What is he thinking? 🤷‍♀️

Prologue

I think my husband is having a midlife crisis.

Why?

Because he’s got our whole family creating vision boards.

Like, poster boards we are supposed to decorate with things we want in life.

Not only are we creating these boards, he had us watch The Secret: Dare to Dream last weekend to inspire us to focus on what we most want.

This is not within the realm of anything he’s ever done before.

He’s usually very anti anything hokey or “feel good.”

But here I am staring at a blank vision board in my office because he heard about the movie and the vision board concept in a podcast.

Since when does he listen to podcasts?

The concept is that you have to know what you want to get what you want.

And maybe that’s what paralyzes me.

Because what I want tends to change.

I have some solid desires: our family’s health, financial stability, etc.

And then I have some materialistic ones: a new SUV, magazine photo-worthy home decor, and a luxurious European vacation.

My youngest daughter quickly filled hers up with birthday present ideas: a drone, a teacup pomeranian, hair dyed like a rainbow that shows only on the underside.

But something in me feels embarrassed to create that type of wish list.

What I really want is moments.

Experiences that happen when you do things.

That feeling when you climb a mountain (literally).

Or go somewhere new together for the first time and explore.

I want adventures and the unfolding of narratives that can’t be manufactured or even predicted.

It took drafting this prologue to figure that out.

Life’s key moments are those of realization, I suppose.

That’s what sitting down and writing does for me.

It sharpens my vision.

Does forcing yourself to write to your readers do that for you?

Is your newsletter the type that takes them on a little mental journey?

If it is, I suggest starting with this prompt:

What’s troubling me and might also be troubling my subscribers?

For me it was the blank board and my husband’s unnerving positive-thinking kick.

Chances are, whatever is troubling you could turn into a way to connect and further the sender/recipient relationship a newsletter so fittingly supports.

Plus, you could figure out what you want.

This issue is brimming with inspiration, from newsletters you might want to turn to for inspiration, to conversational copywriting, to how influential the genre is becoming.

I hope you like it.

Let me know if you do.

Screen Share

Who Should Be In Charge Of Emails?

Kirk Bentley thinks you should pick someone with experience.

As Business Development Director at WordFly, he has helped hundreds of theatres, museums and music venues around the world create innovative email marketing campaigns that power ticket sales, engage audiences, and drive membership.

In this industry, and others, he sees handing the job of creating emails (including newsletters) off to the most junior staff as a mistake.

Why?

Because email is a big revenue driver, and he thinks the person overseeing its execution should be adept at goal setting and have some marketing skills. You know, instead of hiring an intern and saying, “Go do the emails.”

This short video clip is from his Newsletter Fest 2021 session: Intermission: How Arts & Culture Venues Are Using Email To Stay Alive, where he walked us through the pandemic pivots several venues made to stay in touch with their audiences and drive revenue during the pandemic.

Check it out to get some ideas and be inspired by the power of email.

P.S. I really want to receive an email from a penguin one day (see Marketing below for why you might need a mascot to do your storytelling).

Newsletter Tips

Could Twitter Help Grow Your Subscriber List?

Could Twitter actually grow your subscriber base? This step-by-step instruction piece details how to use Twitter to grow subscriptions.

A word for the wise: make sure any bonus content you offer in exchange for subscriptions or Tweet sharing aligns with your newsletter if you want really engaged subscribers.

Related: Speaking of engaged subscribers, not all subscribers are created equal. This article explains why. Discovered via Really Good Emails.

Looking For Inspiration?

These 6 newsletters are worth checking out. A good newsletter creator looks at other newsletters for ideas and angles while at the same time adapting, tweaking, and creating unique (read: not copied) content.

Related: Looking for more? In this article, 23 newsletter writers dissect their favorite newsletters. Fair warning: it may be behind a subscription paywall if you’ve already used up your free monthly views of The Cut. Discovered via Inbox Reads.

Also Related: Lastly, this piece features 8 marketing-specific newsletters (that aren’t boring) to check out.

Marketing

B2B Marketing Short Cuts Can Put You Behind

Let’s assume you have 10 minutes today (right now? later?) to devote to thinking about your marketing strategy and how it could be improved.

You do?

You have 10 minutes?

My recommendation is that you devote those 10 to reading this LinkedIn post by Chris Walker of Refine Labs and watching the accompanying video.

Why?

Because there’s a real chance that if you are a B2B marketer, you’re putting most of your effort into chasing leads that don’t convert because you are measured on MQLs that are really just email addresses collected from low-intent prospects.

The post addresses an alternative approach Chris promotes that focuses on higher quality leads and measuring success on revenue, but the key to adopting it is patience.

More than 10 minutes of patience.

Should You Have A Brand Storyteller?

Anastasia Dyakovskaya thinks yes. They not only increase recognition rate, but they open doors across various platforms.

Discovered via Social Media Today.

Writing

How To Master Conversational Copywriting

Let’s have a conversation about conversational copywriting. In all transparency, I often get in my head when it comes to “voice,” but this article is invaluable.

Russ Henneberry explains what a conversational voice is, why audiences love it, and just how to tap into this “copywriting magic.”

Key takeaways:

There’s nothing new under the sun
Patterns are everywhere (including your voice)
Follow the first rule of improv

“The complexities of voice (and writing more broadly) get a lot easier to manage when you realize that you already manage them every day.”

Curation

Why You Should Bring Content Curation Into Your Strategy

Questioning curation’s value? Here’s a solid list of reasons to bring content curation into your strategy, including:

Establishing credibility as a thought leader
Building industry-wide connections
And, helping track industry trends

“The more you curate content, the more you become familiar with new topics, conversations, and perspectives surrounding the community in which you work. In addition, it gives you insight into your own content marketing, which helps in competitive analysis.”

Publishing

The Impact Of Product Thinking On Publishing

Publishers are finding it crucial to begin (or continue) product thinking to compete in today’s market.

"Introducing product thinking is not a simple tweak or restructure. It is an organisational change and as such, a journey which is ever evolving."

This piece is a summary of takeaways from a larger report published by INMA that breaks down the impact of product thinking into categories including:

Consumer facing/platform
Enabling products (cross-platform)
Internal tools
B2B tools

Discovered via The Media Roundup.

Related: Check out this assessment of the current state of local newsletter landscape.

Money Matters

The Financial Influence of Newsletters

Byrne Hobart writes to convince readers of this (new) truth: “newsletters are increasingly able to move stocks.”

From examples involving Facebook advertising to hard data and economic models, he makes a persuasive case for the financial impact of newsletters.

Don’t miss the Twitter conversation that ensued.

Curated News

Less Than 1,500 Subscribers? Use Curated For Free

It’s not official yet, but it’s official enough to let the cat out of the bag.

Curated is launching a free tier!

Sometime over the next week (probably Monday because Caitlin prefers not to launch new features on Fridays because she’s SMART), this will go into effect.

What’s the nitty gritty?

Accounts with subscriber lists of 1,500 or below will be free. If you’re a current customer who qualifies, this will be reflected in your account next week.

And if you haven’t tested Curated as a possible newsletter solution, now’s a great time.

Why are we making this change?

We want to offer the opportunity to launch and grow your lists and support you as you do that.

We’d love for you to start that journey with us and benefit from our full suite of features like

link collecting with the Chrome extension
curating or writing original content issues
choosing to publish an optional web version with searchable archives
using our summary report to see which topics readers engage with most and help shape your content strategy
getting your first sponsor through your optional sponsorship landing page
and maybe even publishing a paid newsletter without anyone taking a commission (because we don’t)

We’re confident you’ll like Curated so much you’ll stick around when your list grows.

Who’s excited? I’m excited!

ICYMI: You can always check our Curated Public Product Roadmap to catch up on recent releases and find out what’s up next.

Opt In Challenge

How Burger-Like Is Your Newsletter? 🍔

Your Opt In Challenge this week is to review the pointers from this article by Najmah Salam.

In other words, make sure your header, footer, and those juicy body bites are all balanced and digestible.

Is it mouthwatering? Or do you need to tweak some things?

Bon appetit!

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.