This can't be the end

Prologue

Let’s think about bingeable content.

What makes something so good you can’t resist coming back for more?

It’s the allure of the unfinished story, of course.

Strategic writers know the psychological power of holding something back.

They also know we’ll be more committed to returning if we’re emotionally invested in the outcome of the main character, the hero.

So they develop that character, help us really understand her challenges, inner conflicts, and what triggers her actions.

That way, when the current chapter, episode, or season abruptly closes with a new challenge looming in the future, we’ll decide to come along for the ride.

Shouldn’t your newsletter be that way?

Whether it’s a paid newsletter delivering business advice, a free subscription you use as a brand marketing tactic, or something in between, the goal should be to engage your reader in a way that keeps him coming back for more.

Your target audience members are the heroes in the overarching story your newsletter tells.

Write it in a way that develops them the same way a dramatic series writer does. Know what they want, what they’re conflicted about, and what will help.

Then provide some resolution.

Consistently give them information that furthers their journey, but do it in a way that keeps them asking, “What’s next?” and trusting you’ll provide the answer.

This approach is a synthesis of an article I’ve included below (Can Content Marketing Hook People the Way Netflix Does?) and Donald Miller’s StoryBrand methodology.

Let’s apply it to our newsletters and NEVER FINISH THE STORY.

Screen Share

Trello Content Team Leader Leah Ryder Publishes a Newsletter for Women in Content Marketing

When Leah Ryder’s routine travel to talk about content marketing was cancelled because of the Coronavirus, she did what many great content leaders did: a pandemic pivot.

In March, she created and launched Write | Werk, a newsletter for women in Content Marketing. I fell in love with it instantaneously.

In our video interview, she explains the system she uses to keep herself accountable for publishing once a month, the ways she’s engaging with her niche audience, and a few workflow and creative tricks she uses to make the process easy and fun.

Thanks, Leah, for sharing your story and connecting women in content marketing.

Newsletter Tips

Newsletter Evolution: Lessons from The Economist

Lysanne Currie summarizes The Economist’s newsletters editor Sunnie Huang’s insights after three years in the role. She offers four important lessons.

Focus on the reader’s goal

Ensure a good experience

Create your email squad

Understand your readers’ pain points

Does Your Newsletter Inspire Action?

Anti Racism Daily does.

In this article, Hanaa’ Tameez details the catalyst of Nicole Cardoza’s newsletter and how it goes beyond social media posting in its mission to educate and inspire action.

“‘Reading news about racism is draining and can leave people feeling helpless, overwhelmed, and unsure of what to do next. But offering actions to take helps reduce the passive or performative activism that’s common on social media,’ Cardoza said.”

Make Your Newsletter Emotionally Intelligent

In this LinkedIn post, Megan Bowen, Chief Customer Officer of Refine Labs teaches the 5 core competencies to develop emotional intelligence.

They’re empathy, communication, self-awareness, self-regulation, and vulnerability.

While critical to rocking a role in Customer Success, they’re also part of becoming better at understanding and engaging with other humans, which should be integral to your newsletter.

When we think through what we plan to send to the individuals on our subscriber lists, we should be asking, “Is it empathetic? Does it communicate clearly? Am I respecting this person’s inbox, or am I pushing them to buy or believe something without first earning their trust?”

Marketing

Why Content Marketers Should Act Like Netflix Writers

I’m guessing Mae Rice and Ahmad Daher both tuned in for Carlijn Postma’s session, Binge Marketing: A Practical Guide to Building Your Brand with Serial Content, at Content Marketing World because they each posted articles encouraging Carlijn’s strategies last week.

(See either Can Content Marketing Hook People The Way Netflix Does? by Mae or Your Content Marketing Should Look More Like Netflix, Not Webster’s by Ahmad.)

Both inspired today’s Opt In Weekly Prologue.

Mae’s take nails it with this statement:

“Once you’re into a show, it can keep you up at night.

Marketing campaigns, on the other hand, don’t really keep anyone up at night. Besides marketers.”

Then she clearly explains how content marketing can follow a more dramatic narrative structure so that prospects and customers never run out of relevant content. In other words, use the allure of the unfinished story.

Click through for some actionable steps to start framing your content in this way, and to bring those lessons learned into your email newsletter.

How to be More Without Doing More

Content Marketing Institute General Manager Stephanie Stahl cites experts from Content Marketing World to provide snippets of content marketing advice. The general consensus is that we should focus on creating powerful, purposeful, and memorable messaging. Check out their expert inspiration.

Image: Content Marketing Institute

Curation

Don’t Make These Curation Mistakes

Content curation is a powerful way to share quality links and build credibility, but are you doing it the right way?

This Social Spiker article unpacks 10 common content curation mistakes and what to do instead. Perhaps the most important one to pay attention to is failing to give proper attribution.

“Content curation is something that straddles the line of copyright infringement if it isn’t done correctly. Considering you could face thousands of dollars in fines if you are found guilty of infringing on someone else’s copyright, it’s vital to be certain you’re properly attributing all content.”

Key things to avoid:

Don’t post another’s content in full
Mention the original source of the content and ideally link to the original article
Use only thumbnail photos unless you ask for permission and receive approval first

You’ll want to bookmark this one and read through all 10 mistakes to avoid if you’re curating on a regular basis. It delves into some SEO tips, too.

Publishing

Publishers See Success with Paid Digital Events

“‘By charging, you provide really high quality leads to sponsors,’ said James. And while it may be a couple hundred top-tier leads, those leads are exponentially more likely to make a purchase from a sponsor than 2,000 regular leads that trickle in and out during an event, or don’t tune in at all.”

Will a Spotify Model Work for News Publishers?

Dominic Ponsford makes the case for bundled news subscriptions.

Curated News

New Social Links in Footers

Hey, Curated users.

We just released the option to add social icon links to your footers, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and an RSS feed.

You can add those and enable a feed by going to Settings > Header and Footer > Social Links.

Opt In Challenge

Perfect Your Micro Content

The legendary Gary V. offers some tips in this article for making your micro content sing.

What’s micro content?

It’s the short-form content you write for different social sites and (surprise!) sometimes in your newsletter. My Prologue section is the result of what I’m finding works well for LinkedIn and Twitter: very easy to read conversational content that compels you to read to the end to see what point I’m trying to make.

Your Opt In Challenge this week is to take Gary’s advice and draft your content with your reader’s attention span and goals in mind, PLUS figure out how to make it enough of a cliffhanger so that the next time you publish your audience is ravenous for more.

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,