Do or do not. There is no try.
Has it been awhile since your mailing list has heard from you?
In this age of perpetual messaging, it’s tempting to convince ourselves that we don’t want to “clutter” the inboxes of our clients and contacts with yet another email.
And that by NOT staying in contact, we’re taking the high road.
But here’s the thing – these are people who have said they want to hear from you. They have the problem you know how to solve. Or you have the keys to the result they want to get.
And right now, you’re holding back from giving it to them.
Getting a newsletter out every week or two doesn’t have to be drudgery. It can actually be an act of commitment and service.
It’s not about you spamming people.
It’s about you sharing what you know with them, so that their lives improve. Whether or not they decide to work with you down the line.
But maybe you get all this, and you’re just having a tough time getting in the habit. For you, here are some ideas…
1) Make a regular date to write. Monday at 11 am, say. And then every Monday, you sit down and ask yourself, “what’s one problem my people are having?” and then write about how to start to shift it.
2) Acknowledge the gap in communication. If you’ve been in regular contact, and then went away, acknowledge it. No need to beat yourself up about it, but this restores trust. And then tell your list what you’re committed to going forward. When you do it publically, you have more skin in the game to actually keep your word.
3) Pretend that your people on your list have sent in questions. What would they be asking about? What do they want to know? Come up with a list of 10 right now – and then set a date to write about the first one this week.
The way that you get people buying your stuff through email is by offering good ideas first. It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare. You just need to get those ideas out of you and into the lives of your audience.
Mighty thanks to Simon Q flickr photostream for the Yoda.
I’m curious – what are some tricks you use to write your newsletter when you don’t feel like it? Share it in the comments below.
