Cat's Eye Marketing Blog

We'll See You Next Year

When I was a teacher (okay it was elementary school so it didn't take much to impress 29 first graders) and it was time to dismiss my class for the winter vacation, I would make a big deal out of saying, "See you next year!" 

That would stop them for a second as their six-year-old brains tried to figure it all out. Then the light would go on and they would scream with glee, "See you next year, Mrs. Dunn!" 

It still kind of feels that way when I say it. Seems like such a long time. 

Bob and I are taking a break from blogging to spend precious time with family. But we'll "see you next year," with a brand new post on Monday, January 5. 

Our warmest wishes for you: that you will be able to spend some time with your family, laugh, love, even experience the wonder and joy of children and see the holidays through their eyes. And, most of all, we wish you a new year filled with hope and promise. 

December Navel-gazing: 5 Insanely Helpful Things I Learned in 2008

OK, I admit. I'm not much for "looking back." You know, that end of the year, how-did-I-do-with-my-goals stuff? It's not that I see no value in it. It just doesn't come easily.

Authors of memoirs are often accused of "navel-gazing," turning completely inward, observing their every emotion and thought, chattering about themselves incessantly, as if they were the most important human on the planet. 

Well, that's not me.

Not usually. But this year was different. I did learn certain things about myself in 2008. In a personal way.  In a sort of is-this-who-I-really-am kind of way.

Now, I'm a fierce independent, not prone to whining or big, fat, self-involved "innerness." So this was a big deal for me.

Eleven months ago, we took a huge leap of faith, Bob and I. We had an idea. We wanted to see if it would fly. We were jumping up and down excited. Racing-to-fetch-a-frisbee excited. 

We launched a new online business, a subscription-based membership site packed with resources to help solopreneurs solve their biggest marketing challenges. Videos, podcasts, newsletter, industry "hotlinks" and other cool stuff. All delivered electronically.

I wasn't prepared for all the changes in me that had to happen with the transition from warm, caring relationships with real clients I could touch, to distant subscribers I would never know anything more about than their email address.

Absolutely didn't get it that it mattered that much to me.

In one of those rare moments of introspection—you know the kind I'm talking about, when you say to your partner, "I thought you wanted this. Are you kidding? You're not happy either?"— we decided to pull the plug on marketingyoursmallbiz.com.

It was a moment of blinding honesty that left us blinking, with white spots before our eyes.

Within a week, we had shut the site down and announced our decision to put our whole focus back on our original, long-standing business, our award-winning Cat's Eye Marketing. Clients and colleagues alike applauded us for following our heart and our passion.

What I now know about myself that I wish I had then

Sometimes it takes a time-consuming (and dollar-sucking) experience to get to these aha moments in our lives. Okay, here goes. Five insanely helpful things I learned about myself in 2008:

 1. I don't have any fun helping clients when I can't see their faces. Sending e-mail messages to someone I've never seen and picking up a paid subscriber doesn't make me excited. Not like the massage therapist who overcame her fears and started her own blog after your workshop. Or the e-letter subscriber who implemented one of your marketing tips and got five new customers. Or the quilt shop owner reporting her sales increased by 20 percent the month after the newsletter you created was sent out.

 2. I get as much joy from learning as I do from teaching. There is something about walking away from an e-marketing workshop you teach with a new strategy, a new tool, that an attendee gave you. Learning something new from a prospect or client. Priceless.

 3. I am energized by the creative process. I want to do more copywriting, more projects where I have a distinct and different problem each time. Where I have to take the client and their business, hold them up to the light, keep turning them around, watching the glint, considering creative solutions to problems. Then picking the best one and delivering it.

 4. I despise selling to people I'll never meet. I do not like the feeling of not being trusted, of being lumped in with all those blood-sucking online carnival barkers. It makes me ill to write one of those insanely long, hypey sales letters. You know, the ones that say, "But wait. There's more!" I want you to hire me because you believe I know my stuff and that I care about you, not because I've hounded you to death.

 5. I like the feeling of knowing I've accomplished something. Like getting a gold star on a math paper. Like the excited look on a client's face when the idea I proposed turned out to be the perfect way for them to attract more customers. Not knowing any of the outcomes really sucks.

 What about you? Was this a year of transformation for you? Did you plunge into something new only to find it didn't fit, like a raincoat with too-long sleeves? Or maybe you took a creative risk and had brilliant success.

 What did you learn—that helped, or hurt a little bit, or both—in 2008? 

5 Rules for Getting More Customers with E-Letters Rule #5: Find Your Unique Voice

All right. Here you are on your last step on the journey to the perfect e-letter. I saved this part for last. It's the thing that doesn't always come so easily. The part you'll keep working on.

It's your voice. What makes you unique as a writer. When you find it, you'll know.

You'll say to yourself, "Okay. This is me."

And your readers won't have to see your name on your e-letter to know it's you.

I remember the day the instructor in my Gotham Writers' Workshop creative nonfiction class said to me, "I think you've done it. You found your voice!"

Up until then, it was elusive. I kept searching for it—as if I would find it someday, under the couch cushion with the quarters and that slipper sock that disappeared.

It's not that complicated. Your voice is really just your authentic self. It's writing that uses words only you would use—words that make you different from every other writer.

Finding your voice sounds like you've lost it, but maybe you never had it

It's as if someone or something in our past has taken a small broom and beat us, slowly, until our real voices were buried deep down inside. Maybe it was our high school English teacher. The Chicago Manual of Style or the Copywriter's Handbook (sorry, Bob Bly). The dictionaries and thesauruses.

If you don't pay attention, your voice will appear

We all know the feeling. We sit down at the computer—frozen, crazy, watching every word that comes out. We read what we've written. It sounds klutzy, or stuffy, or full of importance. Like who is that person, anyway?

You know her. She's the one who only comes out when you sit down in front of the keyboard. She's your inner critic. The crabby aunt who used to run her white-gloved finger over your coffee table hoping to find dust.

"Why did you use that word? she says. "It's not big enough. Why, that's not even a full sentence with a noun and verb. You can't put a period there!"

And on and on she goes.

 Here are some ways to get the crabby aunt into a big glass jar and screw the lid on, nice and tight (I'm sorry. Was that cruel?):

1. Tape record yourself. Take a topic you know a lot about and just start talking. After a while, you'll forget you are taping. Play it back and listen for the natural tone and rhythms of your voice. For more tips, see our post on conversational marketing on the web.   
2. Free-write in a journal. If you have never gone through Julie Cameron's The Artist's Way,I say, go out and buy it now. That book, along with Cameron's advice to write what she calls Morning Pages every day, were key to my breaking through and finding my true voice.
3. Read, read, read. In the process, you'll absorb other writers' voices, sometimes trying them on for size, which will eventually help you find your own.
4. Look at some of your sent e-mail messages. A lot of times, we write our e-mails so quickly that they are closer to our natural voice. Any particular words or phrases you use a lot?
5. Lastly and most important, write like you talk. People don't get many handwritten letters anymore, but that's pretty close to how people talk. Picture one reader, just one, and talk directly to her. Send a "handwritten letter" to her.

If you want a little help with discovering your true voice, or developing killer e-letter content, or creating an e-letter design that pops, e-mail us at Cat's Eye Marketing. We'll help you with just the one problem you're having—or get you off the ground with a design and copywriting package to set you up with your first 5 issues.

For more advice on marketing and self-promotion, sign up for our free weekly marketing e-tips, delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.

Hope you found this five-part series on marketing with e-letters useful. If you missed a couple of them, just click on the links below.

5 Rules for Getting More Customers with E-Letters

#1: Raise Your Hand and Ask Nicely

#2: Pick Your Delivery Partner with Care

#3: Deliver Killer Content

#4: Maximize Readability

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Getting More Customers with E-Letters Rule #4: 6 Tips to Maximize Readability

Your e-letter content rocks. You have enough good stuff in each issue that your customers will want to become regular readers, eagerly awaiting the next one. Each one is packed with ideas to help your readers solve their most pesky problems. 

If they read them.

Your job is to make it so darned easy to read that they are finished before they know it. There are definitely ways to do that. Now mind you, I'm not going to tell you all the secrets. Especially since someone I know and love makes a living making other people's ideas "pretty."

Kick up the visual appeal

Even though your content and formatting are not going to look exactly the same on every reader's screen and in every mail program, there are some things you can do to soothe your subscribers' tired eyes and give them a fast, smooth read.

1. Remember that your title and nameplate are an extension of your brand. You want readers to immediately associate each issue with you, your business and your brand. So use the same colors as your logo, your brochure, your web site and other marketing materials.

2. Get the spacing right and use sub-heads for important topics. Web users are notorious for scanning and skimming. Make it easy for them to skip from section to section. Avoid very long paragraphs of text and use white space and sub-heads freely.

3. Indent your bullets. Indenting your bullets and numbered tips breaks up the blockiness and makes your points stand out more. See an example here. 

4. Choose web-friendly fonts. Easy-to-read fonts go a long ways toward putting your content front and center, where it should be. For the web, Arial, Helvetica or Verdana are all easy on the eye.

5. Use emphasis sparingly. Underlining, bolding and italicizing can drive a point home, if used occasionally and in just the right place. Of course, line after line of italics or bold will do just the opposite because shouting out every message just waters your content down. 

6. Consider using photos and other graphics. Since we have a one-page e-tip, we spice each issue up with an interesting photo. (See this example.) Wise use of graphics will help draw more attention to your content.

If you want more help with making your e-letter or e-zine pop, you'll have to zip a note to Bob . Or e-mail us at Cat's Eye Marketing and we'll help you launch a successful e-letter with a design and copywriting package to set you up with your first 5 issues.

Next week, in the fifth and last part to this blog series, we'll tackle the most challenging issue of all: finding and using your own unique voice to make your e-letter irresistible.

Get our free marketing e-tips delivered to your inbox every Tuesday!

5 Rules for Getting More Customers with E-Letters

#1: Raise Your Hand and Ask Nicely

#2: Pick Your Delivery Partner with Care

#3: Deliver Killer Content

Get all five rules for getting more customers with e-letters. Subscribe to our RSS feed or sign up to receive our blog posts by e-mail.

 

Get More Customers with E-Letters Rule #3: Deliver Killer Content.

All right, now. I know you're going to think I'm a little crazy.

You've taken the right steps so far. You raised your hand nicely and got permission to send your e-letter. You took time to carefully choose your e-letter delivery partner.

Now you're ready to tackle the content.

You've heard that your e-letter should be "professional." Educational. Written like you really know your stuff.

The big content secret

But have you ever noticed that the most engaging ones are also fun, playful, sometimes even with a touch of irreverence?

Ever notice that the best writers teach us things and keep us entertained at the same time? We don't think about how many words there are on the page or screen because they have reeled us in. We are part of the story.

Today's e-letter rule is all about that: copy that effortlessly keeps your readers contentedly floating down the stream of content and shows them just why they can trust your expertise and unique take on your `topic.

The content pond is never fished out.

I know. You're thinking, "I don't have enough to say," or, "What if I run out of ideas?"

You may think you will, but, trust me, you won't. The possibilities are endless. 

So what's the best way to deliver killer content, whether you sell offline or on-?

1. Find 'sticky' ideas

Mind map (draw a big circle with a general topic, then lines shooting out with smaller circles and more specific niche articles under that same topic); listen to the problems of customers and clients; read blogs in your industry; keep up with news and trends in your field. Start a list of topics and jot the ideas down as they come to you.

If coming up with content worries you, ask for help. Let's say you are a tile company. Approach some of your better customers (architects and interior designers) for stories about how they used your product in a unique way or how you provided exceptional customer service to help them with a challenging project. Or ask a paint company to offer tips for selecting paint to complement tiles.

The benefits to this are two-fold: Your product is showcased by someone who has an objective view, and the company contributing the article gets some free publicity.

2. Do the work for your readers 

If your newsletter isn't helping your subscribers reach our goals, solve their problems, well, then, why would they want to read it?

That's the mindset your readers are in when they open your e-letter. They want answers. Now.

Present a problem. Promise a solution. Write an intriguing headline (this will also increase open rates).

Example: "3 Quick, Low-cost Ways to Make Your Bedroom Space Cozier." 

Now solve the problem. Write subheads to break the solution into easy steps.

3. Offer a unique viewpoint and take a stand

There's already too much stuff out there. Your readers don't need more information. What they are craving is someone who can make sense of it all—someone to package their advice with a distinct voice and a unique opinion.

Example: One of our recent e-tip titles was, "What's Keeping Your Customers from Buying?: FAQ Lessons from the Encyclopedia Man." It was all about how the Encyclopedia Britannica man's marketing skills impressed me as a child because he overcame all of my mom's objections to the sale. I went on to show how a good FAQ page on your website can do the same thing.

Find the way of saying things that makes you you. Instead of being a "me too," offer something new. Have an opinion.

4. Favor content over sales

If your e-letter sounds more like an infomercial, your subscribers will not read it and they may even unsubscribe. Your goal: to help your readers. Show them just how good you are at what you do by solving their problems and I guarantee that they will eventually come to you for that information product, massage, financial advice, or whatever else you are selling.

A good ratio is 5:1—80 percent rich, useful content and 20 percent sales messages. We try to stay in the range of 90% useful content in our e-letter, with short promotions, often if they relate to a topic we've been helping our readers with. If you find the right balance, your readers will start looking forward to your newsletter. 

Depending on the length of time they've been readers, of course—you will gradually begin to send your subscribers follow-up e-mails with specific offers.

5. Create 5 'pillar articles' first

Sometimes called "evergreen issues," pillar articles are focused on topics that never go out of style. These are the articles that will get you started. If you have them, you won't be stressed in the first few weeks or months when that next issue rolls around. And if something happens in your business, something more timely, well, you can write about that and still have those extra issues to fall back on.

6. Find the right frequency, then 'train' your readers

Your schedule depends in part on how much content you can generate and how much you include in each issue. Our free marketing e-tips go out once a week. They're short and breezy, written in a conversational tone. Our readers have commented that they like them because they can get through them in less than five minutes, with their morning cup of coffee. It's an easy read—and every Tuesday, reminds them that we're still around.

Find your comfort level and stay with it so your letter predictably lands in your prospects'/customers' inbox every Wednesday, every other Tuesday, the 15^th of each month, or on some other regular schedule. Your goal: to train your subscribers, to get them in the habit of expecting, opening, and reading your content.

Your frequency also depends on available time, how often you want your name in front of prospects, and what your readers want. Monthly works well for a lot of businesses. Quarterly, in my opinion, is not often enough.

E-mail us at Cat's Eye Marketing and we'll help you launch a successful e-letter with a design and copywriting package to set you up with your first 5 "pillar issues." 

Next week: How the most popular e-letters use the "pretty factor" to get and keep readers.

Get our free marketing e-tips delivered to your in-box every Tuesday!

5 Rules for Getting More Customers with E-Letters

#1: Raise Your Hand and Ask Nicely

#2: Pick Your Delivery Partner with Care

Get all five rules for getting more customers with e-letters. Subscribe to our RSS feed or sign up to receive our blog posts by email.