Category: Email MarketingCategory: Email Marketing

This was inspired from today’s “WHAT IS RSS?” Escape Pod Zoom call (we have another call on Thursday, Oct 8th), talking about how everyone is busy, and receiving so much information every day.

Then, if we start using RSS to read our favorite blogs, newsletters, YouTube channels, etc., well, that’s like a magazine. Remember back in the day you could just pick up the magazine and read it?

That’s different than newsletters that come into your inbox, because face it – our inbox is different. It’s not like a magazine, it’s business. It’s family. It’s bills. It’s notices. It’s receipts. It’s everything.

So with RSS, we control what comes in. There are no surprises. The only things that show up are what we add, whereas anyone can email us, and as we all know – it never stops!

And picking up the magazine today or two weeks from now is usually fine, but we usually can’t take a two week break from our email inbox.

RSS can remove weight from your email inbox.

If you ever feel like sending a weekly newsletter to your subscribers is too much, Brick has sent me seven emails in 12 days.

“Don’t just tell people to subscribe to your newsletter,” is something I said on a recent Substack Live.

This sign up box in the footer of the Autonomous website caught my eye:

Workshop Notes
Drops, build logs, and what broke this week. From the workshop floor.

Getting people into your world is the first part of the journey. Them signing up for your email list? Well, that’s on them. But offering something besides “updates” goes a long way.

Words matter. Language has power. Hype your newsletters beyond “updates,” or “the latest news.”

Liz Derstine recently had a pretty exciting week, crossing Switzerland on the 242 mile Swiss via Alpina trail and nabbing a FKT (fastest known time).

My total time was 5 days, 17 hours, 40 minutes–1 day 2 hours faster than the current women’s record, and 1 day 5 hours faster than my previous time from 2023! I averaged over 43 miles (70 kilometers) per day and 12,650 feet (3,850 meters) of elevation gain per day.

Now, I had read her piece on crewing Tara Dower at this year’s Hardrock 100, where Tara finished 3rd woman, and 14th overall. She also “ran a large portion of the course over several days (aka “Softrock”)” and mentioned a particular bag she used, the Lickety Split 20L Backpack from Mountain Hardware.

Well, I go on plenty of adventures (though not as hardcore), and rarely need an excuse to buy a new bag, so I ordered one, and love it!

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Emma Gannon, in a piece titled “My honest thoughts about Substack,” wrote about being on a panel at SXSW London last year:

“I was asked a question about ‘growth’. I said I was more interested in maintaining what I have. The audience looked disappointed. They wanted me to say something about growth. They wanted hard growth statistics, a neat formula for selling to advertisers. I had no tips or hacks, apart from: I write a lot.”

Sure, you could be all, “that’s easy for Emma Gannon to say, she already has 80,000 subscribers!”

But she got there by paying attention to those first 10, 100, 1000. You aren’t gifted 80,000 subscribers without first feeling what it’s like writing to 8,000 people. There are mistakes you make and lessons you learn on your way to 10,000. I think she’s been at this for like 15 years, too. Come on, people. This takes time.

The allure is growth, of course. The rush of 100 new subscribers is real! It’s sexy! But maybe it’s a better use of your time to maintain what you have.

I dare you to write a personal email to one of your people. Not a marketing email, or an invite to an event, but a genuine note. A follow up from a conversation you had a month ago. Or kudos for a job well done.

Maintain what you have, or you might not have it for long.