Maintaining consistent communication with my email list has been challenging. While I write short and long-form emails with calls to action for clients every single day, when it comes to engaging my own audience, I can get stuck.
What do they want to hear about? More then anything I want to hear from them. But what questions will grab their attention and start the conversation? Why is this so hard!?
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Letter writing
Another area I tend to struggle in is personal letter writing.
I actually believe this is why I can write all day for someone else’s audience but struggle to write for my email list. This year I took on the project of doing better at both.
Stuck at home and distanced from my friends I quickly grew tired of Social Media interaction. I wanted something more personal. So, I set out to write two personal letters a day.
Sounds easy. It wasn’t.
As a writer you would think I was full of words! Staring at those small cards and the blank space waiting for me was more intimidating then the short stories and manuscript waiting in my office. By the way, I also freeze when it comes time to write comments on Birthday Cards. Hardest thing ever!
I love these people I write to. I want to hear from them but suddenly I’m paralyzed with what is relevant and what matters on this tiny little space.
Email list
Emails are not that different then the letters I set out to write friends. Those who come to this site and choose to engage are people I want to get to know. Perhaps this is why I freeze up.
The last thing I want to do when attempting to start a conversation is to lose a subscriber, so instead I don’t write. It’s that ridiculous thing we humans sometimes do when we fear failure, we do nothing.
Here’s what I’ve had to wrap my head around. If someone hits unsubscribe because they don’t want to engage in a conversation with me, it’s actually better that they unsubscribe. I’ve heard this from many, many marketers but believing it is another matter.
I get personal on this site. I share glimpses into my family’s life, our struggle with post-traumatic stress, my journey as a writer, and well just life. My target audience is someone I’d like to sit down and have a cup of coffee with.
How I’m improving my email list writing skills
Right now, I’m going through the book 300 Email Marketing Tips by Meera Kothand. It’s part of the upcoming 2020 Genius Blogger’s Toolkit.
On September 17th I’ll be attending Jennifer Maker’s FREE webinar Proven Ways to Grow Your List Through Techniques Learned on the Way from 0-900k Subscribers. She shares the 9 exact steps she took to get there. If you’re interested in going, click here and then tell me if you’ll be at the 11am or 6pm EST slot! I’d love to compare notes during the webinar.
