What can I possibly write that will be worth my subscribers taking the time to read?
It’s a question that’s ultra-important to me in my business.
Particularly as someone who shows up in my subscribers’ inboxes every day without fail.
I take a leaf out of internet marketing great-grandfather Ken McCarthy’s book here.
He’s pretty much of the opinion: don’t send it unless you’re sure it’s worth someone stopping their busy day to read.
Translating that into Chris-ese I get…
“Chris, if you’ve written a steaming pile of crap… don’t expect anyone else to enjoy shoveling it!”
So, there has to be something in my emails that’ll make them worth reading.
It doesn’t have to be all deep insight, and earth-shattering freelance writing tips. But it’s gotta at least bring a smile. Or some skerrick of value.
And therein lies some of the challenge of writing “live” to my list. Rather than stacking up weeks worth of prewritten emails that drip out daily.
But the cool thing with running a daily email list like this is that I can be responsive.
And respond to things that are going on in the world of my readers.
That means I can write content that is super-relevant to them.
To help make sure it’s worth someone interrupting their day to read, I ask myself three quick questions before hitting “send”…
- Does it entertain?
- Does it educate?
- Does it elevate?
Entertaining isn’t being funny. But providing something engaging. Even documentaries can be engaging for the right viewers.
Educating isn’t about bamboozling with lots of facts and figures. Or dropping in a million well-researched quotes. It’s just giving some helpful info in an engaging, relevant way.
Elevating is about lifting thinking a little higher than just absorbing new info. Helping people see something in a different light. Seeing the value to them of some new technique or way of thinking. It even extends to showing how products you sell might be used to help solve a particular problem.
The 3Es are a simple way of checking that what I’ve written is worth reading.
Most of all, I want to make sure it’s NOT boring. Being boring is the death-knell of most writing.
I think I’ve managed to say something that’s worth reading today.
You can be the judge of that. 😎
Ready to build your email list? And write non-boring emails?
Go here…
EmailForTheWin.com
Chris Milham