Tag: Email Marketing

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Three photos framed in orange. The first is a concert. The second is a group of people having fun at a color run or something. The third is people at a tech conference.
Three photos framed in orange. The first is a concert. The second is a group of people having fun at a color run or something. The third is people at a tech conference.

Especially for: Interior Designer, Real Estate, Home Designers, etc

This is something every town needs, only takes a couple hours per week tops (could be outsourced), and is, what I think, the perfect marketing tool for any designer in an area.

I’m going to hand the whole plan to you, right here.

The idea

A weekly events email newsletter.

I don’t know about you, but I’m frequently finding out about events in my town too late.

The problem is there’s no one place anyone in my area is curating all these cool events.

So, to find out what’s going on in my town, I have to check five to ten different websites.

After sharing this frustration with friends in several different states, they’ve expressed the same problem.

Most towns don’t have someone out there aggregating and curating all of these events into a single location for their neighbors to check.

Going one step beyond remembering to check…what if every Thursday an email came in “What to do this weekend in Palm Beach County”?

Personally, I would find that very useful.

You know what? I’ll go ahead and do it.

Here’s how I’m going to do it quickly without spending any money:

The Plan

I don’t want to spend any money yet because right now we need an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) as POC (Proof Of Concept).

Step 1: Get an Email Service

First, I’m signing up for Kit’s free plan (affiliate link), which will allow me to send emails to up to 10,000 subscribers for free.

I’m calling it What To Do in Palm Beach County and I’m grabbing the free domain option “wtdpbc.kit.com“.

Looks like there’s a 14 day trial for a higher level with more tools. Awesome!

Next, we need people to send to.

Step 2: Get Our First 10-100+ Subscribers

Depending on what you’ve already got going on, we should be able to start with at least 10 subscribers and as many as 100 or more.

I’m starting from scratch with this, so the first thing I’ll do is type up a quick note in my phone (feel free to use this):

Hey [friend], I don’t know about you but I’m frustrated with trying to find stuff to do in the area. I keep finding out about the coolest events too late and I miss them. So, I’ve set up a way to gather them and now I’m curating a list of everything I can find! I’m starting a free weekly email newsletter to share it. Every Thursday morning it will go out with all of the local events I can find for that upcoming weekend. Is that something you would be interested in? Obviously you can unsubscribe if you decide it’s not useful for you.

Then, I’m going to scroll through my phone and send copy that into a text message out to everyone I know in the area.

[Friend] will be changed to whatever their name is, and I will not be mass-texting. This is going out one at a time.

Since my client list is world-wide, I’m only sending this out to local friends and family.

But you should also send this out to any of your past clients in the area.

And, if you already have an email list started, you can send it out to them, too.

  • If they respond with a “yes”, ask for their email address and manually add them to your Kit.com account.
  • If they respond with a “No thanks” just say something like “no problem, let me know if you change your mind.”

I’ve never personally seen this bring in less than 10 people, and I’ve heard from others that it’s brought in as many as 100.

But even if it’s just your mom, that’s cool. Don’t worry about the numbers right now. We just started!

Step 3: Start Aggregating

The hardest part will be gathering all the info.

You could outsource this part pretty easily, but I’m going on a shoe-string budget (my specialty) so I’m doing it myself.

We’re going to start by opening a note on our computer and then we’ll go to Google and start searching.

First I’ll make a list of websites I know have local events listed, such as Meetup, Eventbrite, and in my area we have one I like called Pure Honey. I’ll also add all of the local venues I know of.

Eventbrite has a large amount of the paid events in our area, but it almost never contains the free events. We want to make sure we get a lot of free events in our newsletter.

Next, I’m going to go to Google and start searching these terms, one at a time:

  • events in palm beach county
  • music in palm beach county
  • shows in palm beach county
  • plays in palm beach county
  • concerts in palm beach county

Flip through the results and anything you find promising to check again in the future, add it to your list.

We don’t want to have to do these searches every week; that will take too long.

We want to have the list of places to check ready to go.

Although I do recommend at most once a month, at least once a quarter, take some time to do this search again to see if there is anything new to add to your list.

I’m also going to add Fandango to my list so I can mention new movies coming out.

From here on out, you’ll want to check every site on your list every time you’re composing your weekly email.

PRO TIP: use an RSS Feed reader to speed up your process. I’ll be using the one built in to the Vivaldi browser, but Zapier has a solid list with links to more information about RSS.

Step 4: Newsletter Format

To make sending emails easier, we’re going to use a template.

Kit has lots of starter templates, so if you don’t want to make your own you can just choose one you like. I’m going to grab the template “Dispatch” and modify it using something like the following format:

[Newsletter Name]

Issue # [Number] – [Date]

Welcome Message

Welcome to this week’s edition of [Newsletter Name]! We’re excited to bring you the latest happenings in our local community.

Music Events

Concert: [Event Name]

Date & Time: [Date & Time]
​Location: [Location]
​Description: [Brief description of the event]

Live Band: [Event Name]

Date & Time: [Date & Time]
​Location: [Location]
​Description: [Brief description of the event]

Art & Culture

Art Exhibition: [Event Name]

Date & Time: [Date & Time]
​Location: [Location]
​Description: [Brief description of the event]

Theater Performance: [Event Name]

Date & Time: [Date & Time]
​Location: [Location]
​Description: [Brief description of the event]

Sports & Outdoors

Marathon: [Event Name]

Date & Time: [Date & Time]
​Location: [Location]
​Description: [Brief description of the event]

Community Hike: [Event Name]

Date & Time: [Date & Time]
​Location: [Location]
​Description: [Brief description of the event]

Family & Kids

Story Time: [Event Name]

Date & Time: [Date & Time]
​Location: [Location]
​Description: [Brief description of the event]

Kids Workshop: [Event Name]

Date & Time: [Date & Time]
​Location: [Location]
​Description: [Brief description of the event]

Featured Local Business

[Business Name]

Description: [Brief description of the business]
​Special Offer: [Any special offers or discounts]

Community Spotlight

This week, we’re highlighting [Person/Organization] for their contributions to our community. [Brief description of their work and impact]

Stay Connected

Follow us on social media:

Instagram: [Link]
​BlueSky: [Link]
​Threads: [Link]

Contact Us

Have an event to share or feedback for us? Reach out at [Email Address].​​

Self Promo
​[here’s where I’ll self-promo]

Using this template, every week we only need to fill in the blanks!

Advanced Features

At this point, we’re ready to go. We can start sending emails. But…we’ve got a 14 day trial. Let’s see what that gets us.

Recommendations

In Kit, under the Grow tab, is “Recommendations”.

This is what they call “The Creator Network” and it’s basically free promotion. Actually, you can get paid to promote other newsletters, but that’s out of the scope of this guide.

We’re going to use it to grow our own newsletter for free.

I don’t know how well it will work since we’re focused on a local niche, but if it’s free then why not?

Sign up for the Creator Network and follow their instructions to get started.

Creator Profile

Also under the Grow tab is “Creator Profile.”

This is essentially a small website for your newsletter.

You can do all sorts of things with it, but at the very least what we want is a short description, a way for people to sign up, and a way to view at least the most recent newsletter issue.

This will be found at the `.kit.com` URL you selected earlier. IE mine is https://wtdpbc.kit.com. You can add your own domain name later if you want.

Go ahead and fill that stuff out; they’ve already got you started.

Learning More

There’s a lot more you can do to improve this moving forward, so I highly recommend you check out Kit’s free “Creator University” at https://learn.kit.com.

Aside from that, start sending your weekly email and don’t be scared! You’re ready to launch now. Like everything in life, you will learn more as you do it, so just go ahead and get started and improve over time.

If you followed this guide, send me a link to sign up for your newsletter. I’d love to see it!

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Someone in a copywriting group I’m in got this question from a potential client:

“If you were a soup, what soup would you be?”

They thought it was a pretty strange question from a potential client, but it’s actually not.

You see, back in the 12th-17th centuries, alchemists had to hide their esoteric knowledge in secret code.

At first, it was because the knowledge was so powerful that they didn’t want too many people to use it.

Imagine if any old bloke could turn lead into gold. It would completely destabilize the economy.

That’s not good business for the alchemists, so they kept their secrets behind symbols and metaphors.

Copywriting is the same.

It’s powerful, and we can’t just let anyone learn it.

Just like the alchemists, most copywriters are charlatans.

They’re not turning lead into gold.

They arrive with lead and hidden gold, and use slight of hand to switch them out so you think they’ve transmuted.

The true copywriters know about soup.

The question “If you were a soup, what soup would you be” was devised by an elite and clandestine guild of copywriters known as the Ink Illuminati to do two things:

  1. Figure out who the real copywriters are (for they will have an answer)
  2. Figure out what type of copywriter they are (as the answer will reveal)

Different soups have different meanings, so your answer is important but it must be knowledgable of the secret code.

Tomato soup means something different than chicken noodle soup means something different than Italian wedding soup.

Only the initiated know what the correct answer for them is.

And if you try to pick one, they’ll know just by your writing if you know what you’re talking about or not.

If you know the secret code or not.

If you can turn lead into gold or you’re just attempting slight of hand.

For your information, I’m a beer cheese soup (made with PBR) and if you’re interested in learning more about copywriting (for your music, or software, or whatever it is you’re working on), hit me up.

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2025 UPDATE: I can no longer recommend his Email Players Newsletter. The quality of content has dropped significantly. At this point, you’re basically paying $100/mo to read a guy spew conspiracy theory bullshit. He leans on his business partner “ex-Navy nuclear engineer” who I’m sure is smart about nuclear engineering but…I mean there’s a reason you don’t hire a brain surgeon to do the electrical work on your house.

Ben Settle is a smart dude when it comes to both copywriting and business.

I absolutely trust his knowledge on both of those things (as opposed to his thoughts on health issues or public policy, neither of which I would recommend).

My notes are not going to do his knowledge justice so I highly recommend you sign up for his monthly Email Players Newsletter.

I also do not recommend his “Biz Haunts” social lair that is very little biz and very much haunts. It’s basically just a bunch of people complaining about “wokeness” (whatever that is). If you’re into that sort of thing, it’s definitely the place for you and you should check it out. But I’ve got enough negativity in my life and more than 9/10 posts are Ben et al. complaining about something.

This page contains all of my notes of everything I’ve learned from Ben Settle.

Table Of Contents
  1. Ben Settle Book Notes
  2. Email Players Newsletter Notes
  3. Ben Settle Email Notes

Ben Settle Book Notes

  • The Email Players Skhēma Summary, Review, and Notes (Coming Soon)

Email Players Newsletter Notes

How to Create Your Own Marketing Universe (Issue #111 – October 20200

This issue is about world building, which is something I have been working on for a long time.

Ben Settle’s thoughts on how marketing is world building helped my perspective and gave me a lot of great ideas.

To Read: Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D (aff).

Marketing Universe Secret #1 – No More “Marketing” Campaigns

Stop thinking of everything as “marketing” and start thinking of it as “world building.”

Every project needs to be a part of building the/your world. If it isn’t, get rid of it.

You are not the marketer; you are the dungeon master.

Ben Settle Email Notes

Unorthodox email strategies that’ll put some hair on your chest (2022-01-26)

“All you need to make a bundle in business is an email and an offer.”

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Photograph of a fern.

Without consistency, people are going to forget about you. They’re going to forget about your writing and you.

Pretty terrifying, right? No one wants to hear that. Sorry for being so harsh, but you’re not doing anything to remind them who you are.

That’s why you need to be consistent. Consistency is the key to being successful in anything.

Let’s start at the top.

Note: there are a couple of affiliate links in this post. Check out the Resources page for more about that and how they work.

Table Of Contents
  1. You need to be consistently writing.
  2. You need to be consistently sharing your writing.
  3. You need to be consistently posting on your blog.
  4. You need to be consistently sending out email newsletters.
  5. You need to share at least once a week.

You need to be consistently writing.

My friend Sean McCabe says “show up every day.” You should do at least one thing that works toward your writing career daily.

That doesn’t mean you have to post something every day.

Just one thing is all it takes. So show up every day and do at least one thing that will get you closer to completion.

  • Use “stream of consciousness” to write ideas for new stories.
  • Come up with a character name, birthplace, and favorite thing to do.
  • Write one sentence.

Just one thing.

One thing every day will get you closer to your goals.

Sean says that doing this for two years will get you where you want to be. That’s such a short period if you think about it.

Plus, you’ll improve your writing each day as you work on it.

While you’re getting closer to completion, you’ll need to be working on marketing. Building your audience is what you should do, which is why the next three parts need to be consistent.

You need to be consistently sharing your writing.

Show people what you’re working on. Show your works in progress.

It doesn’t have to be anything crazy or intense. Maybe it’s a short piece on Mastodon of a WIP you made this week.

Heck, even share a teaser of a character concept.

There’s so much in creating a piece of writing that can be shared, and it drums up interest in your release.

Of course, you can and should be sharing this stuff on your social media, the Fediverse, but you should also be sharing it on your blog.

You need to be consistently posting on your blog.

If you don’t have a blog, ensure you’re signed up for the newsletter. I’ll post a comprehensive guide that will teach you step-by-step how to set up a blog for your writing.

[convertkit form=4875297]

You need to be posting to your blog because it’s the one platform you control.

Remember MySpace? Who uses that anymore?

I don’t think it’s impossible that Twitter or Facebook could be next. I don’t even know anyone who uses Tumblr anymore.

But your blog, your website, that is something you can control. It will exist as long as you want it to. I use A2 hosting and their quick and easy one-click WordPress installer for this site and almost all of my sites.

You can also do a simple little thing to keep people returning to your blog for more. Aside from posting consistently, you need to collect emails from your visitors and send them a newsletter.

Of course, if your audience is a bit tech-savvy, you can point them to your RSS feed. That way, you don’t have to collect any personal data!

You need to be consistently sending out email newsletters.

My biggest regret is not having started collecting emails sooner.

I would have made way more sales on my previous releases by now had I started collecting emails from the very beginning.

It’s the best marketing you can do for any release. Tell people about it.

As I mentioned above, controlling your platform is essential. If TikTok or whatever disappears or loses popularity, it won’t be easy to retain that audience and move them to whatever new platform you’re on.

I use ConvertKit because it’s easy, and they have great functions for automation.

If you have a reader’s email, you’ll be able to take them wherever you go.

Plus, people will see you all the time. You’ll be in their thoughts because you regularly send them valuable and engaging emails.

That way, they won’t see it as spam when you release something new.

You ever sign up for an email list and forget about it? Then weeks or months later, you get an email like, “Hey, I just released my new short story!”

Of course, I usually check it out, but it’s like, “ugh, who is this person, and why are they trying to get money from me?”

You need to share at least once a week.

They won’t forget about you this way. We think in weekly cycles. That’s why most TV shows release new episodes at least weekly (during their season).

Of course, if you want, you can share more than once a week, but don’t overwhelm yourself.

Trust me; people will start to notice.

I’ve been inconsistent, and people have commented on it. I was embarrassed.

Consistency is hard, but there are many ways you can prepare, like setting up an editorial calendar or automating your social media posting with a tool like CoSchedule.

Make sure you’re signed up for my email list so that you can continue to learn more about growing your fanbase.