
3. Used long-form content to train subscribers to value “following” on this “platform”
The misconception that long emails don't get read is worth testing for yourself.
If people can consume a long web page/video/podcast, then the issue isn't whether people consume long pieces of content... it’s the value of said content.
Two suggestions to test this: are the CTAs near the bottom of your email getting clicked? Are you getting replies praising your emails and saying “I always read to the end”?
You can break up the text/design by using dividers, headlines, and spreading chunky paragraphs out.
4. Focused on FOMO
Email-exclusive content lets you test and decide what to repurpose elsewhere, and if you have an exclusive or first-dibs element, it gives people a reason to stay and get value even if they've already purchased.
If they ask for off-cut ideas on Insta and showcase those concepts in email, it means people gotta be subscribed to vote. If people know tips or opinions are here first, or only here, it has more power than a “just browsing” blog.
Remember you want them to keep getting results with your product, to tell their friends, and potentially cross/resell them. Make sure emails are truly a VIP insider club, cos it's the one place you're truly in control when it comes to data like contact info or product preferences.
I could go on, but.
Time for you to brainstorm.
Remember, progress is better than perfume or whatever. “You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great” - Ziggy
As you become clearer on your own brand purpose, some subscribers might drop off. It doesn’t fit them anymore. That's not a sign to panic, it likely means you're starting to cement your ideal persona. Keep at it, you'll begin attracting more people that are a match.
If you use this to start or develop your email marketing, do share.
I’m out of snacks so can’t gorge myself silly, and could really use the endorphins.
Toodles,
Bernadette
P.S. Want to chat about email marketing for your DTC brand? 30-minute Zoom, on the house 🎁
P.S.2. Buy cool cardboard stuff