How to Create Eye-Catching Newsletter Content

- by Alyson Shane

For many people, their inbox is their home-base in the sea of information that is the internet.

Gaining access into this sacred space as an outsider is not an easy endeavor, but is of the utmost importance when developing meaningful relationships with potential and existing clients.

Email newsletters allow businesses to attract new readers, sell products, and share important information on a continuing basis. We’ve developed some tips to help you create eye-catching content and engage leads with a well-designed newsletter.


Choose a Focus

Carefully curated content that has been developed to share specific information helps create a well-rounded brand, and why subscribers should be reading the content that you’re sending their way.

Before you write your newsletter, sit down and choose the content you want to share, such as:

  • Blog posts
  • Photos
  • Updates
  • Helpful tips or how-to’s
  • Infographics
  • Events and important dates

Make It Personal

Genuine content will keep the right readers engaged, and helps you to build a reputable brand online.

When developing an email newsletter, lose the “sales” gimmicks, and focus on cultivating meaningful relationships with your readers.

You appreciate your subscribers, so communicate with them like they’re friends, and demonstrate the value that they provide you and your business.

Overly persuasive content will only turn-off readers. Write content that is friendly and approachable, and provide incentives for your dedicated clients or prospects.

Stay Organized

Organization is the difference between a messy newsletter, and a branded, clear message. Decide on your topics beforehand, so that you can cultivate a brief and concise message that is helpful to your recipients.

Humans are visual creatures, so creating similarly sized blocks of content that are easy on the eyes will help readers quickly scan and digest the information that you are sharing. Clarity reigns true in the world of newsletters, so having a well-developed, yet brief, message will keep readers engaged throughout your email.

Likely, you’re sending out email newsletters with the intention of increasing traffic to your business’s blog or website. A clear CTA (call to action) should be included towards the end of each newsletter, using buttons or incentives to get readers clicking back to the page you’re trying to market.

Create Catchy Headlines

For a reader to access your content, they must open your email in the first place. Headlines should convey your message briefly, but in an intriguing manner.

Building a trusting relationship with readers without coming off as “spammy” can be a tough task, but as always, being genuine and providing incentives will help you gain access into their inbox.

Strive for Consistency

Many readers look forward to receiving newsletters from brands and businesses they trust, especially when they know exactly when that newsletter is going to hit their inbox.

If you promise to send out weekly newsletters, do everything in your power to ensure those newsletters are going out on a weekly basis.

Email newsletters can be amazing marketing tools to build meaningful relationships with subscribers, while growing your awesome business.

Need some help in creating engaging newsletter campaigns? Get in touch to see how we can help you share your story with brilliant content.

Tags: Email Newsletters Marketing Basics
 

5 Steps to Creating a Blogging Business Plan

- by Alyson Shane

Whether you’re entering the world of blogging as a casual hobby, or are dedicated to sharing your products or services as a full-time, developing a blogging business plan can help you stay organized and generate interesting and engaging content with ease.

Taking the time to develop the main ideas and concepts you want to share will help you design a relatable blog, and brand, that will keep readers coming back for more. By following these 5 steps, you can nail down the specifics of your blogging business plan, and create engaging content generated towards your target audience.


1. Develop an Executive Summary

An executive summary is the page that you’ll keep revisiting, to draw inspiration on why you started your blog and the intended goals you had in mind. An effective executive summary briefly explains the intention of your blog, and the messages you want to share. An executive summary should briefly and clearly explain to readers the important facets of your blog, including:

  • A summary of the content you’ll be sharing on your blogging platform
  • The inspiration behind your blog
  • The goals and milestones you hope to achieve through your writing

Keep the executive summary genuine, honest, and brief. This helps you, and your readers, to recognize your mission, while clearly explaining the intentions you have for your blog. Take the time to consider and develop a clear idea of why you love your blog and the content that you choose to share.

2. Define Your Target Market

Crafting blog content is one thing. Creating blog content that maintains the attention of your target market is another. Defining the target market of your blog ahead of time helps you stay on-brand, while helping you cultivate content that continuously engages your readers. By having a well-defined idea of your audience, brainstorming blog content becomes all the more fun, with less stress involved. While you’re brainstorming who exactly your ideal content consumer is, consider the following questions:

  • What is their age?
  • What is their gender?
  • What are their hobbies?
  • What is their income status?
  • Do they spend time on social media?
  • What sort of other blogs do they read?

Once you have a general idea of your target market, you can develop ideas for your blog and how to best reach the intended audience.

3. Analyze the Competition

Blogging isn’t always about “winning”, but having a healthy understanding that there are countless other blogs like yours is crucial to success. Take some time to research blogs with similar content, brands, and themes. Doing this allows you to draw on their approach to blogging, and plug in your strengths where you can. Make lists of their marketing tactics to get a better understanding of the steps you can take to make your blog stand out in your intended market.

  • Are they creating podcasts?
  • Do they have a strong social media presence?
  • Do they have a well-developed brand?
  • Are they utilizing multiple platforms to share their content?
  • Do they make YouTube videos?

4. Monetize Your Blog

Developing a blog with creative content is hard work, and can take up a large chunk of your valuable time. Luckily, bloggers have endless opportunities to create financial gain from their passionate blog development.

If you’re a freelancer who’s blogging to spread your services, or are simply blogging to create a community with similar interests, developing a monetization plan will help you generate passive income when you’re ready to take that route.

Sell Your Products or Services

Selling your products or services helps generate passive income to give you more time to perfect your content. If you’re a writer, create an e-book outlining how to navigate submissions online.

If you’re a web designer, consider developing a WordPress theme. Focus on what you’re good at, and package it up to sell.

Advertising

Advertising on your blog is an easy to develop, and requires little maintenance over time. Find an ad network that aligns with the advertisements you want to share, and connect with similar brands online.

To cultivate a reasonable income, you’ll need a larger audience, so creating engaging content beforehand is key to ad success.

5. Start Marketing

The final step in launching a successful blogging platform is generating traffic towards your awesome content. Dedicate a scheduled chunk of your time daily towards growing your brand online.

Social Media Marketing

Marketing your blog via social media platforms is a free and accessible method of promotion. If you have personal experience using certain social media platforms, find one or two sites that you love and share your amazing content, frequently.

By sharing genuine content that focuses on your brand, you’ll be able to cultivate meaningful connections with your target audience.

Nurture Relationships

Posting genuine content will yield genuine results, meaning that your readership will consist mainly of individuals honestly care about the information you are sharing. Reply to all comments on your blog or social media, or send out an amazing and helpful newsletter.

You’ll be blown away by how a couple minutes of your day spend connecting with your audience can benefit everyone involved.

Advertisements

Once your blog is up and running, with a range of well-developed content, you can consider investing in paid advertisements. Purchase Facebook or Instagram ads, or reach out to similar blogs that offer advertising space to reach readers within your niche.

Cultivate a blogging business plan before the launch of your blog that showcases your uniqueness and shares your passions with readers who appreciate it.

Do you have any extra tips or tricks on developing a helpful blogging business plan? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. If you want help putting together

Tags: Content Marketing
 

Hello World, It's Starling Social

- by Alyson Shane


Transitioning from being a freelancer to business owner can be a challenge, especially when you’ve relied on your name recognition and personal brand to help you succeed.

That being said, it’s also important to realize when changes need to be made, and when the time has come to shift focus and start looking at larger and more long-term goals and objectives.

With that in mind, here’s a personal message from me, Alyson Shane, the owner of Starling Social. Below is a little information about why we’ve rebranded, what you can expect from us, and our formal “hello!” to you as we launch:

Realizing that it was time for a rebrand

I’ve been freelancing since 2014, and while using my own name was great at the outset, as my business began to grow I realized that I had a perception problem:

When I met with a prospective client as a freelancer, one of their first questions was inevitably “how many clients do you have?” which was their way of assessing whether I, as an individual, could balance their needs with those of my existing clients.

When it was just me that question made sense, but as my business began to grow and I started bringing on contractors to manage parts of my day-to-day workload, I realized that I needed to re-frame the conversation from the outset so that our clients knew exactly what to expect.

Why a starling?

Starlings aren’t the most well-known bird, but I chose one for our name for several reasons:

  • Starlings are social birds. Wikipedia describes them as “gregarious” which felt fitting.
  • A flock of starlings is called a “murmuration.” As a writer and content marketer, this play on words was incredibly appealing.
  • Starlings are mimics. These birds have “diverse and complex vocalizations, and have been known to embed sounds from their surroundings” (also from Wikipedia).

Considering that we’re in the content marketing business, a logo which emphasized our ability to be diverse, adaptable, and to be able to integrate our client’s messaging and values into our workflow was perfect.

Additionally, the alliteration of ‘Starling Social’ was just too good to pass up. I worked with brilliant designer Rachael Hosein to come up with the branding, which I’m over the moon about.

What is my role?

As the owner and founder, I’ll be the face and main point of contact here at Starling Social.

When we work with you to develop a social media campaign, when we’re presenting at a conference, or when we’re staying connected with our local community by attending a Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce event, I’ll be the one you’ll be speaking to and working with.

Behind the scenes, the rebrand will allow me to delegate more of my workflow to my team, allowing me to spend more time working with our existing clients to come up with new content strategies and hone our processes, on-board new clients, and focus on growing the business.

That being said, I’ll still be very involved with day-to-day operations such as scheduling, tone, messaging, and approving any copywriting which goes out, so as a client you can expect to receive the same attention to detail that you’ve come to expect from me as a freelancer.

What you can expect from us

You need a content marketing agency who are as passionate about growing your business as you are, who live to help businesses like yours craft your story and spread your message.

If you know me personally or we've worked together before, then you’re already familiar with how passionate I am about these things. Now you can depend on a team of driven, talented people who care just as much as I do about helping your brand succeed online.

With that in mind, we’d like to say hello. We’re Starling Social, and we’re here to Make Your Brand Sing.

Tags: Announcements
 

« Newer posts