i was interested in making newsletters (or autoresponders) with the least amount of effort that still made an impact and used the proven AIDA method.
i made a template and basic instructions based off a free appsumo.com video (wish they would bring those back) and notes on a call i had with stella, a copywriter friend. see below, take and use.
AIDA Enhanced
have something to announce or sell, without that, your message is already bad
don’t overthink this. it could be about a product, an affiliate product, a new post on your blog, a new discovery your audience might find useful
list 10 attributes of the audience
make up a person “bob” who has all these attributes
speak personal, use I’s and you’s and common speak (know your audience)
use simple visual formatting (limit distraction, pictures, colors, etc.)
write within a 540 pixels wide box so you can see how it will look in most viewers
use arial 12 or a basic font – try georgia 12
use this writing structure (AIDA – described below)
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action (1 action, not many)
template
copy paste when writing
<—
possible subject line 1
possible subject line 2
possible subject line 3
possible subject line 4
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
—>
Attention
headlines and subject lines – how to make good ones?
- trick 1 – list things that if you overheard it would turn your heard and go WHAT?
- trick 2 – go to digg.com type in your topic, thing your selling or promoting. order the list by most dugg and use those headlines and swap in your topic or change things
Interest (if you sell a cheaper product, use short copy, expensive, longer copy)
educate, give something critical or valuable
- if it’s valuable you can write a lot
- interesting facts
- story about the product or offer
- i’ll tell you a secret…
Desire
“benefits” of what you are promoting
- more sales
- more reliable website
- bigger muscles, more hits
Action
- we’re running a promotion…
- get your’s now by clicking
- check it out now here at this link
- see the deal here.
make this bigger font, bold, different color
PS. make a claim here, like. after i used this bla bla bla or a guarantee…or, one of my users, jane, has this, and here’s her site…
bonus, how do you hire someone to do this?
make sure they understand the customer, test them on it.
…want to add more “flash” and “pizazz”… don’t!… or do only if it appeals to your audience. you are not your audience.
now if you want some help actually figuring how to put your crafted message into a newsletter service like aWeber, Mailchimp, or InfusionSoft, that’s more of a job for a business out to help you understand and use technology.