I write about

- Content marketing flywheels
- Growth and customer lifecycle marketing
- UX and communication in design
- Leveraging AI for efficiency and speed-to-market
- Low-cost tech stacks

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I'm obsessed with learning how to learn.

Hooks are the make or break of an X thread.

So I'm spending one hour a day learning and writing hooks.

What is a hook?

It's the show-stopper.

It's the way to get attention.

If you can't get attention, you can't engage.

If you can't engage with your audience:

• It's difficult to grow followers
• It's difficult to make connections
• It's difficult to create new customers

3 things that make good hooks.

1. Relatability
2. Evoke emotion
3. Create intrigue

How to be relatable when writing hooks:

• Use simple, everyday language
• Address common pain points and challenges
• Be real about imperfections and vulnerabilities
• Provide practical, insightful, nuanced, and tangible tips

How to evoke emotion when writing hooks:

• Use empathy
• Tell a compelling story
• Create contrast and tension

How to create intrigue when writing hooks:

• Use imagery or metaphors
• Hint at a mystery or secret
• Use cliffhangers and open loops

5 Formulas for Writing Great Hooks:

1.  The Question Hook:

• "Are you tired of [common problem]?"
• Example: "Are you tired of struggling to find time for exercise?"

2.  The Curiosity Hook:

• "Discover the shocking truth about [topic]."
• Example: "Discover the shocking truth about the skincare industry."

3.  The Promise Hook:

• "Learn how to [achieve desirable outcome] in [short time frame]."
• Example: "Learn how to double your productivity in just one week."

4.  The Social Proof Hook:

• "Join [number] of satisfied customers who have [benefit]."
• Example: "Join over 10,000 satisfied customers who have transformed their finances."

5.  The Storytelling Hook:

• "Listen to [person/character] as they [action/result]."
• Example: "Listen to Sarah's journey as she overcame adversity to build her dream business."


How to Write Compelling Hooks

Jumping into the @ship30for30 July Cohort...here's why 

Want to start publishing a thought-leadership type of newsletter? If so, how would you know what to write about?

One strategy — gather resources and provide insight to your readers.

4 free tools and resources I use to curate newsletters:

#EmailMarketing #ContentMarketing

1/ Use @NotionHQ's web clipper Chrome extension

• Save any website to your Notion account
• Build a library of resources
• Works with a free Notion account

2/ Create a digest of content with M@mailbrew

• Create multiple digests from feeds and social
• Forward your existing subscriptions to your Maibrew inbox
• Subscribe to newsletters with your Maibrew email

3/ Search newsletter directories from sources like:

• @beehiiv
• @Patreon
• @SubstackInc

4/ Use AI, GPT-3, #ChatGPT prompts to research and outline your content

• @OpenAI
• Notion AI
• @rytr_me

TL;DR

• @NotionHQ
• @mailbrew
• @OpenAI, #ChatGPT
• @beehiiv
• @Patreon
• @SubstackInc

If you enjoyed this post and want to learn more about launching a newsletter worth reading:

1) Follow me at @EvieDigital

2) Read more posts like this https://typefully.com/EvieDigital

3) Subscribe to my newsletter https://evangelinedigital.com

Powerful Resources to Curate Your Newsletter Content

Thinking of launching a newsletter and not sure of the features you need? I've managed over 10 email service providers in my career.

Here are 4 key features to look for if you're just starting out.

#EmailMarketing #Newsletters

1/ Look for an email service provider that offers a forever-free plan.

• This gives you time to learn the platform
• Their pricing structure grows with you
• Their free plan lets you do all the basics

2/ Demand a user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing interface.

• You should be able to compose copy while in the editor
• It should offer a distraction-free workspace
• It should let you easily change design elements
• You shouldn't need an email coder to do things for you

3/ Good email platforms will provide an automated way to get subscribers

• Either they provide embeddable opt-in forms
• Or they provide an API key
• Or they integrate with a tool like Zapier

4/ If you want a suggestion, @beehiiv checks all those boxes for me, plus...

• I especially dig the Notion-like editor
• I can grow my list to 2500 before upgrading
• Bonus: Beehiiv publishers can recommend your newsletter

TL;DR

• Look for an email service provider that offers are forever-free plan.
• Demand a user-friendly and aesthetically appealing interface.
• Good email platforms will provide an automated way to get subscribers
• @beehiiv checks all those boxes for me

If you enjoyed this post and want to learn more about launching a newsletter worth reading:

1) Follow me at @EvieDigital

2) Read more posts like this https://typefully.com/EvieDigital

3) Subscribe to my newsletter https://evangelinedigital.com/

How to Choose the Right Email Provider for You

Anyone can write a Twitter thread, but how many of us know how to make it viral-worthy?

Here are 4 things I learned in the @ship30for30 session today.

#digitalwriting #twittermarketing

1/ Write the lead-in in the first Tweet

This is where you generate interest, so it's worth clicking on to expand the thread.

How to write a lead-in post:

• State the problem
• Offer a solution

2/ The following tweets after the lead-in are the solution, separated by main points.

Each main point is a standalone tweet. This is the meat of your Twitter thread.

3/ After the main points, write the recap. This is the second to the last tweet.

The recap lists all of the headlines of your main points.

If you want to use bullet points instead of dashes, type Option + 8 (on a Mac).

4/ The last tweet is the call-to-action

This is where you make it easy for your readers to follow you, read your best work, and subscribe to your newsletter.

TL;DR

How to write a viral-worthy Twitter thread:

• Write the lead-in in the first Tweet
• Then, write the main points
• Write the recap.
• Write the call-to-action

If you enjoyed this and want to learn more about digital writing, building an audience, and monetizing content:

1. Follow me @EvieDigital

2. Check out some of my other tweets https://typefully.com/EvieDigital

3. Subscribe to my newsletter: https://evangelinedigital.com/

How to write a viral-worthy Twitter thread

Want better email newsletter open rates and lower unsubscribes?

#Newsletters are the glue between your contacts database and your brand. They are the frequent top-of-mind communication to your audience. But brands are often unsure about how to improve their newsletter metrics.

This is one of the first issues they ask me to solve.

Here are three of the top problems with lackluster newsletters and how to fix them.

Let's dig in!

Problem: Your newsletter is a wall of text.

Solution: Format your newsletter to be an easy read. For example, place 1-sentence paragraphs in between multi-sentence paragraphs.

Problem: Your newsletter fails to be engaging.

Solution: Write empathetically. What problem are you solving? How are you making their lives better? Tell them why your message is essential to them now.

Problem: Your newsletter is not nuanced.

Solution: You are in business because you have value propositions and unfair advantages people want to pay for (with their time or money). Take the time to unpack these in your newsletter.

What problems do you see with company newsletters that fail to keep you engaged and subscribed?

#EmailMarketing

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/EvieDigital/bpTKf95

Want better email newsletter open rates and lower unsubscribes?

My @ship30for30 Session 5 takeaways

This session is the mid-way point in the 30-day challenge. We went over what we had learned up to this point:

- Lean Writing Framework
- Endless Idea Generator
- Headlines
- Formatting

#Copywriting #Buildinpublic #ContentMarketing

How to test a topic idea to write about:

- Don't just post once
- Keep #writing about it to get data (14 days)
- Look for signals
- Pivot towards what’swhat'sng
- Temper your decision with what you care to keep writing about

Endless Idea Generator

- Come up with an idea
- Write 3-5 bullet points
- What problem are you solving?
- Who is it for?
- Why should they care?
- What are the prerequisites?
- What tools are required?

More...

Continued from above

- What are the assumptions?
- What are the easy wins?
- What are the headwinds for the reader (price, learning curve, etc.)
- Post on several social platforms

What AI writing can’t do for you

- Get into the nuance of a topic
- It cannot output your viewpoints
- It cannot weave through topics to tell your story
- It cannot provide strategy

What AI writing can do for you

- It can help you write the parts that are less exciting for you
- used for research
- batch outlining
- rewriting sentences and paragraphs
- generate images for your posts
- repurpose content: transform text to speech, text to video

Five proven headline styles

- Lists
- Stories
- Frameworks
- Opinion
- Question

Your headlines can never be too long, but they can be too short. Here is what headlines need:

- Clarity
- Who it’it'sr
- Why it's important
- Why read now

Formatting your content

- 6 single-sentence openers
- Turn main points into subheads
- 1/3/1 writing rhythms

6 single-sentence openers

- Ask a thought-provoking question
- Strong, declarative sentence
- Controversial opinion
- Moment in time
- Vulnerable statement
- Weird, unique insight

1/3/1 #writing framework for @twitter if you run out of space:

- 1 sentence
- 3 bullets
- 1 sentence

When writing, spend the most time on your headlines and sub-heads.

That's it! Stay tuned for future @ship30for30 session recaps!

Want to Start Writing Online? Learn These Basics.

Ways to segment your #email database to ensure you are emailing to the most engaged leads and active buyers.

The last thing you want to do is fatigue your audience. If that happens, it could also result in a lower sender score. Here's how to prevent both.

Best practices below:

1: Segment your audience into these buckets:

- Hyperactive (opened or clicked in the last 30 days)
- Active (last opened or clicked between 31-60 days)
- Disengaged (last opened or clicked between 61 - 120 days)
- Dormant (last opened or clicked more than 4 months ago)

2. Segment your audience by lifecycle stage

- Leads
- First Time Buyer
- Active Buyer
- At risk of Churn
- Churned

3. Exclude suppressed contacts from all of the segments above.

- Opt-outs
- Spam complaints
- Bounces

4. Split the audience between B2B and B2C

This is relevant in some organizations with both cohort types in the same contact database. Usually, you will want to deliver different communications to them.

What are the base audience segments that you build?

#EmailMarketing

How to Segment Your Email Audience

What is your best email deliverability tool?
#email #testing #EmailMarketing

My go-to resource is, hands down, Mail-Tester.com. It's free to use.

Here's how Mail-Tester works. When you go to the site, it gives you a one-time use email address. You send your test email there, and it gives you a score of 1-10 on deliverability.

It shows your HTML errors, DNS records, and blacklisting. You can get a view of the email on desktop and mobile. It's a great all-around tool for quick testing.

Mail-Tester works for every email platform (that I've experienced) except for @HubSpot.

Last year, @HubSpot started requiring that every email address you send a test to be whitelisted. HubSpot will first send a verification email to the address you want to use before allowing you to send a test email.

I had to look for Mail-Tester alternatives. I found these top ones: @GlockApps, @Mailtrap, @litmusapp, and @EmailonAcid

Although most functioned like Mail-Tester, all required a paid account, and their paid tiers were too expensive just to access the feature I wanted.

The only exception was Mailosaur https://www.linkedin.com/in/evangelinegersich/overlay/create-post/#. https://mailosaur.com/

They give you a mail server address, and you set a value for your mailbox name. It was the perfect solution to HubSpot's requirement.

Unfortunately, there's not a forever free account like Mail-Tester.

Mail-Tester allows three free tests a day. If Mailosaur can offer a similar tier, this would solve the issue with platforms like Hubspot.

Mailosaur lets you test SMS messages, which is a differentiator and worth looking at.


You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/EvieDigital/wGomKzb