What's the most powerful word in copywriting?  

I don't know, but Mark Hayes wrote a post on 4 of the most powerful:

1. You
2. New
3. Free
4. Guarantee

I agree with all 4, though my personal favorite is 'You'. 

Check out his post here, and see what 4 little words can do for your bottom line.

I found a case study today on the fashion label Bastet Noir and thought it was worth sharing.
My personal key takeaways:

1. Most of the people they reached out to didn’t respond, but a few did. That’s something I struggle with – the sense of failure when I get no response. But in my own business, much like with Bastet Noir, I’ve found the few who do respond make it well worth the effort to reach out. Sometimes you just have to grind out some emails, or calls. The right person with the right audience can make a big difference for your brand.

2. Social Media takes time to get right. Bastet Noir spent almost a year studying Instagram and figuring out the best way to connect with their target audience, and it paid off. Do the research on the different platforms. See what has worked for others, and what hasn’t. Test things for yourself.

3. They explored multiple channels. It can be tempting to focus on one platform you understand well – and if that’s all you need, then great. But if social media isn’t paying off as well as you hoped, maybe there’s another platform you could also be on that would boost your current efforts. For myself, I’m taking another look at LinkedIn in 2021.

Read the case study here.  It’s a great behind the scenes look of how one brand successfully uses social media with no budget.

You can write the best emails in the world and it won’t make a difference if your list is wrong.

What do I mean by ‘wrong’?

They don’t need or want what you’re selling. They don’t want to hear from you. They don’t open your emails or worse – mark them as spam.

How do you know your list is bad?

Your results will be poor, for a start.

But if you aren’t sure if that’s your list’s fault, here’s a great article by Lindsay Kolowich Cox that not only gives you the warning signs of a bad list, but also how to turn it into a good one!

Lindsay’s point about buying, borrowing, or renting lists is especially important: If you bring on a new employee or partner, don’t assume you can just blend their list with yours. I worked with a number of companies in the past who’ve done this, and their results have been abysmal.

The best way to grow your list is to read this and follow the advice.

You can find Lindsay here.