"Real" marketers will hate me for this
--> but it needs to be said
Last time I said that having a list of topics to write about based on the problems, challenges, goals and aspirations of your ideal clients was fundamental to a successful newsletter.
Without it you’ll be constantly stuck, trying to come up with ideas for what to write about. With it, you just pick something off the list.
And the very best way to build that list is through actually talking to your ideal clients. Either formally through interviews or informally just chatting about those problems, challenges, goals and aspirations.
But if you’re staring at a blank screen at 2am struggling for ideas, me telling you you need to start with in-depth research doesn’t help all that much.
And you know what? 99% of the time it’s just not needed.
Not for a newsletter anyway.
Maybe if you’re trying to create a blockbuster new product that does something no other product does.
But for a newsletter?
You just need to be sending helpful ideas about things your audience cares about.
Those topics don’t need to be new. They don’t need to be unique.
They just need to be helpful.
Sure, your newsletter needs to be different to what they can get from everyone else.
But 99% of the time that comes from your unique ideas about how to solve problems, or your unique stories and examples and ways of talking about them. It almost never comes because you’ve identified a problem no one else has.
If I look back at the most successful emails I’ve written over the last few years, none of them has been about a topic no one else has written about.
I’ve covered similar topics to others who write about marketing or email or writing. I’ve just got different ideas and different stories about those topics
So if the trick to a successful newsletter is new and interesting ideas about common, even well-worn problems your audience has, where does that topic list of problems come from?
Here’s where “real” marketers are going to hate me…
I reckon these days you can get 80%+ the way there through AI.
There. I said it.
If you’re sitting late at night struggling to know what to write about, and you haven’t already got a topic list straight from the horse’s mouth: AI can generate one for you.
It won’t have any unique stuff on it that only you could know about based on proprietary insights from your own client research.
But it will have a ton of useful topics you can write about that your audience will value. And that’s enough.
How do you get AI to give you that list?
I’m going to suggest you play around and try out various different methods to get to know what works for you. But as a starting point, here’s a prompt I’ve used with Claude.ai (my favourite tool for writing):
Perform deep research on the typical problems consultants, coaches, trainers and small business owners have when it comes to writing regular email newsletters. Look at what experts say, plus the problems that consultants, coaches, trainers and small business owners report and complain about on blogs, forums and social media.
Give me a list of the 10 most common and biggest impact issues they have.
Obviously you’d switch in your own audience and topics. But here’s what it came up with for me:
Lack of time: Many professionals struggle to find time to consistently create and send newsletters amidst their other responsibilities.
Coming up with fresh content ideas: Regularly generating new, relevant, and engaging topics can be challenging, especially for long-term newsletter campaigns.
Low open rates: Getting subscribers to actually open and read the newsletters is a persistent challenge for many.
Poor engagement: Even when opened, newsletters often fail to generate the desired level of interaction or response from readers.
Maintaining a consistent schedule: Sticking to a regular publishing schedule can be difficult, leading to irregular communication with the audience.
Building and maintaining a quality subscriber list: Growing a list of engaged subscribers and managing list hygiene (removing inactive subscribers) is an ongoing challenge.
Balancing promotion and value: Finding the right mix between promoting services and providing valuable, non-promotional content can be tricky.
Writing compelling subject lines: Crafting subject lines that entice opens without being misleading or spammy is a common struggle.
Technical issues: Navigating email marketing platforms, ensuring proper formatting across devices, and avoiding spam filters can be technically challenging.
Measuring and interpreting results: Understanding metrics, tracking ROI, and using data to improve future newsletters is often overlooked or poorly executed.
Not a bad initial list at all. Next you can ask it to dive into more details. The prompt I used was:
Expand on #4 - what do people say about poor engagement? try to find the exact words people use when reporting or complaining about the issue.
And the answer was:
When people discuss poor engagement in their email newsletters, they often use phrases and complaints like:
"I'm shouting into the void": Many express frustration that their newsletters seem to disappear into a black hole, with no response or interaction from recipients.
"My click-through rates are abysmal": There's frequent disappointment about low click-through rates, with comments like "I spend hours crafting content, but barely anyone clicks on my links."
"It feels like I'm talking to myself": This sentiment reflects the lack of feedback or response from subscribers.
"Why aren't people replying to my calls-to-action?": Many complain that their attempts to prompt action or responses fall flat.
"I can't tell if anyone actually cares about my content": This reflects uncertainty about whether the newsletter is providing value to subscribers.
"My unsubscribe rate is creeping up": Some worry about gradually losing subscribers due to lack of engagement.
"I'm not seeing any conversions from my newsletter": There's frustration when newsletters fail to generate leads or sales.
"No one's sharing my content": People express disappointment when subscribers don't forward or share the newsletter content with others.
"I get more out-of-office replies than actual responses": This humorous but frustrated comment highlights the lack of real engagement.
"It's like my emails are going straight to the trash": This reflects the fear that subscribers are deleting newsletters without reading them.
"I feel like I'm wasting my time": Some question whether the effort put into newsletters is worthwhile given the low engagement.
"My audience seems completely passive": This complaint points to a desire for more active participation from subscribers.
These comments reflect a range of frustrations, from feeling ignored to questioning the value of their efforts. The emotional tone often ranges from disappointment to frustration, with an underlying concern about the effectiveness of their communication strategy.
Now, of course, AI is known for generating “phantom” quotes that no one actually said. And not all the suggestions are as good as the others.
But you know what? This list took me 2 minutes to generate and it’s as good as something I would have spent an hour or so brainstorming by myself.
I can take most of these and write useful articles about them. Or I could ask Claude to expand any of them and say what some of the root causes are - and I could write about those.
The end newsletter is my ideas, expressed in my voice.
But I saved myself a ton of time coming up with the topics. And frankly, there were a bunch of topics it came up with that I’d never have thought of.
Now I realise that there may be some people reading this thinking “that’s cheating” or “it’ll never be as creative as coming up with the topics yourself”.
But at the end of the day, your primary goal is not to be creative or original. It’s to be useful.
And much as “real” marketers might hate it, for those of us with limited time and energy, using AI to come up with our topic lists is a huge time saver. And it might well give us better lists than we’d come up with ourselves.
And, of course, we can combine the two.
Start off with an AI list when we’re short of time. Backfill with interviews when we get more time and want to try to get original insights.
Make sense?
The truth is I’m using AI more and more in everything I do in marketing. For people who don’t have 8 hours a day to spend on marketing it’s a life-saver.
- Ian