4 Simple Ways to Never Run Out of Email Ideas
One of the questions I hear again and again is:
“What on earth am I supposed to email my list about?”
It’s one of the biggest reasons email marketing gets pushed aside.
You sit down to write, stare at the blank screen for a few minutes, decide you have nothing interesting to say… and suddenly reorganizing your desktop seems extremely important.
But coming up with email ideas doesn’t have to be that hard.
In fact, some of your best emails are probably already sitting inside your business, your conversations, and your own experiences.
Here are four simple places to start.
1. Start with your audience, not with what you want to say
Before you think about a subject line or what you should promote, think about the person reading your email.
What are they dealing with right now?
What are they confused about?
What question do you answer over and over?
What do they wish was easier?
What are they trying to accomplish?
Those questions can generate a surprising number of email ideas.
Try making a simple list of problems, questions, frustrations and goals your clients or customers have.
Then choose one.
You don't need to solve everything in one email.
A good email can simply help someone understand one problem a little better, see something differently, or take one useful next step.
2. Think about a time when you were in the same place
Once you have a topic, ask yourself:
Have I experienced this too?
Maybe you made a mistake.
Maybe you struggled with the same problem.
Maybe you believed something that turned out not to be true.
Maybe you discovered a much easier way of doing something.
That experience can become the beginning of your email.
Stories work because they help your reader see themselves in what you're saying.
Instead of simply telling someone, “Here's what you should do,” you're able to say:
I understand this. I've been here too.
And that's where email becomes more than information.
It becomes a relationship.
You don't need a dramatic story, either. Some of the best emails start with something very ordinary -- a conversation, something you noticed while working with a client, a mistake you caught, or even something that happened while you were making coffee.
The story is simply the doorway into the idea you want to share.
3. Use research to get your thinking started
Sometimes you know what you want to talk about, but you're having trouble finding the angle.
That's where a little research can help.
Search the topic. Read articles. Look at questions people are asking. Pay attention to the language your audience uses.
Today, that might also mean looking through:
comments on your social posts
questions from clients
podcast episodes
YouTube comments
industry discussions
your own sent emails
notes from client calls
The goal isn't to copy someone else's content.
It's to spark your own thinking.
You may read one sentence that makes you think:
That's interesting — but I see it differently.
There's your email.
Or:
I explain this to my clients all the time.
There's another one.
Your perspective is what makes the content yours.
4. Stop making every idea work only once
This is one of my favourites.
When you come up with a good idea, use it more than once.
A blog post can become an email.
An email can become a LinkedIn post.
A question from a client can become an email, a blog post and part of a nurture sequence.
A story you tell during a client call might become next week's newsletter.
You don't need a completely new idea every time you communicate with your audience.
In fact, repeating important ideas in different ways helps people understand what you stand for and what you can help them with.
Your audience isn't keeping a spreadsheet of everything you've ever said.
And they're definitely not seeing every piece of content you create.
So when you have an idea worth sharing, don't bury it after one use.
Your next email idea may already be right in front of you
If email has been sitting at the bottom of your to-do list because you're never quite sure what to write, try starting here:
What does my audience need help with today?
Then look for a story, experience, question or useful idea that connects to it.
You don't need to be endlessly creative.
You just need to pay attention.
And once you start noticing the ideas that are already around you, writing emails gets a whole lot easier.
Need someone else to turn those ideas into emails?
You may have plenty of things to say -- just not the time to turn them into a consistent email strategy.
That's exactly the kind of work I can take off your plate!
I help business owners plan, write, schedule and manage email marketing that builds relationships with their audience and supports what they're selling -- without pressure, gimmicks or adding another project to their own list.
Want to learn more?
Virtually Focused
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