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Tips & Talk 83 – What Do I Say in My Newsletters?
5th October 2022 • Gift Biz Unwrapped • Sue Monhait
00:00:00 00:11:33

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Email serves a different role in your business than your website, blog posts or even social. Its goal is to keep you top of mind with customers to deepen the connection leading to repeat purchases. It’s also a tool to stay in touch with those who find you online or meet you in person. You want to keep communicating with them for a future first purchase. In this episode, I give you 5 overall categories of email topics with examples to get your mind rolling - plus an action plan to put it all in play. CONNECT with me here: WebsiteFacebookInstagram SUBSCRIBE to the podcast: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify PAY IT FORWARD by leaving a rating and review. I'd love to hear your comments. Tell me how the show has helped you or a specific guest or point that had an impact. You can do that right here. Thanks for listening!

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Transcripts

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Hi there,

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It's Sue and thanks for joining me for Tips and Talk

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Day. These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions

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and things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small

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business. If you'd like to submit a topic DME over on

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Instagram at Gift Biz Unwrapped,

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gosh, this year I've rolled out a number of new opportunities

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showcase your business to this entire listening audience.

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When you have a quick question where you'd like my input

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or you've been doing this for a while and could use

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these boosts are for you.

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You'll know a podcast is a boost.

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If you see that word in the title,

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want to get your own free boost,

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I'm taking these on a first come first serve basis.

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Head over to gift biz unwrapped.com/boost

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and sign up for your session today.

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As I worked on last week's tips and talk episode covering

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how to find topics for your blog articles,

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it brought up the thought that finding topics for email is

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another challenging area,

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so that's what's on tap for today.

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Since content for your blog and content for your emails are

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different, let's do a quick review.

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Blog articles reside on your website and you use social media

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and email teasers to prompt people to click over to read

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the complete piece.

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Never should you put your entire article up as an email

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and leave it at that.

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An email is a one and done communication,

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right? All the hard work of writing that article will be

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lost almost immediately when you put it on your website.

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In a space dedicated as your blog,

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you'll get the advantages of seo,

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the ability to educate your customers and added credibility that all

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builds on itself long into the future.

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Your website is the online headquarters of your business,

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and all avenues should point there whether you're linking to a

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specific product,

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talking about a blog article,

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introducing a new product line.

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All of these things,

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even when you're on the local news or are written about

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in the local paper or on a podcast,

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these should all be in a in the news page on

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your website.

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The only time I'd send someone to a different site is

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if you're attending a show or speaking at an event and

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you wanna direct people there for the details and to register

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to attend.

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Email plays a different role in your business.

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It's to keep you top of mind with your customers,

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and so you can stay in contact with those who run

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into you online or meet you in person and want to

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stay in touch for a future first purchase.

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Today we're gonna cover what to say in regularly scheduled emails,

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not how to get and build an email list.

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We also aren't going to talk about the very first emails

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to send when someone joins your list.

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This is often referred to as a welcome series.

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Let me know if these are things you want me to

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cover in the future.

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Okay, so with an eye to content for regularly scheduled email

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marketing programs,

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this is something that you can start right now,

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whether you have an email list of seven or 7,000

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people don't delay getting this up and running.

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It begins with deciding how often you'll send out an email,

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even though I don't recommend it.

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You can do as few as 12 emails a year,

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so a monthly program,

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and if that's all you can do,

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start with that and build up from there.

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Ideally, you should send weekly emails,

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but I'll give you a pass for biweekly two,

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and you'll see as we continue on here,

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it doesn't have to be that hard or even overwhelming if

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it feels like that to you right now because you are

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going to have a plan.

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These emails also don't have to be works of art as

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your blog articles are.

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SEO doesn't matter here.

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Most of what you'll include,

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you already have at your fingertips too.

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Some of your emails can be just a few paragraphs and

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some don't even need photos at all.

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The most important thing is that they're interesting enough to get

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your customers to open and read them with that.

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Here are some ideas of things to include in your emails.

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First off,

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the obvious product,

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promotions and sales.

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Nobody can take advantage of your special offers if they don't

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know about them,

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right? So when you have special sales,

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feel free to dedicate an email entirely to that.

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Include pictures of the products,

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the benefit the product gives,

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the buyer the details of the purchase,

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so things like price,

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the percentage discount,

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limited quantity,

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if that applies,

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deadlines on the offer,

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all of those things.

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And then don't forget a buy button or a link that

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connects back to your website so that they can order.

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Another thing that you can include in your emails are the

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in-person events you're attending.

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If you're doing a weekly farmer's market all summer long,

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bingo, that's part of your weekly email.

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Include a picture of you and a customer from the prior

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week or some fun interaction that you've had with another vendor

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or how you managed the rain last week and how the

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forecast for this Wednesday looks great.

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Add your personality to these messages.

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This makes it so much easier.

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Just write like you're talking to a friend.

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Number three,

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email list only specials.

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Treat those who have offered up their email address and are

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now on your list as a special group.

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Maybe they get the first look at your new product line

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or special offers only for them.

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Send the message that being on your email list is valuable

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because they are the one and only ones who get to

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be in the know and can take advantage of certain things.

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Number four,

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blog teasers.

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Here's the place to give some information about your latest blog

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article. Tell them what they'll get out of reading your article,

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and then link over to the full version that you got.

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It has a home on your website.

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Depending on the topic,

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you can recirculate your blog articles too.

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Pull from topics that you talked about even eight months ago

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if it still serves your customers.

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That's the value of evergreen blog topics like the 10 Health

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Benefits of chocolate,

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or cleaning directions for your leather accessories,

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or three ways to store your jewelry using things you already

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have in your house.

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I'm making these up of course,

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but you get the idea.

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And finally,

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my fifth category of ideas of topics that you can use

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in your blog articles are behind the scene stories.

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Don't discount the interest your customers have in these types of

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things. Unboxing videos continue to be popular.

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Ask those on your email list to vote on the next

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flavor for your new seasonal popcorn or share a mishap that

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happened in your production area that's entertaining and funny.

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What you wanna do is train people that opening emails from

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you is worth it.

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If all you do is show a product and a price,

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meaning selling in every single email,

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people won't open it if they aren't in the purchasing stage

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for what you sell,

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but if you show them that there are other things in

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your emails that will serve them,

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your open rates will be higher,

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and when you have higher open rates,

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your emails are more likely to stay out of spam and

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the promotion folders where they're never seen or even have a

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chance for more ideas.

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Look at the emails you receive,

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what subject lines catch your eye?

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What do they include that makes you want to open each

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and every one to make this email strategy something you'll actually

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do. Set a plan.

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Let's say you've decided to send out emails weekly.

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Create a couple of different models of emails,

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templates, if you will.

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Some weeks you do to the point promotion product price.

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Buy some weeks,

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you create a longer email that includes a behind the scenes

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story with a photo and then perhaps a small blurb about

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your upcoming subscription box theme with a stay tuned teaser.

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Another template could be linking to national theme days,

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just like you see on Social National Best Friend Day.

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How about treating your bestie to our latest tea and cookie

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combo to show that you're thinking of her or national Apple

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Day? We don't grow apples,

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but our apple red scarves certainly put you in the mood.

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Be playful and creative.

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Make opening your emails.

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Fun. That's the point.

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And guess what?

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Are you aware of the connected social media planner that goes

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with my Content for Makers program?

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I've heard that some of you are using these to plan

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out your emails too.

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What a good idea.

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I didn't even think of that when I created this product,

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and I use mine now also for planning social posts,

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blog articles,

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and email topics all in one organized spot.

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If you wanna take a look,

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go over to give biz unwrapped.com/connected

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and you'll see what I'm talking about.

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The term the money is in the list is really true.

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Collecting emails and then actually communicating to those people will bring

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you in new and repeat sales.

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That's what this is all about today.

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Now's the time for you to put it into action.

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Decide on an email frequency,

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set up a template plan,

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add in your unique details and press send.

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That's a wrap.

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I'm a get to the point kind of girl,

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and this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

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sessions. Now it's your turn.

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Go out and fulfill that dream of yours.

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Share your handmade products with us.

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We want them,

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and they bring us both.

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