No, seriously, I really enjoy writing them. And, it turns out, it's an important part of my business!
I struggled for a long time to get into the groove of writing my newsletter. I felt like I never knew what to talk about it, I want to sell my thing without being too "sales-y," I didn't really know when or how often I should send them, I was kind of lost.
Then I talked to Tara Swiger. She helped guide me to a plan that works for me. I'm sharing that plan with you today, in case you're wanting to start an email newsletter and aren't sure where to start.
- Get on a schedule. It's probably the best thing I did for my email newsletter (so far). I don't have an internal conflict about when to send it, because I've already decided that I'm sending mine out on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. I tend to plan my pattern releases around it. I plan my coupon codes for my patterns around it. It makes the overall planning in my business easier. I've been sending out my email newsletter on this schedule for over three years now. I've missed one (and I'll admit it, I just didn't feel like doing it, I was overwhelmed by work and got a bad case of the "I don't wannas.") Missing one in almost three and a half years? That's a pretty good track record, I think. My customers trust that they'll here from me on a regular basis. And that's a good thing.
- Promote it. I'll admit, I'm not that great at this one. But, I have a plan to fix this situation! In the early part of 2018, I'm going to release a pattern that's free when you sign up for the newsletter. It's a great way to get new subscribers. I have many designer friends who have done this with much success.
- Make segments. Until recently, I had one newsletter that went out on my schedule to whoever signed up. But then I got to thinking....maybe yarn store owners would like a different kind of email from me - one that focuses on my patterns available through the Ravelry in-store sales system, when/where/what I'm planning to teach, etc. So now I've created an LYS email that I'm sending out once a month. Many of the LYS owners still get my regular "customer" email that I mentioned above, but they also enjoy hearing from me about things that they want to know about for their business.
- Pick a service. There are lots of different services you can use to send and schedule your emails. I use MailChimp. It's free until you hit a certain number of subscribers, and I've found it pretty easy to use. There are a bunch of different ones out there - find the one that works for you.
Do you have an email newsletter? I'd love to know about it!
And, while we're at it, if you haven't signed up for my twice a month newsletter, you can sign up here! :)
