DIRTY 30 – Creating A Sticky Newsletter

How to create a sticky newsletter. So remember, we are creating this newsletter primarily for your "Dirty 30". These are the people who could or should be referring people to you if they wanted to, so it's got to be more than just talking about architecture and design. It's got to be great. So I'm going to go through some components of things that you should consider putting into your newsletter. Now, we give you a lot of content. You can just use that. You can keep it very simple. But if you want some advanced techniques, this is what I'm going to teach you in here, some advanced, sticky newsletter techniques.

First little subtle psychological secret is make them feel like because they're receiving this newsletter that they are an insider. Make them feel they're part of a community. This is your communication tool to your community. Now, how are you going to form a community out of your Dirty 30? I don't know. You have to think about who they are, but find a way to make them feel included in something a little bit special. Okay? Then your clients and referral partners feel they belong.

Look, you can feature them in your newsletter. You can have a referral of the month, a photo of one of your referral Dirty 30 people. I wouldn't call them Dirty 30, but you could have a photo of your people at a restaurant enjoying the referral voucher that you gave them for referring someone. You could have a client of the month photo if they're a client. All sorts of things. Call them a members maybe, call it a club, this community that you're forming, it's a club. I don't know how you're going to do it because I don't know who's going to be in your Dirty 30, but be inclusive. Make it feel like they're in something special.

Second thing you can do is create a unique identity for this newsletter. So as well as being inclusive, you could do this in various ways. It may be what your newsletter is written on. It doesn't have to be on A4 paper or US legal-sized paper. It might be on a different size or shape or color. If your newsletter is 30, your newsletter could be on a red paper. Your newsletter could be on anything. I mean, maybe an unusual surface. It doesn't have to be paper even. If you look at sometimes the, in England I know anyway, the Financial Times is yellow paper. It stands out on the underground. Other newspapers are particularly large, some are particularly small.

Here's what a client of mine had. He came in and he wanted to do, you know, we talked about doing newsletters and the Dirty 30, and he decided, and if you look at this, this is his newsletter. He's not really a newsletter. It's more of a, well, it's his newsletter, but we created a wrapper for a chocolate bar. So each month he sends out a chocolate bar in this wrapper. So the wrapper costs about a dollar to have printed. His daughter came up with the layout and graphic design based on something I'd done previously, and he writes his little stories on the back of the wrapper. They put the wrapper around the chocolate bar and post it off to his Dirty 30. Now, he does this every month. He tells a different little story every month written on a chocolate bar. Why not? I wanted to give you an extreme example, but it could be anything. Your newsletter could be on a piece of wood, or if you're not that adventurous, it could be on an unusual-shaped, sized, colored paper. Or, you could just go for the standard. I'm just giving you some extreme examples just to really flex your mind.

Add a challenge. People love these little types of tools and challenges. I think we've made some of these, which we're giving you, but you go to Puzzle-Maker.com or just do a Google search for "puzzle maker" you'll see these little tools where you add in the words you want, it'll come up with the scrambled words, and you just cut and paste it into your newsletter. So add challenges. This is exactly what radio stations do to get engagement, don't they? They have competitions, they have people calling in. That's no difference in a newsletter where people write you a question, you know, a question of the month, or they go into a competition. It feels like there's a community going. It feels like there's engagement.

Okay. Fatten the envelope. This is the big one. Add a gimmick. Add some sort of lumpy thing that ties in with your monthly theme. Now, you can buy a lot of very cheap stuff from a website called AliExpress.com, which I believe is owned by Amazon. It's in China. It's usually free shipping to most parts of the world, and you can get all sorts of incredible things. I got some, well, they appear to be Montblanc pens, but they're only $7 each. They certainly look and feel and write like one, but the $7 price. They're normally about between $500 and $1,000, so they're probably knockoffs, but they're a good little stocking filler. They're a good way to make your envelope a little bit lumpy.

Now, the psychology with the lumpiness is if you get an envelope in the post from someone and it's lumpy, it's got something in it, it starts off in your mind a sense of intrigue. "What's this?" It's not just a flat envelope. So having a lumpy thing, a lumpy gimmick that goes along with a theme is a really, really good idea, and of course there's only 30 people. You could have all sorts of things. You could have pens, you could have chocolate bars, you could have ... Use your imagination.

I think, yeah, we have got an example. So I said before create a theme. One month I had the whole newsletter was themed on medical staff, so the article was about having a full medical examination, and I got some pens from Ali Express, and they were syringe pens. So inside they had colorful liquid, and the whole pen was in the shape of a syringe, and so I included that as part to go in keeping with the theme for the newsletter that month.

Now, this is above and beyond. It does make it more fun to receive, so it's a good idea, but you don't have to. You can keep it boring and simple and just do a straight out old-fashioned newsletter and that would be fine. But, really, this does make, just doing these things like this makes a big difference.

Another secret strategy is align with celebrities. If you get yourself photographed with someone well-known, then get a photo of it and put it in your newsletter. Now, do not underestimate the power of a great photo or meeting with a celebrity. Namedropping in the company of friends may not be cool if you're doing it personally one to one, but if you've got photos in your business and you put it in your newsletter, it's a really good idea.

So this guy here that I'm having a drink with is the prime minister of New Zealand. So I cold-called him up, asked him if he could do an interview for my business clients, and I was very surprised when his press secretary said, she asked a few questions, and to cut a long story short said yes. So we're in his prime ministerial office on the ninth floor of the Beehive, which is the parliament buildings in New Zealand, and me and my friend are interviewing him on camera. So brilliant. We just asked and they said yes. It might be a little bit harder if you're in the States, I know that, but I'm sure you can get access to some celebrities.

Actually, when I was in Las Vega a couple of months ago, I was in the sports store with Floyd Mayweather, and it was just before the Pacquiao fight, and I thought, "I'm going to get a photo with this guy," and he was on his cell phone, and I thought, "I'll wait until he gets off his cell phone. Be a bit rude to take a photo of him." And I waited and waited and waited. He never got off his cell phone, so in the end I just walked out thinking, "I'm not going to wait forever. It's only Floyd Mayweather. He's only fighting for $300 million." So that was a photo I didn't get unfortunately, but anyway.

Case studies. Put in case studies of a design or a building project, preferably one that's yours, that educates a client, but it doesn't have to be. It could be a famous building like the Eiffel Tower or the pyramids or something which showcases your knowledge. Running competitions. Competitions is good, especially referral competitions. So if you do give away a prize because people have referred people in October, if you can get a photo, it's great content for your newsletter to show some of your friends and colleagues who have referred people to you, and how they are enjoying the benefits of referring people to you.

Q&A, ask Uncle Richard. A section that reinforces your position as the expert. So if you don't get questions that, if people aren't going to email in questions or ask you questions, just make them up. You will not be taken to jail for that, and of course, you can control the question.

Kick it up a notch. Get your layout professionally designed, or shortcut by using our layout. Inside the vault you can download. We are giving you layouts for great-looking, beautiful newsletters. You can just download ours and slot the content, which we also create. You are free to use our layouts, and you are free to use our content. We're here to help. Trying to make it easy for you.

So there we go. There's an image of some of the templates that we have got here. This is Eddie [Godtrim's 00:09:24] newsletter, and that's how he's done it, so he has lined it all up, looks pretty good, looks clean and tidy. And by all means, get your own one done if you want, but certainly we're here to help, and we've got some pretty attractive-looking members, as well as newsletters. So Eddie is looking pretty good there. Good on you, Eddie.

Ah, what's he say? "I started printing out the newsletter template in-house on this type of paper, mailed them out in an envelope, and then I kicked it up a notch and ordered custom-designed envelopes, and now send the newsletter out on printed glossy-stock." Very fancy, Eddie. "Cost me about $175 to send out 40 to 50 copies." Great. "However, it paid for itself and many more last month as my newsletter hit the desk of an old client I hadn't heard from in years who called me up the next day about a new medical office building. Presentation is everything. If it looks cheap, it will be treated that way." Excellent. Great work, Eddie. So Eddie is getting his return back.

To be perfectly frank with you, when I do my newsletter in New Zealand, I just print it out straight out of my photocopier. There's nothing flash or fancy about it. So I know you're architects. You're more visually stimulated and you think your clients are too, but you're better to do it badly than not at all. Well, certainly in my case I do it pretty ugly, and it works really well.

You can have articles by other people, so keep a file whenever you see an interesting article in a magazine or you come across something interesting. What I suggest is you have a file in your cupboard, and you just cut it out or write a note to yourself on where it is, slot it in your newsletter folder. That way when you go to write your newsletter, you've already got some content in there of ideas for stories.

Okay. Done-for-you content every month. We do have content for you, you can cut and paste. In the next video, [String 00:11:27] will go through and explain how to set up your newsletter. The other thing that's great content for newsletters is famous quotes. People love them. Easy to find, aren't they? Getting famous quotes by people? People just love that type of stuff. I love a good quote. People love good quotes. Now, we have got some quotes you can go and grab. I believe we've got the images as well, so really if you can cut and paste with the help of the Architect Marketing Academy, together, we can get this newsletter out, looking good, great content, sticky. We can do this, can't we? 30 people, Dirty 30. You can do this.

Now, be personal, another psychology secret. People connect with people. The cover story should always reveal what life is like living with you or working with you, some sort of personal story. Don't forget when they're hiring an architect, they're not hiring an architect. They're hiring you. So they need to know about you. They need to know what you're like, your personality, and so don't be afraid to share that. Share your stories, share things that have gone wrong, share the big things in your life. Pick out what you're going to share, and you don't have to share everything, but the more you share, the more they feel they'll get to know you, and the more they get to know you, the more that they trust you.

So here's an example from [Meta 00:12:51]. Personal story on the front page, looking good. "What I learned about in Japan about beauty and perfection." So really, it's a chance to tell about her trip to Japan, but she's linked it back to design. Nice job. She's got a cartoon in there. Include an offer. Offering something that solves a problem in the pre-project phase or an educational report, Monkey's Fist, are easy ways to generate leads for your referral to pass on. So don't forget, we're trying to make it as easy as possible for a Dirty 30 member to be able to pass this newsletter on to other people or at least even know if they're talking to someone to go, "Oh, you should download this guide from Meta. She's got a guide on how to work out the cost of your home." I can see down here on this bottom-left or in the middle "modern home cost report".

So it's easy for them to send them ... It's much easier for them to send them to a report to download than often to refer them straight to the person, because that carries some risk, doesn't it? If I refer someone to John Smith the architect and if he's not, if he doesn't do a great job, then sometimes that comes back on me. But I can refer the person very easily and safely to John Smith's cost report on how to work out what your project would cost. That would be easy. I don't mind doing that. So include an offer.

Now, let's have a look how Eddie's done it. Eddie has on the front page he's done a little ad, on the left-hand side here "How to Hire an Architect," so he's promoting it, and then it tells you on the back page on how to get it. So he's got a link there, going from architecture.com/howtohireanarchitect. Now, we're going to go into what a Monkey's Fist is next month in detail, but a two-minute summary is it's often the best Monkey's Fists are problem-solving information. So it's information we're going to give away and make available either in hard copy or electronic form and return for someone's contact details. So we're either going to get the postal address or their email address, and it doesn't need to be a great big long guide or a report or a book. It could be a one-page flowchart that, "If you give us your email address, we'll email it to you," or, "If you give us your postal address, we'll post out some checklists and cheat sheets and a guide or a worksheet to help you get started on your project." Okay? So problem-solving information.

What are the problem-solving information? What's the problems that most people have when they're starting a project? It's often questions around: Is my ideas feasible? How much is it going to cost? How do I get started? Who can help me? Those type of questions are often great content for Monkey's Fists. What's the process? How do I get started? How much is it going to cost? Any of those type of questions or problems, if you can turn them into a little one-page, two-page thing that you can make available, that's great content.

Now, do you want one final tip? Final tip is I would have a different report of the month each month that you're advertising. So each time this newsletter goes out to your Dirty 30, there is a different report that they can either download themselves or request themselves or past on to someone else, one of their clients to request. So keep it fresh. Maybe you don't need 12, but maybe it would be good to have six different short little reports of some sort that you can rotate and keep it fresh so there's always a new thing that is available for being requested or sent. So there you go. There's advertising, and don't forget, you are in the media, because this is your publication. You can do whatever ads you want. You can say whatever you want. The articles can be, obviously, written by you. So you've become Rupert Murdoch. Trying to get in newspapers and all that is hard work, but you're creating your own media, which is very, very powerful when it's done right.

So those are some tips on how to make your newsletter sticky, the psychology behind how to get engagement and interaction with people, and don't forget to include your offer. It's not that hard. Don't forget, we've got the content for you, we've got the layouts and templates for you. So in the next video, [String 00:17:16] is going to talk to you a little bit about that, but I hope you're getting excited because the Dirty 30, like I said right at the start, is a massively powerful strategy, and you only have to send it to 30 people. 30 people who could or should be referring people to you, so all we have to do is get them engaged, get you top of mind, and you're giving yourself a chance to find the six out of the 30 who are actually going to forward through more work than you can handle. This is awesome.

All right. So here's your final writing instructions. This is your action plan. Step one, you're going to select your Dirty 30 or you're going to come up with names of people who could or should be referring people to you, people who are already talking to, advising, influencing the type of ideal clients that you want to reach. Maybe they're builders, maybe they're other architects, maybe they're realtors or real estate agents. I don't know. Maybe they're landscape designers. Maybe they're bankers, maybe they're past clients, maybe they're prospects. Up to you. You've got to come up with your list of people who are going to influence other people. Get them on that list, step one.

Step two, create your newsletter. Use the templates and the guides that we've got, and use the content we've got if you want, or come up with a fresh one yourself. Step three, make sure to insert your report of the month. Make sure there is an add in there or some sort of promotion talking about how if the person reading the newsletter is in need of some help, then there is help available. They can just request it, either call a phone number, send an email to us, or go to this website and they can just enter their details. I certainly like the hard copy best. That's it. So make sure there's a offer for the report of the month, and finally, call or meet one of your Dirty 30 one a week. So in 30 weeks, you should get through them all. You might even be able to get through them all twice. These are highly influential people who could be referring people to you. They are worth meeting, so call or meet one per week. That's your action list there, those four items.

Hang on. One more thing. Have you ever watched those Columbo old detective series where he's a bit of a bumbling detective and he'll bumble up his questions when he's interviewing the criminals, and they think they've got away with it, and then he walks out the door, they relax, and just when they're relaxed he pokes his head back in and says, "Ah, just one more question, just one more thing," and then he'll say something that makes them realize they haven't gotten away with anything, he's just playing with them? So I've got one more thing for you, but I'm not playing with you. You may be saying to yourself, "Okay, Dirty 30. I know some people, but there's other people I would really like to have on my Dirty 30 list but, I can't really send them a newsletter because I don't really know them, and they don't know me. So how do I go about this?"

Well, I've got a great way of getting access to people, and that's this: What you do is because you're now running a publication to people, doesn't matter the size, you can ring them up and you can say, "Hey, you're an important person. You're influencing a lot of people in the area in these type of projects. I run a publication. What I'd like to do is our readers would love me to interview you and would love to hear what your thoughts are on this topic." And you go out and you interview them. Now, what happens with interviews are people are flattered to be asked to be interviewed, right? "Oh, really? Me? They don't want to hear from me. Do you think so? Okay, great."

So it gives you a chance to go and meet them, talk to them, interview them, write some notes, and write up the interview, and at the end of it, tell them what you're doing, find out what they're doing, and send them a copy and send them future copies, and that way they can get on to your list, they've been interviewed. There's no reason you can't interview all your Dirty 30, depending on who they are, but particularly the ones you don't know, particularly the more powerful, interesting, high-profile ones that you wouldn't get access to otherwise. You might be too shy to go and ask to talk to them, but you can certainly interview them. So that's the final thing.

Now, just to give you an extreme example. This is what I did. We had about 30 people on our little database when I was doing a little project, and I rang up the prime minister's office in New Zealand and asked if we could interview him for our subscribers. We didn't say the number, and managed lo and behold to get through and they granted us an interview, so we ended up interviewing the prime minister. I think I showed you the pictures earlier on. So the point is I know New Zealand is not the biggest country in the world and it's probably easier to get to the prime minister of New Zealand than it would be to the president of the United States or something like that, but still. You're not trying to get to the prime minister or the president. You're just trying to get to someone of high profile who's influential within your market who you can end up putting on your Dirty 30 list. That's all. They should be easy enough to get hold of, and they'd be flattered to be interviewed.

So there's no excuses here. It's get out there, get on with it, go round up your Dirty 30, interview them, then ask them if it's okay to follow up and you'll be sending a newsletter to them as you interview other interesting people. They'll enjoy it, and you become front top of mind. They know you. It's very easy to refer to you, so you can get access to anybody. All right. That's all. There will be no more one more things. That's it. Now, go away and take action. Speak to you soon, and let us know how you get on. Don't expect this to work in the first month, although people like Craig in Australia did, they got clients in the first month of sending it out, but take this as a 12-month thing. You will do well if you keep this up for 12 months. You cannot not go well. Anyway, I've said too much. We'll see you soon.