180: The One-Hour Newsletter Miracle: Streamline Your Content Creation Strategy
Are you tired of spending hours each week struggling to create your email newsletter? Do you dream of a way to consistently produce high-quality content without the stress? Then you won't want to miss this week's game-changing episode of the Creators MBA Podcast!
In "The One-Hour Newsletter Miracle: Streamline Your Content Creation Strategy," I'm pulling back the curtain on my revolutionary system that allows me to create valuable, engaging newsletters in just one hour a week.
Here's a sneak peek of what you'll learn:
The common challenges that hold most creators back (and how to overcome them)
My secret weapon for never running out of content ideas
How to structure your newsletter for maximum engagement and value
The unexpected way I use AI to supercharge my writing process
Bonus: Tips on monetizing your newsletter, even without a product launch
Key points with timestamps:
[00:01:21] Common challenges in producing regular, engaging newsletter content
[00:04:38] Overview of Destini's efficient content planning system
[00:08:13] Structuring newsletters with diverse sections to appeal to a broader audience
[00:11:59] Examples of curating content ideas and writing prompts
[00:15:37] Introduction to the newsletter profit calculator for monetization
Mentioned In This Episode:
Newsletter Profit Calculator: Effortlessly Turn Your Newsletter into a Strong Income Stream with My Free Profit Calculator (even if you have a small list). Get it here: https://destinicopp.leadpages.co/newsletter-profit-calculator/
Newsletter Profit Club: Make Money Every Time You Publish. Learn more here: https://destinicopp.leadpages.co/newsletter-profit-club/
Creator's MBA Newsletter: Sign up here: https://destinicopp.leadpages.co/newsletter
Revolutionize Your Email Newsletter: A Game-Changing Content Planning System
We all know the power of a well-crafted email newsletter. It's our direct line to our audience, a tool for building relationships, and a potential goldmine for monetization. But let's be honest - consistently producing high-quality content week after week can feel like an uphill battle. If you've ever found yourself staring at a blank screen, struggling to meet deadlines, or worrying about maintaining engagement, you're not alone. In this post, we're diving into a game-changing content planning system that will transform your newsletter creation process and help you deliver value to your subscribers consistently.
The Challenges of Consistent Content Creation
Before we jump into the solution, let's address the elephant in the room - the common hurdles we face when it comes to regular content production:
Idea generation: Coming up with fresh, relevant topics week after week can be overwhelming.
Time constraints: Balancing content creation with other business and life commitments often leads to missed deadlines and stress.
Quality concerns: Rushing to meet deadlines can compromise the standard of content your audience expects.
Relevance and timeliness: Ensuring your content aligns with industry trends and resonates with your target audience is an ongoing challenge.
Engagement: Consistently delivering content that keeps your readers coming back for more is no small feat.
If any of these pain points resonate with you, you're in good company. But fear not - there's a way to overcome these challenges and streamline your newsletter production process.
A Streamlined Approach to Newsletter Creation
The key to consistent, high-quality content lies in a well-organized system. Here's a breakdown of a content planning approach that can help you create valuable newsletters in just about an hour per week:
1. Continuous Idea Gathering
Set up a Google Sheet with two tabs: one for content ideas and another for your newsletter and promotional calendar. Use the Google Sheets app on your phone to capture ideas on the go. Whether you're listening to a podcast, browsing magazines at the grocery store, or reading other newsletters, jot down any inspiring headlines, quotes, or concepts that could be relevant to your audience.
2. Structured Content Organization
Treat your newsletter like a magazine or newspaper with distinct sections. This approach allows you to appeal to a broader range of readers, as different sections will resonate with different segments of your audience. For example, you might include sections like:
- Mindful Moments
- Career Boost
- Weekly Challenge
- Home & Lifestyle Tips
- Book of the Month
- Quick Wins
- Productivity Tools and Apps
By offering diverse content, you increase the chances that each reader will find something valuable in every issue.
3. Content Curation and Expansion
Use the ideas you've gathered throughout the week as writing prompts for your newsletter sections. Don't be afraid to draw inspiration from external sources - just be sure to give credit where it's due. Take a compelling quote or concept and expand upon it, relating it back to your audience's needs and interests.
4. Leverage AI for Efficiency
To streamline your writing process, consider using AI tools to help refine your ideas and flesh out your content. This can significantly reduce the time it takes to produce your newsletter while maintaining quality and relevance.
Monetizing Your Newsletter: Turning Content into Revenue
While delivering value to your readers should be your primary focus, it's also important to view your newsletter as a potential revenue stream. Here are some ways to monetize your email list:
Affiliate Marketing: Incorporate relevant product recommendations, especially in sections like "Productivity Tools and Apps."
Digital Product Sales: Promote your own courses, ebooks, or other digital offerings.
Memberships: Use your newsletter to drive sign-ups for a paid membership program.
Coaching or Services: Offer exclusive coaching opportunities or services to your subscribers.
Sponsorships and Ads: As your list grows, consider partnering with brands for sponsored content or advertisements.
To help you estimate your newsletter's earning potential, consider using a newsletter profit calculator. This tool can help you project your revenue based on factors like subscriber count, open rates, click-through rates, and average revenue per conversion.
Bringing It All Together: Your Action Plan
Now that you have a framework for efficient newsletter creation and monetization, here's how to put it into action:
Set up your Google Sheet for idea capture and content planning.
Define the sections that will make up your newsletter.
Start gathering ideas throughout the week, categorizing them into your defined sections.
Block out an hour each week for newsletter creation, using your curated ideas and AI assistance to streamline the process.
Consistently deliver value to your readers while strategically incorporating monetization elements.
Remember, the key to a successful newsletter is providing content that your readers want to save and return to. By following this system, you'll be able to create newsletters that not only engage your audience but also contribute to your bottom line.
Your newsletter can be more than just a weekly email - it can be a valuable product in itself. With this content planning system, you're well on your way to creating a newsletter that your subscribers will eagerly anticipate and that supports your business goals. Happy writing!
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Transcript:
Dr. Destini Copp [00:00:07]:
Welcome to the Creators MBA Podcast, your go to resource for mastering the art and science of digital product entrepreneurship. My name is Dr. Destini Copp, and I help business owners generate consistent revenue from their digital product business without the need to be glued to their desk, constantly live launching, or worrying about the social media algorithms. I hope you enjoy our episode today. Hi there. Destini here. And in today's podcast episode, I wanna talk to with you about a challenge that I know a lot of you have, and that is consistently producing high quality content. And that will leave you struggling to find ideas or manage your time effectively. So what I wanna talk with you about today is really something that has changed my life, and that is my game changing content planning system that I use for my weekly email newsletter creation and content production in general.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:01:21]:
But before I get into all of that and to walk you through my particular process that I use, I really want to address the elephant in the room, And that is the challenge that all of us face when it comes to producing regular engaging content for our email newsletter. And these challenges often include, number 1, ideas. Right? So we're constantly having to come up with fresh and relevant ideas, and that can be overwhelming, especially when you're trying to maintain a weekly consistent publishing schedule. The other thing is we have time constraints. So balancing content creation with all the other stuff that we have going on in our business and life really does leave us pressed for time. It leaves us stressed about meeting the deadlines, and they're like, oh, I'm at I'm at I missed the deadline this week for sending out my weekly email newsletter. I'm just gonna forget about it because the deadline's gone. The other challenge we have is quality.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:02:31]:
Right? So we don't want to rush to produce content because you might worry about maintaining the high standards that your audience expects from you. And then if you rush through it and you, let's say, you write it and you're like, oh, I don't really like what I've done here, and then you don't wanna send it out. Right? Because you don't feel like it's up to your quality. The other is just being relevant and being timely. So making sure that your content is aligning with what's going on in the industry, making sure that it's relevant to your target market and your ideal reader. All of that can be challenging too. And then just getting engagement. Right? Consistently delivering content that resonates with your audience and keeps them coming back for more can be extremely challenging.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:03:25]:
Just getting them to open up your email. So if you are experiencing any of these pain points, let me tell you, you're in very good company here. So I would say that almost everybody probably listening to this has struggled with these issues, but I really wanna walk you through a solution that I have found and have put together that really helps you overcome these challenges and will streamline your content production process for your email newsletter. And the good news is a lot of this, you can even take pieces of your email newsletter and repurpose it elsewhere, especially on social media just to really kill, you know, 2 birds with 1 stone, if you would. Now this content planning system that I'm gonna walk you through today, I have set it up so that it's really only taking me about an hour to put together my weekly email newsletter. So I worked on my hobby school one yesterday, and I timed myself, and I got it done in an hour. And it's a pretty you know, it's a sizable newsletter. There's a lot of content in it.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:04:38]:
So I would say that this is a win win because this system is definitely working for me, and it needs to work for me. Right? Because I have 3 email newsletters that I am writing every single week. Actually, 4 when you count what I write for my newsletter profit club for the membership that we have, but I have the hobby school email newsletter. I have my creator's MBA email newsletter, and then I have the balance start email newsletter, which we're just launching and just getting ramped up. So if you're interested in getting a behind the scenes on that particular one, I am going through and walking you through all the way from 0 email subscribers, how we are designing that email newsletter, how we are growing that email newsletter. I'm showing you all the behind the scenes for that particular brand from scratch. So if you're interested in seeing all that, definitely jump in to the newsletter profit club, and you can see all of that from the beginning. And then I don't know where that journey is gonna take us.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:05:48]:
I'm thinking, eventually, we're gonna sell that email newsletter, but we'll see where that goes. Okay. So let me go into a little bit more detail about this particular system. Now this particular system, I have made it super super simple. I have it in a Google docs. And I have the Google sheet app on my phone, So whenever I come across anything throughout the week for any of my newsletters, I just open up the app on my phone or if I'm on my computer, I just open it up on my computer, and I capture that idea right then and there before I forget. So this particular system starts with you gathering content ideas all the time. Like, basically, constantly throughout the week.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:06:39]:
It could be when you're, you know, listening to a podcast. It could be when you're at the grocery store and you're, you know, you see the magazines there, and you're like, oh my gosh. That is a really cool headline. Capture it. Put it in your, you know, put it in your Google Sheet. It could be when you're reading another email newsletter or reading a book, or you're on somebody's website, and you're thinking, oh, that is really cool. Or I could take that and make it relevant for my audience. So let me give you some very, very specific ideas here, and I will use the balance start email newsletter as an example.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:07:20]:
I actually have this particular planner. It's a Google Sheet up on my screen right now, so I'm I'm actually looking at it right now. And in this Google Sheet, there are 2 tabs. 1 is a tab that says content ideas, and that is where I have any of the content ideas and writing prompts that I am looking at or gathering kind of gathering information on throughout the entire week. And then the other tab is my newsletter and promotional calendar. Now on this particular sheet, I have the promotional calendar. So this is where I capture anything that I'm gonna be promoting for that particular brand. So if I am doing, like, a visibility collaboration or sponsorship or affiliate promo or selling something from one of our Shopify stores or digital products.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:08:13]:
So anything that I'm gonna be promoting, I have that in column b, and then I have the various sections of this newsletter. Now if you have been around or reading some of my previous newsletters, you know that I treat these weekly email newsletters kinda like a magazine or an old timey newspaper. Right? So I have different sections in my newsletter. And the thought process behind this and the research that I have done is that when you have different sections in your newsletter, you are going to basically appeal to different people. Right? So as an example, for balanced start, I have some different sections here. One's called mindful moments. One's called career boost. One's called, like, a weekly challenge that we're gonna have in there.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:09:08]:
One's called balance home. There's some other ones in here, and I'm trying to fig you know, we're still kinda testing some of this. One's a book of the month club. One's a quick win. One's a productivity tools and apps. So these are different sections, if you would, in this email weekly newsletter that I can cover. Like I said, we're kind of still researching and playing around with some of this. But basically, the thought process is when you have different sections in your weekly newsletter, you're going to make it relevant to a wider, broader base of your reader.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:09:47]:
Not everybody who's reading the balanced start newsletter is gonna be interested in career information. A lot of them will, but not every single person. The balanced home section. Will every single reader be interested in that? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it depends on what we have in that section for that week. Would everybody be interested in the book of a month? Maybe, maybe not. But when you have different most likely, there's gonna be at least one section that's gonna really resonate for that particular reader.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:10:21]:
And they're gonna be like, you know what? This newsletter speaks to me. I like this newsletter. It's giving me valuable information. So based on, you know, the research study that I did in looking at all of these newsletters out there that people were, you know, producing and people were interested in, they were subscribing to, and the newsletter operators, like, you know, creators, call them operators, creators, whatever you wanna call them, they're actually making money from these newsletters. They're treating them like a product. They're making money from them. This is how they design these weekly newsletters. Okay? So it's not just, you know, couple paragraphs and, you know, I'm wiping my hands and moving on.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:11:09]:
More than likely, something like that is not gonna be valuable. People are gonna stop reading them, but when you have them packed with a lot of information, really valuable information, they're gonna be like, you know what? I'm gonna save this particular weekly newsletter in a special Gmail folder because I want to go back to that weekly challenge, or I want to go back to that tip that they gave me real to my career, or I want to go back to that tool that they recommended. I might not be ready now, but I'm you know, I definitely wanna check that out. So you're making it your weekly email newsletter. You're making it so people wanna save it. You they wanna go back to it. They're finding a ton of value in it. So going back to what I was saying about curating these ideas.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:11:59]:
So I wanna give you some very specific examples here. So here are some writing prompts and content ideas that I have pulled this past week for the balanced start newsletter. 1 is if you don't choose how to use your time, others will choose it for you. Now this is a particular quote that I got from a source. I'm gonna give them credit for it. And like I said, it doesn't always have to be stuff that you particularly are you personally are creating. So what I will do with this particular quote here, I will use the quote. I will give that author, but I will expand upon that idea for this particular newsletter.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:12:43]:
So it's really just given me a really great writing prompt for this. And I will use AI to help me with that and kinda refine it. So I'm not writing all of that from scratch. And that's another way that I can get these weekly email newsletters out in an hour because I'm, you know, curating this content throughout the week. I'm using this, and then I'm using AI to help me kinda refine my thought processes there, and it really makes it super, super easy to get this content, very valuable content out. And I wanna give you some other examples here. So one is let me I'm looking at it right okay. This is I thought this one was really cool.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:13:28]:
This was a headline that I saw. It said problems are just gifts in ugly wrapping paper. Isn't that so cool? Problems are just gifts in ugly wrapping paper. I was like, I could probably use this in several of my but definitely in the balance start 1, I can definitely take that, do something with it, and use it in one of the, particular headings that I have. So, you know, that could go into a career boost. Right? You could take that particular headline and make it, you know, give them some very valuable advice in the career boost session. So maybe somebody got laid off from their job. Right? So that's a very, you know, might could be a gift, an ugly wrapping paper.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:14:17]:
Right? I could take that and, you know, spin it and make it applicable for them in the career boost. So maybe you just got laid off from your job, but consider this might just be a gift, you know, ugly gift. Now what what did I say it was? Gifts and ugly wrapping paper. Right? And then go into details about how they, you know, can approach their job search and what this might have forced them to do that they probably needed to do anyway. But if they hadn't gotten, you know, laid off in the job, they might not have pursued it. So you kinda see how I am gathering these ideas, how I'm tying it to each section of the weekly email newsletter. Okay? So like I said, I go into all of this in the newsletter profit club, and if you want to see me build this email newsletter from scratch, I'm doing this with the balanced life, and I will go into detail about how you can curate all of these ideas, take them, and build your weekly email newsletter, but most importantly, monetize it. So that's gonna be a key focus in this membership is monetizing this email newsletter.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:15:37]:
And one of the tools that I have, and I'm gonna give you the link for this in the show notes, is my newsletter profit calculator. With this newsletter profit calculator, you can kinda you can estimate what you can make from your email newsletter based on your number of subscribers, based on your open rate, based on your click through rate, based on your conversion rate, based on your average revenue per conversion, and other ways that you can monetize your email newsletter, like maybe some sponsorships or ads or affiliate marketing. So going back to the balance start, I have a section in there for productivity tools and apps. There are gonna be some opportunities for affiliate marketing there. Digital product sales, memberships, maybe even coaching, and some other things that you're doing, maybe even some done for your services. There are definitely ways that you can monetize every single weekly email newsletter that you have going out to your audience even if you're not doing a flash sale and even if you're not in the middle of a launch. So there you go. I've given you some ideas on how you can curate your content for your email newsletter, and also how you can actually monetize that newsletter every single week.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:17:08]:
If you have any questions whatsoever about any of this, ping me. You know, respond back to my one of my emails. If you're not on the Creators MBA Podcast, definitely jump on that. Get signed up for it. We have over close to 11,000 people on that email newsletter, and I would love to see you there. Respond back to any of my newsletters. Let me know what questions you have. I'm more than happy to answer any questions that you have, and bye for now.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:17:39]:
Thanks for listening all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed this episode today. If you love the show, I'd appreciate a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform. Have a great rest of your day and bye for now.