Monday Buzz: Design Habit-Forming Emails

Wouldn’t you love it if you knew that people were looking forward to seeing your group’s email newsletters in their inbox everyday? We all would!

Scott Monty, CEO and co-managing partner at Brain+Trust Partners, shares a few great examples of highly captivating email newsletters  (opens in a new tab) with the Content Marketing Institute. They may provide some inspiring ways you could improve your own offering.

Monty points to The Hustle  (opens in a new tab), a daily digest of news-of-the-day briefs, as one of his favorite newsletters. While it’s written in a conversational language, it really stands out because it injects playful cleverness into each email. On Fridays, the newsletter shares funny “shower thoughts” like “If pigs could fly, I bet their wings would taste delicious,” and “If you’re a famous smuggler, you’re doing something wrong.”

You can see how that may be addicting. In fact, creating engaging content is how some news organizations are using their emails to build membership. In a recent report from Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Elisabeth Goodridge, editor for newsletters and messaging at The New York Times says that habit-forming newsletters should be personality-driven, written by experts, formatted in creative ways, and targeted to a well-defined audience.

Promoting From Within

Find a leader with a track record in another areahttps://t.co/rLwmqN7t0E  (opens in a new tab)

— Harvard Business Review (@HarvardBiz) March 17, 2018  (opens in a new tab)

When you’re looking for a new marketing leader, it makes sense to promote from within the marketing department. But if your organization is serious about leadership development, consider promoting from other departments.

“Focusing on lesser-used preferences, competencies, or weaknesses presents the best opportunity for learning and development,” writes Rebecca Zucker in a recent Harvard Business Review post  (opens in a new tab). “And research shows that those who remain in ‘learning mode’ ultimately develop stronger leadership skills.”

Zucker points to Apple and Microsoft as examples of companies that have effectively promoted people from different parts of the business.

Other Links of Note

Is your organization’s vision statement clear? Meeting designer Jeffrey Cufaude sheds light on how to make it more impactful  (opens in a new tab).

Facilitate a better brainstorming session. Here are a few smart tips from Fast Company  (opens in a new tab).

Do you dread going to networking events? The GrowthZone blog shares a plan of attack for the next one you attend  (opens in a new tab).

(CarmenMurillo/iStock/Getty Images Plus)