The easiest way to know what to write about

--> obvious?

This is going to sound trivial, but it’s amazing how many people just don’t do it - or assume they “already know” so they don’t bother.

Including me - too often.

The easiest way to know what to write about in your newsletter is to ask your readers (or potential readers).

You can run a survey to your email list or on social media. You can ask a handful of people informally face to face, over the phone or via email or socials.

I did a mini survey once about topics by messaging contacts on Linkedin and got some great and very thoughtful answers.

It was really helpful. And almost anyone can do the same thing.

But typically we don’t.

Sometimes it’s because we assume we already know the answers.

We don’t.

Sometimes we’re afraid to ask, worrying that people will think we’re not really an expert in our field if we have to ask them what they want to hear about.

They won’t.

Sometimes it’s because we believe BS like “Steve Jobs said he never relied on market research”.

Yeah. Jobs said that. But when sued, Apple were forced to disclose a bunch of documents that showed they had done more market research than any other tech company.

And sometimes we get lost in the debate about the accuracy of surveys and all the potential biases and problems you can encounter.

Which might all be true. But I can promise you, when it comes to picking a topic for your newsletter, even flawed research is better than not asking.

Because if nothing else it gets you moving. Unstuck.

It gets you writing about something. Anything.

And from there you get feedback. You can see what clicks and what doesn’t.

And the momentum of writing builds and builds until it becomes a habit.

So if you’re stuck starting or continuing with your newsletter because you’re not sure what the best thing to write about is…know this…

—> You don’t have to write about the “best thing”. Just something useful.

—> If you ask, you’ll find out something useful, and people will be grateful you asked

It’s a real case of “just do it”.

- Ian