Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

On the subject of subject lines

By

Here is a slightly paraphrased version of an email I sent to a client, Chronic Illness Coach Sylvia Lippman, reprinted here with her permission:

Hi Sylvia,

While we’re on the subject on subject lines, I wanted to mention that I very nearly deleted your last email without opening it. There were two reasons for that.

1. The From line: Counseling and Wellness Innovations

The email was from Counseling and Wellness Innovations, who I didn’t recognize – and all I could see on my Outlook screen was actually “Counsel,” so I thought it was some legal thing and probably spam.

When you’re building a brand (and what they call “brand recognition”) it’s really important to reinforce the same key names and phrases in all of your marketing materials and messages.

I’d suggest your “From” line either read Dan & Sylvia Lippman, or Feel Better Now-CI.

[Sylvia explained later that they used that return address because so many of the people on their list were familiar with Dan’s former business name]

2. The Subject line: Your very personal opinions (read ’em here)

This didn’t tell me enough about what was inside or who it related to. For that reason, I like to include the name of the ezine and/or business in every subject line, e.g., [Idea Generator] This week’s writing prompts and updates.

Also, I think it’s wonderful to be conversational with your readers, and yet you have to remember that since you last “spoke” to them, they’ve gone in and out of hundreds of other conversations, and they may need some help getting back into yours.

In this case, a more effective subject line may have been: Thanks for your feedback on our Feel Better Now-CI website.

Here is some more reading you can do about good subject lines.

I have three subject line suggestions for your first ezine that we recently worked on together:

  • [Feel Better Now-CI] 3 self-care tools that do the trick (this option highlights the solution)
  • [Feel Better Now-CI] Firstname, are your challenges piling up? (this option highlights the problem)
  • [Feel Better Now-CI] Firstname, are you taking time for joy? (this option highlights a key emotional benefit)

Where it says “Firstname,” you’ll use your email service provider’s personalization feature.

Thank you Sylvia, for sharing your learning process with the rest of us!

Stuck at the start? Try one of these Top 10 article openers

By

Are you using article marketing to grow your business? Be sure you have a powerful opening, or you could lose your readers long before they get to the end (and your precious call to action).

If you're stuck at the start, try one of these Top 10 Article Openers:

  1. A quote – Whether it's flowery, provocative, moving or inspirational, the perfect quote can really set off your article in a good tone. Search for quotes in Google or your favorites quotes page.
  2. Statistics – Statistics are used a lot in traditional media. To find them, you can search the databases of Stats Can in Canada, or the Census Bureau in the United States. You can also look at the industry websites of your target market for studies and statistics they have collected from and for their members.
  3. A powerful statement – Everything you've been told up until now about marketing is completely backwards! Wouldn't you read on to find out what I have to say about that?
  4. A warning – I used a mild-mannered warning as my opening for this article. A warning would be a great opening for a Top 10 Mistakes article (but please, be bolder than I was today!).
  5. A powerful question – Do you know exactly how many products or services you have to sell before you make a profit? A powerful question can be an eye-opening introduction to an article about a useful business concept like metrics.
  6. A list – Combine two or three powerful statements, warnings or powerful questions into a list.
  7. A story – Tell a story about a fictional character (e.g., someone in your target audience), an anonymous client or someone you read about in the news.
  8. A personal story – Use yourself as an example for the topic you're writing about in your article.
  9. A story about the reader – Make your reader the main character of the story, e.g., Imagine that you've researched, toiled, edited and re-edited, and you've come up with the best Top 10 list ever. But you know it needs more.
  10. A song lyric – Sometimes musicians have sung it best. Similar to quotes, song lyrics go one step further because they can also evoke musical memories – and those can run deep and be very  attention-grabbing and memorable.

Whether you want to improve an article you've already written, or you're starting at the top of a blank page, the right opening can really make a difference. Please let me know how these article openers work for you! I welcome your comments below.

Here's another tool for writing article openers – and it's probably on your bookshelf right now!