It seems that the world is divided into 2 parts.
There are brands that write emails that create magic for the reader.
And then there are brands that write really, really poor emails that fall flat on their face.
Why is it that only a few brands send world-class emails?
What is it that separates great email writers, from lousy ones?
Let’s get to that in a minute, but firstly lets first establish what world-class email writing looks like.
In my opinion, Andre Chaperon is the best email writer in the world. You are also missing out if you have not subscribed to Bernadette Jiwa’s email list. It’s like a warm bath for our soul. And then, of course, we have Seth Godin, whose daily blog lands up in my email every day and helps me look at the world differently. Ramit Sethi is also someone who is a force to be reckoned with, in the world of Email Marketing.
All of these are world-class email writers.
How do we become like them? What is the secret sauce?
I apologize for sounding anti-climactic and unsexy (I know that’s not a word), but there is no secret sauce.
The magic pill does not exist.
The secret is that there no secret.
We are Creators and Creators don’t look for short-cuts. Instead, we look for the unsexy answers. We play the long game.
The only reason that these guys succeed, is that they write a lot of bad emails.
They sit down every day, with their laptop and their favorite cup of tea, and start writing. And then they write… and then they write more.
Initially, the writing is bad.
But then they put out their writing in the world. They see the feedback. They see what is resonating and what is not. And then they improve.
“I have written 7000 blog posts. 4 of them were perfect.” – Seth Godin.
So if you and I ever aspire to be like them, then we know what we need to do.
Write. Write. Write.
Till your keyboards give up…
All of this just to say one thing – We need a daily writing habit.
Believe it or not, that is the backbone of your email campaign. Daily writing habit is a practice that will make or break your campaign.
How do we build this writing habit?
These are a few tips to get started –
1. Start your day with writing. Morning is the best time to write. Starting your workday with writing will transform your day. When we are building a habit, it is quite easy to break it; and hence getting it done as the first thing in the morning, is a really good idea. Grab your drink – tea, coffee, vodka, or water… and get cracking.
2. Set a goal of 500 words. Don’t get attached to perfection. Do not make the mistake of wanting to create an email that goes viral (emails hardly ever go viral, anyway). Rather than thinking about one email, think about getting 500 words on paper every day. I don’t care what those words look like. I don’t care if you use them or throw them away. For now, you need to get those 500 words on paper.
3. Write about what you like. If you are unsure about what you want to write about, then for the first 30 days, write about the stuff tat you are passionate about. You can write about Christiano Ronaldo or Emma Watson; I don’t care. Of course, with this strategy, you would not be able to use this written content for your email marketing and that’s okay. After 30 days, you can start creating content for your email campaigns.
4. Plan your content before-hand. Initially, when you start writing, there will be a lot of friction. That is quite natural when you are building a new habit. There is one way that can reduce this friction and make your writing just a little bit easier – Plan your topic beforehand. You see, sitting across your laptop with a blank google doc and not knowing what you would write about, is a scary scary feeling. You can avoid this feeling, by simply pre-deciding what to write about. Create an editorial calendar. You should have a list of topics that you would be writing about and map them across the dates when your email would be sent.
5. A diary of ideas. Collecting ideas is another way of reducing friction. Look for inspiration outside; there are plenty of things to be learned from our surroundings. You could maintain a diary to capture these ideas. These ideas come in handy later when you sit down to write.
That is it. This is how you build a writing habit.
Let your writing change the world.
What say you?
Intro music credits: Dan O songs.
It seems that the world is divided into 2 parts.
There are brands that write emails that create magic for the reader.
And then there are brands that write really, really poor emails that fall flat on their face.
Why is it that only a few brands send world-class emails?
What is it that separates great email writers, from lousy ones?
Let’s get to that in a minute, but firstly lets first establish what world-class email writing looks like.
In my opinion, Andre Chaperon is the best email writer in the world. You are also missing out if you have not subscribed to Bernadette Jiwa’s email list. It’s like a warm bath for our soul. And then, of course, we have Seth Godin, whose daily blog lands up in my email every day and helps me look at the world differently. Ramit Sethi is also someone who is a force to be reckoned with, in the world of Email Marketing.
All of these are world-class email writers.
How do we become like them? What is the secret sauce?
I apologize for sounding anti-climactic and unsexy (I know that’s not a word), but there is no secret sauce.
The magic pill does not exist.
The secret is that there no secret.
We are Creators and Creators don’t look for short-cuts. Instead, we look for the unsexy answers. We play the long game.
The only reason that these guys succeed, is that they write a lot of bad emails.
They sit down every day, with their laptop and their favorite cup of tea, and start writing. And then they write… and then they write more.
Initially, the writing is bad.
But then they put out their writing in the world. They see the feedback. They see what is resonating and what is not. And then they improve.
“I have written 7000 blog posts. 4 of them were perfect.” – Seth Godin.
So if you and I ever aspire to be like them, then we know what we need to do.
Write. Write. Write.
Till your keyboards give up…
All of this just to say one thing – We need a daily writing habit.
Believe it or not, that is the backbone of your email campaign. Daily writing habit is a practice that will make or break your campaign.
How do we build this writing habit?
These are a few tips to get started –
1. Start your day with writing. Morning is the best time to write. Starting your workday with writing will transform your day. When we are building a habit, it is quite easy to break it; and hence getting it done as the first thing in the morning, is a really good idea. Grab your drink – tea, coffee, vodka, or water… and get cracking.
2. Set a goal of 500 words. Don’t get attached to perfection. Do not make the mistake of wanting to create an email that goes viral (emails hardly ever go viral, anyway). Rather than thinking about one email, think about getting 500 words on paper every day. I don’t care what those words look like. I don’t care if you use them or throw them away. For now, you need to get those 500 words on paper.
3. Write about what you like. If you are unsure about what you want to write about, then for the first 30 days, write about the stuff tat you are passionate about. You can write about Christiano Ronaldo or Emma Watson; I don’t care. Of course, with this strategy, you would not be able to use this written content for your email marketing and that’s okay. After 30 days, you can start creating content for your email campaigns.
4. Plan your content before-hand. Initially, when you start writing, there will be a lot of friction. That is quite natural when you are building a new habit. There is one way that can reduce this friction and make your writing just a little bit easier – Plan your topic beforehand. You see, sitting across your laptop with a blank google doc and not knowing what you would write about, is a scary scary feeling. You can avoid this feeling, by simply pre-deciding what to write about. Create an editorial calendar. You should have a list of topics that you would be writing about and map them across the dates when your email would be sent.
5. A diary of ideas. Collecting ideas is another way of reducing friction. Look for inspiration outside; there are plenty of things to be learned from our surroundings. You could maintain a diary to capture these ideas. These ideas come in handy later when you sit down to write.
That is it. This is how you build a writing habit.
Let your writing change the world.
What say you?
Intro music credits: Dan O songs.