Prologue

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all the advice coming at you from… well, all the people who use the internet to get your attention?

I do.

Especially when the advice is mediocre.

Or a diluted summary of advice that I could be getting from a more credible source, except the person delivering it is acting as if they thought it up because they heard if they provide informative content they can try to sell me something.

Publishing is so easy these days.

Winning my recognition and loyalty is tough.

Last week, I wrote about being undeletable.

This week—and this could easily be based on the fact that I’m processing all the emails I restrained from opening during the Thanksgiving break—I’m overwhelmed by how many senders use a flawed bait and switch approach.

As I open, swipe, delete (and occasionally unsubscribe) on repeat, I’m reminded that only a handful have EARNED the right to sell me something.

What do I mean?

Only a small segment of people (who use the internet to get my attention) have made so many “undeletable” deposits with me via email that when they launch a sales sequence or squeeze a product plug into their newsletter, it doesn’t sting.

It actually feels like something I might want to invest in.

Or a next step in our relationship.

So I’m going to stick to applying my own standards for newsletters and sales emails (which, when done right don’t even read as sales emails) to my own newsletter and encourage you to do the same.

Earn the right to sell your reader something.

Or show them a sponsored ad.

Or mention your product.

Or charge them for your premium content.

Earn it with content they rely on and really want to read.

In today’s issue, I’ve curated some very solid advice and ponderings from experts to help us strategize and improve our newsletters.

Many of them have extensive experience with figuring out what people really want and how to give it to them.

Newsflash: it’s not always what we want it to be.

Screen Share

Learn Advanced Welcome Email Strategy from Dan Oshinsky

How do you welcome new subscribers to your newsletter?

Dan Oshinsky, who runs Inbox Collective, a consultancy that helps news organizations, non-profits, and brands get the most out of email, says a well-strategized welcome sequence can lay the groundwork for better relationships with your subscribers.

And he should know. He previously worked as the Director of Newsletters at both The New Yorker and BuzzFeed. He’s also the creator of Not a Newsletter, a monthly briefing with news, tips, and ideas about how to send better email. I link to his resources frequently in this newsletter.

In this video, he walks us through building out a successful welcome series, plus answers questions about his childhood ambitions to send millions of emails in his lifetime.

Note: I haven’t created an entire series of welcome emails yet for Opt In Weekly, but I am going to heed his advice now that we’re 12 issues in and update my welcome email to link to content new subscribers will find helpful.

Related: Newspaper people, check out this interview with Dan from The Fix about how email can become a newsroom’s biggest revenue driver.

Newsletter Tips

Cut Through the Noise of a Cluttered Media Market Like The NewsRun

In this article, Hanaa’ Tameez dives into the strategy behind Anam Khan’s daily newsletter The NewsRun. It summarizes and provides context for Pakistan’s major news stories in a way that helps both citizens and expats make sense of it all.

It’s a great example of a niche topic newsletter serving a simple but powerful service and resonating with a specific audience.

Khan says keeping it newsletter-first has been a priority.

“‘A lot of publications have websites or other touch points,’ she said. ‘The NewsRun’s main product is the newsletter. I specifically did it that way because I wanted to reduce touch points for people. Rather than logging onto a website or scrolling through a cluttered newsfeed, the NewsRun is a single touch point. People get it in their inbox every morning and everything they need to know is compiled onto one platform and broken down in bite-sized format so that they don’t have to scour the internet to read the news. Everything they need is already right there in front of them.”

Do not underestimate the value of making something easier to understand or building a newsletter around that goal.

How To Deliver The Most Value With A Company Newsletter: 15 Savvy Tips

This solid tips list for businesses who send newsletters is unique in that each one is from a different Forbes Coaches Council member. Take a moment to scan and see if your newsletter follows their advice.

I think my favorite that I encourage everyone to consider is number 7, from Kelly Tyler Byrnes:

Consider How You Will Sustain It

“It may seem minor, but in the excitement of planning your brilliant content and fabulous graphics, the one thing often overlooked is, how will you sustain it?”

Marketing

B2B Marketers, There’s a Disconnect Between What We Think People Want & What They Actually Want

Ray Schultz at MediaPost gives some context to a recent UberFlip survey. 500 North American B2B marketers and buyers participated in the survey, The Experience Disconnect.

Here’s how it breaks down:

How good we think our content is

52% of marketers think they’re doing great (rating of 4) for content personalization

33% of buyers rate irrelevant content as one of the most frustrating tasks when researching a purchasing decision

What marketers say they prioritize: long-form

Whitepapers, 42%

eBooks, 30%

What customers actually prefer

User reviews, 64%

Product tours, 43%

Videos, 33%

It’s not a huge surprise that marketers are prioritizing content that, when gated, earns leads, but that customers prefer to be able to learn something without that step.

Why Authentic Marketing Will Replace Advertising

Leia Ruseva provides a case for transitioning from ads to what she calls “authentic marketing,” aka content marketing aka telling your brand’s story.

Should Brand Perspective Replace Brand Story?

Just when everyone is wrapping their minds around content marketing concepts and Donald Miller’s StoryBrand methodology, Kyle Monson is saying the editorial approach to marketing should be more about a brand’s perspective than its story.

To be fair, StoryBrand is about positioning the customer as a hero and the brand as a guide who helps her achieve greatness, so this can read as a bit of nuance, but I like what Kyle’s saying about aligning a company around a brand point of view and really focusing on how you serve your audience.

“We’ve spent the past decade applying an editorial approach to brand communications, and we see the marketing world moving more and more in this direction. In my opinion, it’s a future we should all be pushing for, because it’s entirely based on providing value to people, and optimizing for the audience experience.”

He also makes a very valid point about how storytelling alone can fall short of building brand identity.

“So be careful building your content channels around storytelling. A smart POV, on the other hand, contextualizes the world of both the brand and the audience. So what do you stand for? Why do you exist? What do you think about the space you’re in?”

This ties into my intro today and the problem with too much content that doesn’t actually achieve the goal of earning attention and building a relationship.

Writing

How Important is Formatting to SEO?

In The problem with the ‘structured content’ mindset, Mordy Oberstein explains why he thinks prioritizing structure (the overuse of headers, tables, bullet and numbered lists, snackable paragraphs, and structured data) is dangerous.

“It’s the notion that good content is structured content. And that is just not true. How a piece of content is structured does play into content quality. Structure, however, is not content quality per se. It’s merely an element.

More than that, it’s not a universal element and this is where I really have a bone to pick with SEOs.”

He goes on to explain, with visual examples, why ranking for Google’s featured snippets doesn’t require a listicle article with perfect headers and that SEO tools aren’t yet able to measure actual readability. It’s enough to make you feel a little better about that really well-written article your software tells you doesn’t measure up.

It’s also more to ponder as we reconsider publishing fluff for the sake of publishing.

Curation

How Janel Loi Curates BrainPint

We all have our ways of sorting through content for the next issue. Check out how Janel Loi curates BrainPint.

You might find some news ideas as you read through her process.

Publishing

What Micro News Startups can Learn From Micro Brands

Phillip Smith provides insights as to why small news organizations can thrive in today’s attention economy, especially if they look to intentionally small brands as a blueprint, in The Future of Journalism Is Tiny, Targeted, and Timely

Related: Read Evan Rutchik’s stance on how publishers can compete with Google and Facebook in Do publishers stand a chance against the digital duopoly?

Money Matters

Want to Sell Newsletter Ads? Here’s What You Should Know

Ryan Sager provides a framework for what to think through if you’re hoping to sell newsletter sponsorships. He addresses some choices you’ll need to make, such as what kinds of ads to sell and how to find advertisers.

Curated News

Speaking of Formatting, Did You Know You Can Create Headers?

Hey, Curated users. I accidentally figured this out one day and it was a little thrilling.

You can use hashtags to create headers in your Markdown body copy.

1 Hashtag equals a bold H1

# 1 Hashtag equals a bold H1

2 Hashtags equal a regular H2

## 2 Hashtags equal a regular H2

3 Hashtags equal a bold H3

### 3 Hashtags equal a bold H3

4 Hashtags equal a regular H4

#### 4 Hashtags equal a regular H4

5 Hashtags equal a bold H5

##### 5 Hashtags equal a bold H5

6 Hashtags equal a regular H6

###### 6 Hashtags equal a regular H6

It’s important to note that you should use smaller headers (we recommend H4 - H6) if you want Google to read them as intended for SEO.

We’ll get this added to our Markdown Support, but now YOU know.

Opt In Challenge

Download These 9 Last Minute Holiday Deliverability Tips from SparkPost

Inboxes are crowded this time of year. This week’s challenge is to up your holiday email deliverability.

Download SparkPost’s tip sheet for advice like

Creative personalization ideas beyond just “Hi [First Name],”
Tactics to prep for increased holiday traffic volumes
Ideas to keep tabs on what the competition is up to (and how they’re performing)

Like this newsletter?

Let me know. Reply, email me at Ashley[at]optinweekly.com, or find me on LinkedIn to hit me with some feedback. I’d love to know what you think.

Also, I’d appreciate it if you shared it with fellow email newsletter creators. All archived issues will be available on OptInWeekly.com, so you can send them the link to check it out.

Have a great week sending, y’all.

Thanks for reading,