Zero Budget Digital Marketing Part 2
Missed part 1? You can read it here
Firstly, you’re going to write a newsletter. Which will also become a blog. Which will be part of your website. Which will be linked to your business email.
And you won’t be a smaller business for much longer.
While professional content developers are becoming more popular, as a small business owner no one knows your business like you. There is no substitute for originality. And there’s only one you.
And if what you write is authentic, people will read it.
“People read what interests them, sometimes it’s an advertisement.” Howard Gossage, a rather well-respected communications practitioner wrote that over 40 years ago. Interesting, isn’t it?
Here are some tips to get you started. (contd from Vol. 1)
8. Sharing versus creating.
Creating content takes time. Great content takes even longer. As a small team, you will be time-stretched. In the early days, it will be easier for you to find content to share than to create your own. Other people will have spent their time making it, so you don’t have to.
But original content, assuming it’s good, will get you more growth than just sharing other people’s. That is because it’s your unique voice they are hearing. So you know what you have to do.
9. Test. Test. Test.
You can test everything. When to send it? Which subject line? How often to send? The more you test, the more you learn. Each time you send your newsletter out, the data can teach you how to do it better next time. Always be testing.
10. Don’t leave ‘subject lines’ just before you send.
The subject line is the most important point of contact in your newsletter. If it doesn’t make people open, all your crazy effort is for nothing. So if your subject line is the most important line in your newsletter, you know what to test the most.
We wrote over 15 headlines before we settled on the one above. Put your effort in the place that matters most.
11. Everyone starts from zero.
So true. But start you must. Ask your mum to sign up. Then build from there. But remember this, everyone started from zero.
12. Regular timing creates trust.
If you send your newsletter at the same time each week, people will become accustomed to seeing it that time. So, it will become something they expect at that time each week.
If you always send it out on Fridays, no one will be surprised when you send it out on Friday. One less surprise in your inbox is a good thing.
13. Be human.
Be funny. Be emotional. Be you. No one can do that like you.
Just don’t be corporate. Write as you speak. And not everything has to have a business reason. Just do stuff that makes you feel good. The chances are it will make others feel the same.