Prologue

My husband cannot stand when strangers strike up conversation.

Recently, on a flight, I caught him smirking as two strangers met and began an endless exchange.

I’m somewhat neutral about the endeavor.

Mainly because I recall occasionally meeting really interesting people that way. But (gasp!) those memories all predate social media and the ability for someone to look you up and ask you to be more than temporary friends.

So he’s obviously influenced me to save the “here’s who I am and what I do” for more structured scenarios, like attending Content Marketing World a few weeks back and intentionally interacting with people in my industry.

It was unexpectedly exciting, especially since COVID began, to have these sorts of in-person conversations.

And, of course, I’m going to tie this into newslettering. Ready?

One particular conversation was with a man who’d actually lived in the SAME EXACT Manhattan apartment building I’d lived in for 10 months during graduate school 17 years ago.

It took some ramp up conversation to get to this fact. Maybe 10 minutes?

And when we discovered it I experienced a flood of emotions and memories of that period of my life:

• The journalism courses I took and classmates I met
• The exhilarating freedom of living by myself (it’s the only time I’ve done that in my life)
• The way my long-distance boyfriend (now husband) and I would go see the same movies at the same time as long-distance dates
• The pizza (John’s on Bleeker, specifically)

Suddenly there was more than “here’s who I am and what I do” going on.

There was a deeper connection.

He’d lived in the building years after I did, but it held significance to both of us for different reasons.

I write (and talk) a lot about the value of being human in your newsletter.

Of being a little vulnerable, even.

What I want us to think about is what we can include that draws our readers in, makes them feel closer to us, and, just maybe, opens the floodgates of memories and emotions for them.

I get that injecting personal stories into a newsletter isn’t for everyone.

But it’s powerful for those who are comfortable doing so.

For everyone else, you’re welcome to smirk with my husband.

This week’s issue highlights creators who have some unique insights on how they connect, create, and stay consistent. Plus, it prompts you to ask if you indulge in pluralistic ignorance. Nod your head if you get it.

Screen Share

Newsletter Advice: Prioritize Consistency

In this short clip, Nicholas Scalice of Growth Marketer emphasizes the importance of prioritizing consistency for your newsletter.

He specifically urges us to be consistent in delivering valuable content.

Watch here.

Newsletter Tips

Is Your Newsletter Building Community?

In the midst of the pandemic, park naturalist Scott Kudelka created the Minneopa State Park newsletter in an effort to continue sharing the beauty and happenings of the park. Bob Timmons covered the newsletter recently in Star Tribune.

As it’s grown to over 500 subscribers, Kudelka has realized even greater value:

“The weekly update following has snowballed, Kudelka said, as people see things that spark an interest and share the news. The project has deepened him, too, he said. Most remarkable has been the volume of photos sent in, capturing the park in ways that are sometimes even new to him.

‘[The newsletter] continually grounds me to the park.’”

Learn more about his approach as you consider how your newsletter can connect people.

Here’s an interesting twist, you’ll need to e-mail Scott Kudelka at scott.kudelka [at] state.mn.us to subscribe to the newsletter.

Tips From Successful Creators

Gumroad asked successful (aka those earning six figures) creators for their advice. Their answers gravitated toward themes like:

• Check your mindset
• Love what you do
• Take the bad with the good
• Keep learning and adapting
• Just start somewhere

Read all 102 tips here.

Related: This tweet from Josh Spector offers some solid advice on what to do if your newsletter’s growth has stalled.

Could THE RIGHT Influencer Help Your Newsletter Grow?

No matter your feelings about influencers, the truth is they have the potential to help your newsletter grow. This Entrepreneur article explains why and how to leverage the right influencers to grow subscribers and increase exposure.

Discovered via Inbox Reads.

Marketing

Looking For A New Marketing Podcast?

HubSpot’s Lestraundra Alfred recently launched a marketing podcast roundup full of your next listens, including:

• Marketing Made Simple
• The Digital Marketing Podcast
• Build Your Tribe | Grow Your Business with Social Media

Check out all 27 recommendations here.

Combatting The “Pluralistic Ignorance” Problem

If you’ve ever nodded your head in agreement as an authority figure speaks when you really have no idea what’s going on, you’ve experienced pluralistic ignorance.

Joe Lazakus, Contently CMO, warns that using meaningless jargon can corrupt your marketing.

His solution?

“Tell stories, of course.”

Why?

Because it’s almost impossible to spout buzzwords when you’re telling a good story.

Learn more from Joe’s piece here.

Want to blog better? These 3 articles might help.

• Do you know what blogging content strategies are working (and which ones aren’t)? This Orbit Media article by Andy Crestodina offers insight.
• Ann Smarty with Content Marketing Institute explains the value of internal links when it comes to generating traffic here.
• Does SEO feel overwhelming at times? Kristopher Jones shares what experts say NOT to do in this Search Engine Journal article.

Curation

4 Ways To Curate

In this article, Michael Tai touts the benefits of curation and offers offers 4 ways you can curate for your blog (or, ahem, newsletter):

• Emphasize industry news and other trending content
• Repurpose existing content
• Interview subject matter experts
• Publish user-generated content (UGC)

Note: When I first saw this article, there seemed to be more content but now it looks like parts are missing. Maybe it’s just my browser?

Related: Check out the advice from ResponseSource and Faima Bakar in this Journo Resources article on how to find the best sources for curating case studies. Discovered via Publisher Weekly.

Also Related: This guide by ​​James Parsons provides some insights and how-tos for those of you getting started (or considering the value of) curating.

Publishing

From paywall structures to news localization, this week’s publishing insights give you a little taste of strategies that you can try.

• Is philanthropy the next revenue stream for newsrooms? Kristen Hare explores the approach for Poynter here.
• Remember when Facebook went down? Well, Laura Hazard Owen with Nieman Lab discovered traffic to news sites went up.
• A local newsletter recently collapsed. The effect, according to Elaine Godfrey with The Atlantic? Increased feelings of loneliness.
• Mark Glaser shares how publishers are trying to stay local through creative ownership structures in this Knight Foundation article.
• Turns out The Atlantic wants newsletter writers and their subscribers. Peter Kafka explains in this Vox article.
• How much should you give away for free? Chris M. Sutcliffe breaks down paywall strategies here.
• Speaking of paywalls, dynamic paywalls are helping publishers connect with potential subscribers according to Faisal Kalim.
• Sarah Scire with Nieman Lab explains how you can help turn casual readers into paying subscribers.

Money Matters

A Shift From The Attention Economy To The Creator Economy

Clara Lindh Bergendorff writes about a trend newsletter creators are tied to: we are slowly shifting from ad-based revenue models (the attention economy) to platforms based on entrepreneurship and creativity (the creator economy).

“The dollars and the power is shifting from the Attention Economy to the Creator Economy, from the audience to the community, with individual talent unbundling big corporations in the creative space.”

Are you part of the shift?

Curated News

Curate Content Quickly With The Chrome Extension

Y’all, I use the Curated Chrome extension several times a day.

Why? Because if I come across something that might be worth sharing, I can quickly send it to my account and know that when I draft my next issue I’ll have plenty of high-quality content I can choose to include.

I asked Seth to record a video that shows us how easy it is to collect links for future issues with the Chrome extension. In this very short video, he demonstrates collecting a link from a Content Marketing Institute story you might like.

A few notes about how I use it:

• I tend to highlight text I want to quote or use to jog my memory about what I thought was most relevant to my readers when I write commentary later. (If you don’t highlight copy, the metadata will automatically be pulled in, which is helpful for jogging memory, too.)
• I am a user on several newsletters, so if I see something a colleague will like, I can curate it to their publication and feel helpful.
• I tend to try and categorize the curated link when I'm collecting it, but if I'm in a rush I do it later.
• I also tend to leave the social share image Curated collects in as I collect the link and then delete them later as I decide which images to keep/use in an issue. I find they serve as visual reminders of why I decided to save the link.

The next session of Curated Crash Course is today at 4 PM Central.

What’s Curated Crash Course?

The first 30 minutes is dedicated to Curated 101, which covers what you need to have set up to send your first issue in Curated. The next 30 minutes is your opportunity to ask any questions you have about Curated or newsletters.

Come and go as you please.

Register once here, and you'll be registered for each session we have in the future.

ICYMI: You can always check our Curated Public Product Roadmap to catch up on recent releases and find out what’s up next.

Don’t want to click through? Our recent bigger releases include Paid Subscriptions (0% commission!) and a Free Tier.**

Opt In Challenge

Keep Your Emails Exciting With These Tips

Nobody likes a boring email. This week your challenge is to implement one (or more) of the ideas in this article by Sue-Ann Bubacz for Gaenzle Marketing to improve your newsletter game.

A sampling of what you’ll find:

• Offer unique content
• Provide thought-provoking reads
• Include quirky works, actionable tips, extras, and helpful resources
• Avoid anything “standardized”

Signature

Let me know. Reply, email me at Ashley[at]optinweekly.com, or find me on LinkedIn to hit me with some feedback. I’d love to know what you think.