Welcome to the third issue of the Email Marketing Ecosystem.

The reason for my switch from a “standard” email to a weekly email newsletter is to grow my audience organically. I’m doing this by creating an “ecosystem” of incoming channels to add subscribers to my list. Thus, the name of the newsletter.

Part of the point of this newsletter is to show you this process, so today is the first of a monthly-ish behind-the-scenes look at what I’m doing and how it’s going.

I say monthly-ish because if there’s nothing to report, I probably won’t waste your time or mine on trying to find “results” to brag about. We’ll see how this goes. It’s all a grand experiment.

The First Week: Set Up and Definition

The first week after I created and sent my inaugural Email Marketing Ecosystem newsletter, I set up a new page on my website to house these issues and I published the first issue.

This took a bit of doing because I already have a blog on my website, which you’ve probably visited in the past. I had to figure out how to add a second “blog” function and set it up on the new page so it only displayed the Email Marketing Ecosystem entries as opposed to my entire blog catalog.

My “regular” blog is extensive and I don’t want to lose those posts. But I do want to separate what I’m doing now because it’s a different format.

I now have a “Newsletter” button on my main menu.

And I have a page dedicated to the Email Marketing Ecosystem newsletters that includes the list of published issues and a sign-up form.

My First New Publishing Platform

I also started publishing my newsletter on LinkedIn.

This was a very simple process of starting an article, telling LinkedIn I want it to be a newsletter, and copying my newsletter, pictures and all, over to the LinkedIn platform.

I published exactly the same thing my subscribers saw in their inboxes, minus a few phrases that were specific to an email like the “name” field and my standard sign-off.

The only other changes I made were to clarify some of the text that referred to things my subscribers already know, so someone new to my world wouldn’t be confused.

Then I hit “Publish.”

LinkedIn asked me to create a post about my new newsletter, which I did, and it was launched into the LinkedIn world.

When I went onto LinkedIn on Tuesday to publish the second issue, I discovered to my delight that I already had 71 subscribers. As of writing this issue, I have 76.

Considering that I published my first issue 9 days ago, I’m quite happy.

Spreading the Word About My Newsletter

Those of you who also follow me on social media know that I post fairly regularly on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

As far as “exposure” goes, I think I get the best results on LinkedIn. My main audience is small business owners and that is where many of us hang out. I do get decent results on Facebook. I am not a big Instagram user personally, so I don’t get a lot of followers there.

During the first week, I posted 3 times on each platform. Most of the time, my links went to my new Newsletter page on my website. I did direct LinkedIn users to my LinkedIn newsletter once during this time.

If you look at the picture above, you’ll see my stats for the past 14 days. Again, my LinkedIn newsletter has been live for 9 of those 14 days as of today.

I only had 35 article views, but 320 people saw my posts about the newsletter and 4 people engaged (meaning liked) the newsletter.

When I look at my overall LinkedIn analytics, I see that my post impressions and follower counts are up a bit.

I am intermittent when it comes to engaging with others on LinkedIn. I am trying to spend more time there and less on other platforms, as this one is more useful to my business. I hope that as I become more active and post more issues, these stats will continue to rise.

Second Week: Expanding My Reach

This past week has been spent establishing my newsletter on two platforms that are brand-new to me: Substack and Medium.

I have been on LinkedIn for years and have been posting fairly regularly, so I expected some quick results.

I’ve never spent a lot of time on either of these new platforms, so I’m just learning the ropes. They’re both basically blogging platforms with the chance to earn money through the platform. I’m sure there’s a lot more to them than that, I just haven’t delved in enough to figure out what that means. That’s on this week’s to-do list.

I did decide to join Medium as a paid member because it looked like that was a good idea, if not a requirement to publish there. I have not looked into whether there is a similar membership to publish on Substack. I don’t think there is. I believe publishers decide whether they want to charge for their content or not. I don’t plan to at this point.

Setting up and publishing on each platform was fairly easy. I added the issues from the last two weeks and let the platforms do their thing.

On Medium, my stats show that my newsletter was “presented” 4 times, meaning it showed up in feeds or was sent in an email. I am not terribly surprised, being a brand-new newsletter on a well-established platform where I have no presence. Still, that’s more than I was expecting.

On Substack, my newsletter got 22 unique visitors from “direct” sources, meaning people found it on Substack. Again, more than I was expecting.

I did absolutely nothing to promote my newsletter on either of these platforms. I just published two articles on each. So the fact that anyone found them is a good thing in my world.

Plans as I Move Forward with My Newsletter

My goals for the coming week are to figure out how to get my newsletter to load automatically onto Medium as soon as I publish it on my website. There are plugins for this, which I am researching right now. If I can do this, it will be one less step each week.

I’m also looking into good ways to promote my newsletter on Medium and Substack without using social media to drive traffic to these platforms. Remember, my goal is to get more subscribers to join my email list. Meaning the list I own and have control over.

While I am happy whenever someone subscribes on these other platforms, I don’t control those lists. They could disappear and I would have no recourse. I would much rather have those names and email addresses in my ESP, where they can choose to stay or go of their own accord.

So, there’s your first update on how it’s going. I’d say I’m making slow but steady progress.

I hope these updates will help you as you grow your own email lists and continue to write to your subscribers, wherever they may find you.

By the way, I took the picture at the top of this post in January when I visited Santa Cruz Island, part of the Channel Islands National Park. I take a lot of nature pictures, so I’ll probably include one in most of my newsletters. Again, it’s that whole ecosystem thing.

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AI Slop is taking over the internet.

Internet users spot it a mile away, they hate it, and a lot of them are calling out the companies and content creators that make it.

According to Wikipedia major corporations like Coca-Cola, Paramount Pictures, and Activision have all been accused of creating AI Slop in recent advertising campaigns.

It’s shown up in politics, music, books, and all over social media. In fact, social media companies like Meta have created tools to help users generate more AI Slop.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver did an entire episode on AI Slop in June. And yes, some of the images and videos he showed were hysterical, as were some of his comments. I watched it. It’s brilliant.

And yes, AI Slop is showing up in your inbox as well.

What Is AI Slop?

In case you didn’t see the LWT episode or you have magically managed to escape this bizarre internet phenomenon, here is the definition of AI Slop, again, according to Wikipedia.

“AI slop is low-quality media made with generative artificial intelligence. It is characterized by an inherent lack of effort and is currently being generated at an overwhelming volume. Coined in the 2020s, the term has a pejorative connotation similar to spam.

AI slop has been variously defined as “digital clutter”, “filler content [prioritizing] speed and quantity over substance and quality”, and “shoddy or unwanted AI content in social media, art, books and […] search results”.”

Examples have been:

• Images of Jesus made out of shrimp, (yes, it’s a thing, I don’t understand either)
• A picture of Donald Trump with Taylor Swift while she was wearing a t-shirt that said “Swifties for Trump”
• Fake articles purporting to give advice on everything from cooking to plant care.

That’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

I’m sure you’ve seen AI Slop, even if you didn’t realize what it was.

Now that AI platforms are getting better at creating realistic images and video, and starting to write more like humans, it’s just going to get worse.

People HATE AI Slop

The common reactions to AI Slop on the internet are that it’s formulaic, soulless, and fake.

Humans can sniff out AI Slop, even when it’s convincing. And they’re becoming so jaded that they’re calling real content, made by other humans, AI Slop because they see it everywhere.

No one likes this stuff. So why do people (the primary source of AI Slop) keep doing it?

Because it attracts attention. And in a world that is full of noise and chaos, everyone wants attention focused on them.

Personally, I would argue that the best way to get attention and stand out from all of the AI Slop, noise and chaos, is with original, authentic content, whatever form that may take for your business.

I’ve said this before; I’ll say it again. Humans want to engage with other humans. We are social creatures. We thrive on our collective humanity because we’re all interconnected. This goes back to the whole ecosystem theme of this newsletter.

We want to connect. We want to understand each other. We want to engage with real, authentic expressions made by and for humans.

AI is a great tool. And it can help spur our creativity. But if we give it our ideas and let it take over, it generates… well… slop. It may look or sound cool, but is it really an expression of us if we don’t create it ourselves?

AI is Artificial Intelligence Not Emotional Intelligence

To me, this is the biggest difference between humans and current AI.

AI can give us information. It can even describe an experience, based on what it has scraped from the internet, books, movies, and other data used to teach it.

But AI has not lived that experience. It doesn’t have memories or emotions associated with that experience.

It’s not meant to be able to do this. It’s a tool. It’s not that advanced. AI companies may claim that it can, or that it will be able to someday, but we’re not there yet.

What Does All of This Have to Do with Your Email Marketing?

Two things, one technical, one human.

First, the technical aspect.

Internet Service Provider (ISP) spam filters are getting really good at filtering out AI Slop.

A lot of spam emails are AI generated, so the spam filters look at the content as well the headers, attachments, etc. In terms of the text, spam filters are looking for repetitive word patterns, synthetic tone, and similarity in content.

All issues with AI generated content.

So, if you’re using AI to write your emails and not reviewing that text before you hit send… i.e. you’re generating AI Slop… your emails will get caught in the spam filters.

As I have said many times before, this causes a world of problems, the worst of which is that your sender reputation is tanked and your domain is blacklisted.

Now, the human aspect.

As mentioned above, humans want real, authentic connection with other humans.

That means your subscribers, your ideal customers, want to connect with you.

They don’t want your vague ideas parsed by a Large Language Model and turned into something that sounds jargony, “strategic” and bland, like it could have been written by an 11^th grader.

They want your ideas. Your opinions. Your feelings.

They want to know who you are, so they feel confident buying from you.

This comes back to the whole “Know, Like, and Trust” factor. People want to know who they’re giving their hard-earned money to when they make a purchase.

There are dozens if not hundreds of companies out there doing whatever you do. Do you share their ideals? Are you an ethical company or person? What do you stand for?

You have to answer all of these questions, along with the “What’s In It For Me” question every consumer asks before they make a purchase.

This is why I advocate writing a weekly email, from you, by you, for your subscribers.

It’s why I do this every week, and have for the last 7 years. (Yes, it really has been that long, I just checked. Wow. 🤯)

It’s also why I’m distributing these emails beyond my email list, which is new for me. I want more people to know who I am, what I think, how I feel, and what I stand for.

And yes, I want more people to work with me to write their own emails. This is what I do for a living, after all.

But Writing Emails Is Hard and Time Consuming…

Yes, it is. Trust me, I wrote this one. And as mentioned, I’ve done this every week for 7 years.

And I write every word myself.

Do I use AI? Yes. I used Perplexity to research a lot of this week’s newsletter. But all of the words, all of the thoughts, all of the ideas came from me.

AI is a great tool. But it’s not you.

It’s getting better at replicating our voices, but it still can’t replace us. It can’t replicate our life experiences, our thought patterns, our innate humanness.

I realize that I am a good writer. I have a degree in creative writing and theater. I am a trained direct response copywriter. I’ve been doing this for 15+ years. I have an edge over most people. That’s why companies of all sizes hire me to do this for them.

But I also know that when it comes to expressing your beliefs, sharing the passion for what you do, and showing your ideal customers who you are, you’ll do a much better job than I, any other copywriter, or AI ever can.

Which is why I advocate for you writing this one email a week yourself.

Do I Have to Write Every Word Myself?

Honestly, no.

Yes, that’s what I do. And I know a lot of other business owners, thought leaders, and visionaries who do the same thing.

But this is where AI is actually useful.

With careful prompting and input from you, most LLMs can churn out a decent messy first draft.

From there, you can go through and revise it to make it your own. And I really mean make it your own.

The majority of members in my Email Writing Accountability Group use AI to start their emails. I really don’t have a problem with this. Staring at a blank page, having no idea what to write is hard.

But during our group review time, when my eyes are on everyone’s emails during our writing sessions, here are my 3 most common critiques for everyone’s emails:

• It doesn’t answer the “What’s In It For Me” question.
• I don’t see immediate or deeper benefits, telling me what I’ll get.
• It doesn’t sound like you.

During these sessions, I work with my group members to improve their writing so all three of these critiques are resolved.

And all of my group members say they’ve had great responses to their emails, and an uptick in sales. Because that is what this is all about.

So, to model my own behavior, I will now clearly address these 3 common critiques here in this rather long email.

The “What’s In It For Me” Question and Deeper Benefits

For you as the business owner, writing your own emails once a week lets you express yourself and share who you are with your subscribers and ideal customers. They get to know you through these regular nurture emails and have an easier time saying yes when they’re ready to buy.

For your customers, they’re getting a direct connection with you. You’re bringing them into your community, which makes them more loyal to your business. They’ll buy again and recommend you to their friends and family.

Making Your Emails Sound Like You, AI Generated or Not

This is exactly what the Email Writing Accountability Group is for.

This is true whether you write every word yourself or you have help from ChatGPT or Claude.

I work with you to establish your voice and help you come up with topics every week, if needed. Then you write for 30 minutes.

Once your first draft is written, I give you that necessary feedback, so you can “make it sound like you.” In some cases, this is just smoothing out what’s already there. In others, I help you figure out what you’re actually trying to say, so you can do a better job of expressing yourself.

You get another 20 minutes to incorporate those edits into your email.

And voila! You’re done with your weekly nurture email and you or your VA can load it into your ESP to deliver to your subscribers. (FYI, this is the immediate benefit of the Email Writing Accountability Group.)

So, there you are. Examples of me practicing what I preach.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Email Writing Accountability Group, please click on the button below.

Whatever you do, please avoid contributing to the AI Slop that is taking over the internet.

You’ll be happier, your customers will appreciate you for who you are and what you do for them, and your business will thrive. 

And just to end this newsletter on a happy note, here is a very cute, definitely not AI slop picture of two of my cats, Lugh and Arawn.

Welcome to the very first issue of The Email Marketing Ecosystem Newsletter.

I’m making some changes to my business and to how I send my weekly emails. You are witnessing the very first change.

I used to send emails every Tuesday and Thursday.

From now on, I’ll write a longer, more thoughtful piece every Thursday. Which is what you’re reading now.

And now I’d like to answer your first question:

Why are you calling it the Email Marketing Ecosystem Newsletter, Tanya?

Thanks so much for asking.

I’ll start my answer by talking about a totally different subject.

Consistency.

One of the most important things I’ve noticed in observing email marketing campaigns from businesses of all types, as well as in creating those campaigns for my clients and for my own business, is consistency.

Consistency in sending, so people know when to look for your emails.

Consistency in what your business is offering and who you serve.

And consistency in your voice, personality, and mission.

When people understand who you are, what you do, and what you’re all about, it’s easier for them to determine whether you’re the right fit for them.

It’s also what draws the right people to you and makes them feel welcome as part of your community.

This is true whether you’re representing your business at a farmer’s market, on a podcast, on your website, on social media, or from your brick-and-mortar store.

You want your overall vibe, messaging, and presentation to be consistent. That way, people don’t hear one thing in one place and another thing somewhere else, which can be confusing.

I have always tried to keep my email cadence, my offers, my voice, and my mission consistent.

But things change. I am making decisions about my business that affect you, as my subscriber, and me as the business owner. I want to keep you updated on what these changes are and what they mean for both of us going forward.

Some of those changes have to do with the way I’m presenting myself and my business in the world.

Why?

It comes back to that word, “ecosystem.”

Yeah, What’s Up with the Word “Ecosystem?”

According to the Oxford Dictionary, ecosystem, as a general term, refers to “a complex network or interconnected system.”

If you think about it, we’re all our own unique ecosystems.

Our bodies are ecosystems in and of themselves, housing specialized networks and organisms that cooperate to keep us functioning.

We exist within whatever ecosystem we live in, such as our city, or a geographical area, like the plains, the desert, or mountain regions.

And our entire planet is its own ecosystem.

Our businesses are ecosystems too. So is our marketing.

If you look at your business and your marketing as an interconnected system, you want everything to work together to reach out to new people, draw them in, explain who you are and what you do, and convert them into customers who buy your product or service.

This is literally the lifeblood of your business.

Which is where the whole consistency thing comes in.

Ecosystems thrive when they’re kept basically consistent. Yes, there will be changes. Changes in season, health, and environment.

But when those changes are sudden or drastic, the ecosystem doesn’t do very well.

Shocks to the (eco)system reverberate throughout the system and cause serious problems.

The same is true of your marketing ecosystem. A sudden shock can cause everything to fall apart, which results in lost revenue.

Your goal should be to keep your marketing ecosystem consistent in voice, content, and delivery, so you keep that steady stream of customers coming in. This feeds your ecosystem and keeps it healthy. And we all want healthy, thriving businesses.

Ecosystems also expand, which can be a good thing, but may result in some growing pains.

That’s what I’m working on right now.

Expanding My Email Marketing Ecosystem

Up until now, I used a tried-and-true method of putting out content (a blog and weekly emails) and attracting new subscribers to my email list with a main lead magnet and content upgrades.

That worked well for me. It worked well for my clients too.

But things change.

I’ve tried many marketing methods over the years. Everything from quizzes and Facebook ads to networking, being on podcasts, and organic social media posts.

What I’m seeing work well is creating a marketing ecosystem that relies on a primary, consistent content source. That source is then distributed to different platforms in appropriate ways, so more people can find and connect with that content.

That’s what I’m building for my own business. And I’m inviting you to follow me on this journey so we can learn together.

For me, this email newsletter will be that primary, consistent content source. If you’re subscribed to my email list, you’ll still receive this email newsletter in your inbox every Thursday.

At the beginning of the following week, it will get distributed on my website and different newsletter platforms, as well as repurposed to share on social media.

That’s how I’m creating a consistent, growing, thriving marketing ecosystem that brings in more customers for my business. As I learn what works, I’ll replicate this for my clients and their businesses.

I’ll still talk about building relationships with your subscribers and nurturing them on their customer journeys. I’ll still advocate for you writing one email a week and sharing valuable information that helps your subscribers see that you have the ideal solution for their problem.

I’ll just do it in an expanded format, creating my own marketing ecosystem. And I’ll model what I’m doing for you, so you can do it too.

So, to make a short story long, that’s why I’m calling this the Email Marketing Ecosystem Newsletter.

Welcome here.

I hope you enjoy the journey and you’re able to take what I’m doing and apply it to build your own marketing ecosystem for your own business.

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