45% of you surprisingly open our newsletter emails on an ongoing basis. I know what you are thinking, “Cody I didn’t know you knew 20 people, 9 of which feel sorry for you and open your emails”. Believe it or not, there are nearly 400 people on this mailing list. That means quite a few open my emails but even more do not.

If you have written newsletter before, you have likely faced a similar issue. You spend all of your time making great (or in my case, [editor note: enter a different adjective for ‘mediocre’]) content and more of your mailing list than not, doesn’t even open the thing. What can be done?

A List!

• Use a good subject line. Even New York Times journalists have found out; an amazing headline is just as valuable as truly amazing content. If you don’t spend some time in this area, you are missing the boat.
• Send to interested people. If people don’t want to see your stuff, why send it to them? You should have a pretty good idea who these people are. In my case, they go out of their way to send actual post letters to me telling me they unsubscribe. But seriously, don’t send to people that don’t want your stuff.
• A subject line only gets you so far – know your audience. If 50% of your email is promotional, that may be way too high. This percentage is not hard and fast – for some industries, it may be expected. In others, 5% will be far too high. The important part is knowing your audience and providing interesting, humorous, engaging content.
• Do it regularly. If you set up the expectation that you will send once per month, do it. If you stop without notice, it sets a poor precedent-like having a storefront and simply not opening without notice. If you need to take a break, announce that in an email.
• Use a mobile friendly email design. Mailchimp and a variety of other email service providers are responsive (mobile friendly) out of the box. With 50% of emails now being opened on people’s phone, this is critical for people to open your next one.

The Work

This month I am incredibly proud to announce one of my coolest projects yet, Editorial Cartoonist of the Chicago Tribune, Scott Stantis’s personal website has gone live!  You can check out an archive of older cartoons and his excellent ongoing comic, Prickly City. Scott was excellent to work with and this site will have a lot more to show off over the coming year.

This month we also launched new eCommerce website, BlingIt Brands. This awesome local company adds some fancy bling to youth apparel. Take a look!

Brand New Sharp Guys’ Service Launch

Sharp Guys had a soft launch of a new service we are very excited about, it is called – WordPress Support and Maintenance (it has a nice dull ring to it I think). This service is everything you need to make sure your company’s website stays unhacked, secure, supported and revenue-happy. You can find out more here.

My One New Blog This Month

I think this one will be helpful for any of you that are marketers. It is called, A Warning to Marketers Everywhere – Don’t Make This Mistake. It is all about how you can prove your worth to your company the way any sales person does, through revenue.

Other Stuff

If you missed this B2B Marketers of Indiana meeting this month but are interested in networking, pizza or learning, you should really come to our next meetup on August 19 – the first time you come to a B2B Marketers of Indiana meeting is free!