I had no idea what to write this week.
Seriously. I sat here wracking my brain for 36 hours, trying to figure out what I wanted to share with you in this week’s Email Marketing Ecosystem newsletter.
I’m probably still suffering from election lag. (I worked for the California Primary Election last Saturday through Tuesday and I’m still a bit sleep deprived.)
So, in the interest of helping you while also helping myself, this week I’m going to go through a few of my favorite ways to get my own creative juices flowing.
Which means today’s newsletter is all about avoiding the “White Screen of Death” as some of my Email Writing Accountability Group Members call it.
Here are 3 easy tips to help you break through the writer’s block and get your fingers dancing across the keyboard so you can send that weekly nurture email.
Tip #1: Answer the Most Common Questions You’re Asked
What are the most common questions people ask you about your business, or your product or service?
You can probably come up with at least 5 right away. Maybe even more if you dig a little.
Here’s a good example: I regularly talk to people who confuse “copywriter” with “copyright.” They usually think I work for an Intellectual Property law firm. I’ve even been asked what it’s like to work for the Patent Office.
My explanation usually involves spelling each word so people understand the difference, then telling them that I write advertising copy for conscious businesses and nonprofits.
I realize that this is pretty specific to my world, but it is a basic question many people have. You probably get questions like this about what you do too.
Here are some REALLY general examples to get you started:
- What does your (product or service) do?
- How would this product help me do X?
- Where would I use this?
- Can this service help me solve problem Y?
- What does this bit here do when it comes to A, B, and C?
Answer those questions in your weekly nurture emails.
This is one of the easiest ways to break through the “I never know what to write” problem.
You already know the answers to these questions because you’ve been asked so many times. All you need to do is write it down. Then use the question as your subject line, give a very short teaser for your Preheader text, and you’re ready to go.
Tip #2: Share Your “Why”
As business owners and entrepreneurs, we all have reasons we started our businesses. This is especially true for those of us who run businesses with a mission.
Tell your subscribers why you do what you do, and why this matters so much to you.
This is always a good topic, because it never hurts to reinforce what you’re doing and how it impacts the world. Also your mission may change over time, or it may evolve as the impact your business is having develops.
Granted, you don’t want every single email to be on this topic, but it’s nice to have in your back pocket when you’re feeling stuck.
By the way, if you haven’t shared your Origin Story, or the event or problem that prompted you to start your business in the first place, that is another good topic to use.
Tip #3: Ask AI What to Write About
Before I go any further, I am NOT suggesting that you let ChatGPT or Claude write all of your emails without reviewing them before you send them.
Far from it.
I am suggesting that the robots are very good at research and can help you find topics that would appeal to your subscribers.
Here’s a simple process to get AI to help you figure out what to write about.
Step 1: Give AI your business info and Ideal Customer Avatar
Tell your chosen LLM (large language model, like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude) about your ideal customer. If you have a full profile of this person, upload that. If not, give it the following:
- What you do: Your job title and niche
- Who you sell to:
- Person
- Approximate age
- Distinguishing factor related to your business (optional)
- Your ideal customer’s problem they want to solve or goal they want to achieve
- The name and a short, concise description of your product or service: Include how it helps your ideal customers solve their problem or accomplish their goal.
Step 2: Ask AI what to write about
Specifically, ask it what would appeal to your email subscribers. The whole point of writing these emails is to get their attention and their eyeballs on your product or service.
I decided to try this for myself, as I couldn’t come up with anything to write about today.
Here is my AI prompt:
I am an email marketing strategist. I help conscious business owners write regular nurture emails to their subscribers.
My ideal customer avatar is a conscious business owner, usually a woman, between the ages of 38 and 55, who doesn’t currently write to her email subscribers because she never knows what to write.
My ideal customer wants to write to her email list regularly but has problems coming up with topics to write about or knowing what to say in her emails.
My service is the Email Writing Accountability Group, a weekly session where business owners write their weekly nurture emails in 30 minutes, get feedback from me and other group members, then incorporate that feedback for another 20 minutes, and walk away with a nurture email they can send to their subscribers every week.
Please give me 5 email topics that are easy for me to write about and would appeal to my ideal customers.
Here is what Claude came up with, based on this prompt:
Your Turn…
Ready to try generating your own list of email idea prompts? Just to make it easy for you, I asked Claude to make a fill-in-the-blank version of the prompt you can use to generate your own list of email topics. Copy and paste this into your chosen AI’s chat box, then fill in the bracketed sections with your information.
I am a [YOUR PROFESSION/ROLE]. I help [YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER DESCRIPTION] [WHAT YOU HELP THEM DO OR ACHIEVE].
My ideal customer avatar is a [DEMOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION — age, gender, lifestyle, etc.] who [CURRENT SITUATION OR BEHAVIOR RELEVANT TO YOUR SERVICE].
My ideal customer wants to [DESIRED OUTCOME] but has problems with [SPECIFIC OBSTACLES OR PAIN POINTS].
My service is [NAME OF YOUR OFFER], [BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF HOW IT WORKS AND WHAT THEY WALK AWAY WITH].
Please give me 5 email topics that are easy for me to write about and would appeal to my ideal customers.
See what your AI comes up with for your business and your ideal customers.
Now That You Have Your Email Topics, Go Write!
I hope there is at least one idea on your topics list that you’re excited about, so your next weekly nurture email flows from your fingers with ease and enthusiasm.
As always, I will invite you to join us for a free session of the Email Writing Accountability Group.
You’ll have time and support to write your weekly nurture email, and you’ll get direct feedback from me on what you (or you and AI) have written. That way, you can make this the best, most interesting email possible for your subscribers.
You’ll walk away with a completed email you can send.
Your subscribers will hear from you and get the benefit of whatever you share with them. Plus, they’ll have another reason to trust you. Which will lead them to click on the link in your email and visit your website. (This is about getting more sales, after all.)
Everyone wins.
Click on the button below to schedule your free session now.
I look forward to seeing you in an upcoming session very soon.
Perhaps you can use one of the topics your AI gave you to write your next nurture email during your free session.
Finally, today’s landscape pictures are from the spa at the resort in Mexico I went to this past March. They’re a welcome reminder of the things that truly matter.
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