If you’re just starting out or have been using email marketing for a while, you will get to a point where you’re staring at the screen trying to come up with a great idea for your next email marketing campaign. And…nothing.
One of two things will happen.
You end up not sending an email or you write an email and it’s rubbish.
To get you over this hurdle, here are some tips on how to come up with email marketing topic ideas.
Find your happy place
One of THE best ways to start generating email marketing topic ideas is to not try.
You need to be in a place where you’re relaxed. Now this can be a physical space, a mental space, or both.
Some people will suggest meditating, listening to ambient music or natural noises such as rain, waves, or the sounds of the forest.
My advice?
It’s up to you. Go for a walk. Your body may enjoy the benefits of winding down and getting some fresh air. If you’re relaxed sitting on the couch watching your favourite movie, do that. It doesn’t matter. Your mind just needs to be taking some time out from the day-to-day troubles and dramas many of us face.
While you may not come up with ideas while you’re doing this, you may come up with some ideas once you return to your workspace.
Whichever option you take, always have a notebook and something to write with you. Ideas can hit you at any time, even at 2 am. It’s handy to have something to quickly jot down ideas rather than having to rely on your smartphone, tablet, or other device.
Related article: 12 Little Steps That Lead You to Your Happy Place (inc.com)
Be your reader
It’s time to use your persona (a.k.a Avatar).
You need to be thinking about what challenges they have now or will have in the future and what advice you can give to help them.
Think about where they are their journey. Are they researching possible options? Are they just starting out? Are they an intermediate user that could use some best practices to make the most of your product or service?
For example, for Atomic Education that might include topics such as:
- How to choose an email service provider
- How to plan an automation
- How to create an email marketing strategy
- It’s Winter. What could Brenda be struggling with right now?
- What are common questions asked in the Facebook groups I hang out in?
- How can I show Brenda how to use a specific feature?
- What did I need to learn when I was starting out?
- What new things are happening in my industry/niche that my readers should know about?
As you get more experience putting yourself in the shoes of your persona, you will find it easier to come up with ideas that will help them.
Related article: How To Create A Buyer Persona
Go for quantity
The goal is to send quality content that is relevant and valuable to your readers.
The secret to generating quality content is to start with as many topic ideas as you can. Not all topic ideas will be good. Some of them will probably never be used as they are. But out of a long list of ideas will come better ideas.
But how do you start?
Imagine that you’re a fitness instructor. One way to get some ideas is to search for “email marketing topic ideas fitness instructor”. And that’s great. Just because you’re a fitness instructor, don’t limit yourself to examples used in your industry.
There are many other industries using email marketing. If, for example, you then searched for “email marketing topic ideas health food”, you’ll get ideas that may not relate to a fitness instructor but will give you ideas for topics.
Expand on your topic
Pick one topic idea each day. From that one topic, create ten more topics. Go deep. Don’t think about it too much. Just write down ten topic ideas that relate to that first one. Remember, keep all of your ideas somewhere.
Write down a word or phrase that relates to that topic. For example, a topic idea could be subject lines.
My list might look like this:
- Length
- Emojis
- Capitals
- Lowercase
- Personalisation
- Curiosity
- What is FOMO
- Numbers
- How to
- Lists
For an email sequence, my topics might be.
- How long should a subject line be?
- Should I use emojis in a subject line?
- Should text be all caps or lowercase?
- How to write a FOMO subject line.
You get the idea.
While one idea may not seem particularly good now, as you give it time to mature, other topic ideas will spring from that one or that idea will morph into something better.
Ask
Do you know the most efficient way of getting email topic ideas?
Ask.
If you hang out in social media groups or pages, ask those people. “Hey, I’d like to help people like you. I’m looking for topic ideas for future emails to send to my readers. If you were one of my subscribers, what’s one thing you’d like to know more about?”
You could also ask your existing readers or if you’re in a business networking group, ask them.
Prioritise
How many ideas you need right now will depend on how often you send emails to your readers.
If you send emails daily or weekly, you’ll need more topics to stay ahead of your schedule. Sending monthly? Not as many.
Try to have a few topics in your bank ready to go. I like to have topic ideas and the emails written and ready to go one month before they’re due to be sent.
When choosing topics, you’ll get a better result if you can group them into a common them and send them as a sequence. It also take some pressure of as creating topics that follow a theme is easier.
Wrap up
I hope these ideas help you to come up with email marketing topic ideas.
Remember, your readers chose to receive your emails. They want relevant, interesting email content from you on a regular basis.
