email subject lines

Newflash: You’re probably not emailing your list enough!

In Q4 of 2022, Jess Campbell, founder and principal at Out in the Boons, wrote over FOUR HUNDRED emails for nine campaigns! As you can imagine, she learned a lot, and she’s here today to share the nuts and bolts of email marketing - from coming up with creative subject lines, to personalizing and segmenting your email content.

While most nonprofits are emailing their lists one or two times a month, Jess says we need to be more consistent. I have no doubt this episode will inspire you to rethink your email strategy.

In This Episode:

• Why we need to be more consistent with emailing our lists (and 1-2x per month is not enough!) Jess aims for three emails a week for each of her different audiences.
• How emailing your list more often can actually lead to a healthier list, more open rates, more clicks, and more engagement.
• Jess’s origin story of falling in love with nonprofit fundraising, and the “slap in the face” moment that inspired her to launch Out in the Boons.
• Why shorter subject lines (with an emoji!) tend to have higher open rates.
• The industry standard benchmarks for open rates across all nonprofits and the best cadence for structuring a welcome sequence.
• How to convert your social media followers to join your email list (because the people who are paying attention to you across different channels are your most engaged supporters)

Resources & Links

Spend less time posting manually and use Later for all your social media management and analytics needs! Start with a FREE account today.

Learn more about Jess’s company, Out in the Boons and DM her on Instagram at @outintheboons_. She is also on TikTok and LinkedIn.

Jess and I recommend email platforms like Flodesk, ActiveCampaign, and ConvertKit. You can get better conversion rates and inbox placement by using Klean13, a list hygiene software.

What if you could grow your email list with passionate supporters ready to rally behind your mission? My bestselling course, Grow Your Supporter List, is on sale for 20% off, just for podcast listeners. Enter code PODCAST at checkout

March 2024

Join me on Thursday, March 14th at 10a PT / 1p ET for a FREE virtual event to learn how to supercharge your social fundraising and learn next-level tactics to deliver the right donors. Register here to join live or to get the replay.

Are you ready to grow your email list with social ads in just seven days? Join the next round of my Grow Your List Ads Challenge where we’ll create your lead magnet and ad copy and make sure that we're setting up your ads for success. Limited spots are left and we start the week of March 11th! Click here to register.

Let's Connect!

• Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!
• Head to YouTube for helpful digital marketing how-to videos and podcast teasers
• Want to book Dana as a speaker for your event? Click here!

A looooong time ago...I'm talkin' 15-20 years ago, my sister Jen told me about this incredible fitness pro named Lauren Brooks.  Jen is one of the fittest people I know, so when she recommends someone, I listen. She mentioned that Lauren focused on fitness with kettlebells, had a ton of expertise, and was a genuine person.

I bought a few of her DVDs - you know, those things that look like CDs but play movies instead of music. Oh right, so, CDs are these round discs...ugh, forget it. I was hooked on her workouts and bought her Baby Bells workout when I was pregnant.

Fast forward to now and Lauran has grown (and continues to grow) her fitness empire. Long gone are the DVDs. In their place, an enormous digital library of workouts, a monthly membership called Lauren's Playground, a thriving community, and a lot more.

I'm honored to now call Lauren a friend as our entrepreneurial journeys have crossed in more ways than one. So grateful that she took time out to chat.

Discussion Highlights:

• How being severely bullied impacted the life she's built today
• Pioneering the kettlebell movement's growth in the United States
• Growing an empire in a male-dominated industry
• Building a sustainable business that spans generations and technology evolutions
• Creating a fitness career that leverages multiple incomes streams and passive income

The Wrap-Up:

If you could listen to one music artist for the rest of your life, who would it be? Drake (fitness) Bob Marley (everyday life)

Where can people find you online?
Website
Instagram
Facebook

This week I get to chat with Emily King, wealth and abundance coach. She focuses on helping women entrepreneurs with their money mindset to grow their income and impact doing what they love.

After years of hoarding money and coming from a scarcity mindset, Emily learned about money mindset. In addition to vision boards, mantras, and visualizations she learned the science behind it all. Things that 'shouldn't have happened' started to happen the more she learned and implemented…like a $100K product launch.

Highlight Discussions:

• What a financial thermostat is and how to manage yours
• Harnessing your reticular activating system
• The first steps Emily has her clients take toward financial freedom
• What she implemented to earn at $100K launch

The Wrap-Up

If you could listen to one music artist for the rest of your life, who would it be? Mumford and Sons

Where can people find you online?

• Website
• Instagram
• Manifesting Meditations

Angie Clarke went from full-time corporate warrior to full-time quilter. The mom of three began her t-shirt quilting business, Crafted Angles, on the side and has now turned it into a bustling LLC. The passing of her brother inspired her to expand her already impressive sewing skills to include quilting beautiful quilts made from t-shirts - she describes it as a scrapbook you can hug.

Balancing her kiddos (her youngest was born three months early and is now an active toddler - all three of her babies spent time in the NICU so now Angie supports NICU efforts with fundraisers and donations), husband, work, and everything else, Angie found time to grow her business to one with a full-time income, and a big community impact.

Discussion highlights:

• Taking a business to the next level during obstacles (COIVD-19)…with small kids…who require additional supports
• Growing a business from local to national clientele
• Tools that organize the daily grind to make it all possible!

The Wrap-Up

If you could listen to one music artist for the rest of your life, who would it be? Coldplay

Where can people find you online?

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

This week I get to chat with author,  Mike Geraghty. Mike also happens to be my cousin - love it when my business intersects with family time! Mike is an accomplished author having been represented by an incredible publisher for years now. Having written multiple books available online and via a variety of book stores, Mike tells all about what it takes to be a published author going the traditional publishing route (as opposed to the self-publishing route).

Some discussion highlights:

• How content writing helped him land a publishing deal
• The writing process that supports his quick turnaround
• Navigating a COVID world without in-person promotional events
• Where to get ideas for books and character profiles
• Tools he uses for his writing process

The Wrap-Up

If you could listen to one music artist for the rest of your life, who would it be? Miles Davis

Where can people find you online?

Scarlet Lantern Publishing

Scarlet Lantern Publishing - Lacy Hart Pen Name

Facebook

Instagram

TikTok

What if there was a way to grow your email list, learn about your audience to offer them the exact solutions they need, AND have a shareable, reusable lead magnet for years to come? You probably know where I'm going with this…there is! 

An online quiz checks all these boxes, and this week we have online quiz extraordinaire, Linda Sidhu joining us. Linda is a list-building expert and strategic partner with Interact (a leading online quiz platform). In fact, one of her early quizzes was so successful that Interact reached out to her to ask how she did it, and would she partner up with them? Ever since Linda has made quite the name for herself as THE person to go to when creating an online business to grow your business.

One of the many things I love about Linda is how kind and transparent she is. She truly wants her fellow entrepreneurs to succeed, so she leaves no stone unturned - she shares her processes and completely went about and beyond in this discussion!

 Some highlights:

• Three big mistakes people make when building online quizzes
• How to tell what kind of quiz to create for your business
• Critical steps to follow when building your quiz
• Length, layout and quiz design
• Make sure your results page has these components
• The most powerful way to promote your quiz…and build your email list!
• How to make your quiz work for you, beyond your email list

The Wrap-Up

• If you could listen to one music artist for the rest of your life, who would it be? The Lumineers
• Where can people find you online?
  • Website

As promised, here are the Resources I promised I'd link to in the show notes: 

Discover your Quiz-to-Cash strategy here:

https://www.lindasidhu.com/quiztocash

Join Linda's upcoming 3-Day Nail Your Quiz Idea Challenge:

https://www.lindasidhu.com/challenge

 Check out this link to Interact - use this code for 20% off the lifetime of your quiz-

QUIZLOVE20

https://interact.grsm.io/lindasidhu1201

In this episode, we also chatted about some apps we use to meditate and become more centered. Linda referenced this app for hypnotherapy: Grace Space. I mentioned the app Head Space.

A lead magnet, a freebie, an opt-in - whatever you want to call it, it's a strong tool to leverage when growing your email list. And growing your email list means growing your audience base and growing your audience base means increasing those qualified leads (if your lead magnet brings in your target audience) and more qualified leads mean more revenue.

In this episode I discuss:

• info you need before creating your lead magnet
• types of lead magnets
• creating and designing your lead magnet
• the layout of your lead magnet
• your thank you page
• your delivery email

This is a quick overview, so send me a note at hello@musclecreative.com if you want me to go deeper on any or all of these parts of the process!

Oh and I promised I'd put the link to this episode in the show notes, so here you are:
How to Boost the Power of Your Headlines https://www.musclecreative.com/podcast-ep69 

Maybe you've started a podcast or video series...or perhaps you're in the planning stages.

Regardless of your topic, you're probably like - what the heck am I going to talk about every week (or whatever cadence you choose)?

Perhaps consider a format that allows you to welcome guests onto the show. That way, you won't have the pressure of carrying the entire show every week...and typically the guest will also help promote it. Two birds.

In this episode, I discuss 11 ways to seek out your ideal guests. After all, you want to be selective in who you invite to your show - they need to be a fit for your niche and your audience. 

Stream the episode and let me know which tactics you'll adopt to book your next guests!

This week, I thought we'd talk a little bit about creating headlines, subject lines, your call-to-action - you know, the stuff that gets your ideal audience to DO WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO.  Whether it's an opt-in page, sales page, social media post, email, blog post, etc... it's super important to have action-oriented headlines that actually work. 

Before you even start to create these glorious bits of copy, I go over the 3 things you have to have right.  If you don't have these things, you're SOL.  Once you have those things buttoned up, you can move into working on the calls-to-action for your buttons, headlines, subject lines, the whole shebang. 

Oh and here are the links to the other episodes I mention - I promised I'd add the links to the show notes, so here they are:

The 4 Critical Steps to Starting a Business (this talks about identifying your ICA - I've done an entire training on this with my Facebook group, need to do one for the podcast)
https://www.musclecreative.com/podcast-ep65

5 Qualities of Super Clickable Email Subject Lines
https://www.musclecreative.com/podcast-ep54 

In order to grow a sustainable business that won't have you pulling your hair out (at least maybe not every day), automating processes is critical. It saves you time, money, and your sanity. No matter if you're new to business, or an experienced entrepreneur or in your career, building systems that streamline what your business needs is key. 

Many people, whether employees or business owners, crave flexibility in their schedules and creating automation in your business or career can help make that happen. In fact, I know of multiple businesses that have turned to a four-day workweek, and automating aspects of their business made that schedule a reality. 

In this episode, I go over 7 specific areas of your business or role in your career where you can add automation.

The email subject line for a job inquiry is a prime piece of real estate. It’s often what will either drive a hiring manager to open an email and review your resume, or ignore it. As a job seeker, you need to do everything possible to make your email stand apart. So, think about what you want to convey to a hiring professional, and write your way to a new career with a powerful job inquiry email subject line!

“Most of the time, we recommend the subject line contains your name and other vital pieces of info like the job title or requisition number,” says Brie Reynolds, manager of the Career Coaching Program at FlexJobs. “Depending on your situation, though, you may want to include other details to really make your email stand out.”

Read the full article here: https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/5-go-email-subject-lines-job-seekers/

FlexJobs | Find A Better Way To Work at www.flexjobs.com

FlexJobs is a subscription service for job seekers. With an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, the monthly subscription costs allow us to fully vet and verify all of the jobs on our site—ensuring that customers have a safe and positive job searching experience to find work-from-home jobs.

FlexJobs is a subscription service for job seekers that features flexible and remote jobs. With an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and a 4.7 rating from over 10,000 reviews, FlexJobs ensures that customers have a safe and positive remote job searching experience - without the ads, scams and junk found on other job sites.

FlexJobs | Find A Better Way To Work

It might surprise you to hear this but: you don't need a fancy website and logo to get your business going…nor to grow it substantially.

Honestly, creating your email list is one of the most important things to do early on. Grabbing an email service provider and then creating a landing page or two, one with info about your offer and another to gate your lead magnet to collect email addresses of those in your ideal, targetted community. (I'll be doing a separate podcast episode regarding the technical and content side of lead magnets)

I looked at over 60 email marketing platforms (even I was surprised at how many email marketing platforms are out there) and whittled that list down to six for you to consider. Links are below. 

 In this episode I go over some soft and hard skills that your ultimate choice should have, a checklist of what to consider when you're looking at email marketing platforms:

• ease of use
• customer service
• pricing structure
• segmentation
• automation
• data analytics (see more on this in episode 58, "The 3 Email Metrics that Matter"

Here are some email marketing platforms to consider: (I am not an affiliate)

• Mailchimp
• Flodesk
• ConvertKit
• ActiveCampaign
• SendGrid
• Kartra

For an all-in-one toolkit to starting your online business including:

• choosing a:
  • business formation
  • website platform 
  • email marketing platform
  • project management platform 
• setting up a business bank account
• managing a business alongside life

check out my digital course, "Online Business On-Ramp" here.

Have you ever felt like you were all over the place? Unproductive? Flitting from here to there? Like you're always saying yes when you wish, you could say no? Doing things that don't feel right or that aren't serving your priorities?

You probably don't have solid boundaries in place. 

Boundaries are all about your mental health. If your head's not in the game, if your mind and priorities aren't clear enough to enforce boundaries, you've lost before you've even begun. 

Like a lot of things in life, these will be challenged. And when they do, you'll need some solid footing to stand on to move forward. 

In this episode I'll discuss the six things to do when creating (successful) boundaries, whether it's for your personal or professional life…or both!

This week, I wanted to go over critical steps you need to take when starting your own business. So some of you may have already started your own business, and others might be thinking about it but haven't taken the plunge. 

You might want time flexibility while earning an income, you might you love your full time job, but want to have a business in addition to that that you want to build. 

And maybe you're curious as to what it would entail. Perhaps you've launched your own business, but need a nudge in the right direction. 

So I thought, let's do an episode about a few of the critical things, the critical steps that you should take when you're starting your own online business, such as:

• How to come up with a business idea
• Clarity on vision and why you want a business
• Validate your business idea - ensure it's sustainable and profitable!
• Identifying your ideal client/customer

Hope this episode is helpful! For more support check out my Online Business On-Ramp course here: https://www.musclecreative.com/course It's the direct, no frills system to managing the often missed yet critical logistics to launching your online business.

This week, let's talk about a biggie that plagues all businesses - how to tackle the most common online sales obstacles or objections. These are objections you might get from people when they're considering buying your product or service. 

When you learn the objections that people have when considering your offer beforehand, you an address it directly...before they even come up. This an be an organic conversation using copysation (listen to episode #53 - Connect with Copy: Grow Your Clientele), like I always say - use copy as a conversation. Some of the common ones you might hear are your product or service is too expensive, people aren't ready, they have to check with their spouse or partner, they think it might not work for them, or they can find the information for free. I go over the three most common:

• "I don't have the money." aka "It's too expensive."
• "I don't have the time." aka "I'm too busy."
• "I'm not ready." aka "It's not the right time."

Remember that your job is not to convince anyone to buy from you. Your job is to make sure they are heard, and that you are making it crystal clear that you understand where they're coming from, what they desire, and how what you have can get them that transformation - the benefits they will enjoy along with their results.

This week I talk about something in copywriting that trips a lot of people up.

THE SALES PAGE.

Your sales page can be the key piece of success in your sales funnel and customer journey if you take a critical (yet organic) view of it.

Your sales page should be clear on exactly:

• what you’re offering
• who it’s for
• why it’s important
• how it will help solve a problem or deliver a transformation 

Your copy should be organic to you and your brand. It should be conversational and include the reader. Use copysation, the writing style I teach that uses copy as conversation. It will flow better, come across more natural, and will immediately connect with your reader.

In this episode, I go through how to structure your sales page from top to bottom.

As an example, you can look at my Email Ally sales page. It's a great reference point as I go through each section. Click here to check out that page.

I hear the term side hustle a lot. And it makes me cringe every time. Calling something a side hustle gives it less weight. Less importance. As if it's this fluffy thing in the corner that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Pick it up and put it down as needed. That sounds more like a hobby to me.

But what I mostly see that are called 'side hustles' are not that at all. They are legitimate businesses. The start of a company. Really valuable products and services. 

Most successful entrepreneurs, in defining success as financial gain, have multiple income streams. They own multiple companies. They invest in multiple companies and start-ups. They own real estate. They offer a variety of products and services. 

Guess what? If you work full-time for an employer and have started your own companies that you are putting consistent effort into - you are an entrepreneur.

You are NOT "someone working full-time that also has side hustles". You have multiple income streams. Full stop.

I hope this episode gives people in this situation confidence to keep going, and to be proud of what they're building.

I see so many headlines screaming - quit your day job! But, what if you like your job AND you are building other businesses too AND you are serious about all? If you still work for an employer, should you be ashamed of that? If you're not stepping away from your full-time job to pursue your entrepreneurial ambitions does that mean you're not successful? NO WAY.

I want to put an end to this crazy either/or rhetoric that we've all been hearing for too long.

You may have asked yourself this question multiple times in the past year, a few times this part quarter, and maybe even a couple of times this week: 

Do I need to pivot (or shut down) my business?

After having sooooo many conversations with entrepreneurs via this podcast, in my Facebook group, in my courses, on social media…one of the main common threads has been - "this is how I realized I need to make a change in my business." 

In fact, I don't think I have spoken to a business owner in the past year that hasn't made an intentional shift. 

This week I go over some of my own pivots over the years and these top 3 indicators that a shift may be needed:

• How to identify if the passion is dead or if it can be regnited
• Business or hobby - making sure you have a validated business that can thrive with some tweaks
• Does your business still fit your lifestyle and goals?

Send me a note at hello@musclecreative.com and let me know what changes you're thinking of making or that you have made to your business.

There are so many metrics you can track when it comes to email performance.  Seriously, it can be a full-time job to meticulously analyze reports around the performance of your email marketing. Completely fine to track them all, but less than a handful need your consistent attention.

In this episode, learn:

• The 3 email metrics that should command your attention each week
• How to improve your email open rate
• Action steps to stay out of the Spam folder
• Click-through rates of top industries 
• The real deal about your call-to-action and images
• How to increase your conversion rates
• The truth about subscribes and unsubscribes

PLUS: doors to the one-of-a-kind subscription, Email Ally, close this week (along with the incredibly low VIP pricing)! Cross 'emailing my list every week' off your list with this powerful tool. More info here. Here's to growing your audience and revenue!

Why is connecting with your audience (customers, students, clients, followers) so incredibly important? How are you, a business owner who barely has time to shower, supposed to do this?

This week I tell you why's and the how's of using consistent content to grow your audience AND your revenue. I go over 5 ways to make it happen :

1.  who to write for and how
2.  leveraging 'life as content'
3. executing a content audit
4. creating a system that scales
5. time-blocking, batching, keywords

Tune in and LET'S GO.