Aren’t You Happy You Received This Gift

Summary

The article discusses a strategy for email marketers to engage their audience by offering timely and relevant freebies that address current trends and audience needs without requiring extensive content creation.

Abstract

The author of the article emphasizes the importance of standing out in email marketing by providing value to subscribers through freebies. The strategy involves identifying trending topics related to one's niche and creating easily digestible content, such as checklists, templates, or listicles, that offer immediate solutions or gratification. The author shares their personal experience of capitalizing on the "red flag" trend by designing and distributing free templates via Canva, demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach in maintaining subscriber interest and potentially increasing open rates.

Opinions

The author believes that the best marketing freebies are those that are eagerly consumed by the audience and address a specific problem they face.
There is an opinion that trends, despite their fleeting nature, present opportunities for niche experts to provide targeted solutions to their audience.
The author suggests that the content format for freebies should be concise and straightforward to ensure it remains relevant and can be delivered promptly.
The article conveys that providing value through free resources can be a strategic way to break the pattern of constant selling and foster goodwill among subscribers.
The author's approach to email marketing is centered around offering instant wins to subscribers, which can intrigue the audience and improve engagement metrics like email open rates.

An interesting freebie concept for email marketers.

Email marketing is the hottest marketing trend right now. I haven’t received this many emails since the last GDPR update. Thank goodness for the break. In 2020, inboxes were a mess. All because companies wanted to follow the United Kingdom’s General Data Protection Regulation.

To achieve my usual zero-inbox status, I have to unsubscribe from a few newsletters. It’s better for both of us. But this got me thinking, what if my email club feels the same?

To calm this fear, I created a resource to make people look forward to my next promotional email campaign. Why reinvent the wheel, right? So, I made a freebie — one my club members were sure to love.

Here’s how you can as well without writing pages of content.

How to get the freebie idea?

The best ideas aren’t the ones the creator loves. It is content devoured by audiences. The resource needs to solve a pressing problem for your target audience.

Trends come and go every day. Although this presents challenges, it also allows niche experts to serve specific people.

This plan hinges on timeliness and relevancy. So, the freebie helps people who don’t like change. Or hope for instant gratification from fast results. I start by browsing social media, reading the news, or visiting Yahoo to view trends. If a topical issue relates to my niche, I research it. Then, provide solutions I know would make my email club members’ lives easier.

What content format to use?

You want to put together the information in a short, simple format. This design ensures you deliver the document before the trend is over. Checklists, templates, how-to listicles, and videos are a few examples of simple content formats.

As a social media template designer, the red flag trend got my attention. For me, Canva is my go-to for template creation. It makes document creation easy. After archiving my planned email, I created and sent three free red flag templates. The message included a Canva link so subscribers could edit the designs to suit their branding and industry.

I create this type of easy to consume freebie for a break between sale campaigns. If tons of information or examples exist on the trend, it is often effortless to make short free resources. These three templates took around 20 minutes to design.

Photo created by Author

Most people give once and sell every time after.

You don’t have to be this type of marketer. You can provide an instant win to earn the goodwill of long-time subscribers who have not spent with you yet. And time-relevance can also intrigue your tribe and thus boost your open rates.