Continually coming up with ideas on what to send to a mailing list can get very tough, especially after you’ve been mailing for some time.
This is a comprehensive list of some of the things you could mail to your readers.
Whether you’re in a teaching mood, an interactive mood, a spontaneous mood or an analytical mood, you’ll find something in this list that you can use.
Here are 50 ideas on what you can send to your mailing list.
1) Recommend an Article You Loved. You can also include your own ideas, your own analysis or share why you loved it.
2) Send out a survey. Ask about your products, your service or about what they want to see next in your product line.
3) Analyze a trend. Is everyone buying yellow shoes this year? Talk about why that’s the case and how it goes with other clothing.
4) Recap the last year or quarter. What were the most important changes in your industry?
5) Create a contest.
6) Announce a Fan Page, Twitter account or Twitter hashtag. Announce a new social media initiative. You can also announce a new conversation on a Twitter hashtag.
7) Recommend a product. Is there another product that really impressed you? Give it a shout out in your mailing list. You can also make it an affiliate product.
8) Announce your most popular posts or pages. Look at your website’s analytics and figure out which posts have been the most popular on your site. Let your audience know which articles those are.
9) Give away a short eBook, report or whitepaper. Pick a topic and give away a non-promotional eBook.
10) Promote and host a webinar. Get people excited about an online class you’re going to teach.
11) Send a copy of a recorded webinar. After your webinar is finished, send a recording to your list. Limit the download time to create a sense of urgency.
12) Video content. Film yourself on camera talking about a certain topic.
13) Video interview. Interview another expert or prominent figure in your business.
14) Audio interview. Audio sometimes does a lot better than video. People like being able to consume content on their iPhones.
15) Conference review. If you went to a conference, talk about what you liked and didn’t like about it.
16) Product review. If there’s a popular product on the market, purchase it and give it a review.
17) Product recommendations. Make recommendations for products for specific issues your users may be facing.
18) Summary of a product or workshop. Summarize all the most important lessons for people who don’t have the time or inclination to consume the product or attend the seminar.
19) Book review or recommendation. Read the popular books in your market. Summarize it, then tell people if you recommend it.
20) Announce an event.
21) Give a special discount. Make sure the discount is one time only and that it expires in a set time window.
22) Give a one time bonus. Tell customers that for a limited time, if they buy now they get a bonus. For example, anyone who orders in the next 72 hours gets a free email consultation with you.
23) Have an employee or executive do a post. Have someone else from your company write a post. It can be a great way to give an inside perspective.
24) Send a guest post. Have another expert in your industry write an email for you. Again, this is a great way to offer a different perspective.
25) Analyze new ideas or tactics. Are there new ideas or approaches floating around in your market? Do an in depth analysis of the pros and cons of the new approaches.
26) Find a problem and offer a solution. Go on forums and locate problems that people are frequently having. Solve those problems.
27) Rant about something. Pick a topic you’re passionate about and just go on a rant. Be unrestrained.
28) Give advice. Instead of taking on an “expert” or professional tone, try taking on a “from a father to a son” kind of tone.
29) Write something humorous or satirical. Make fun of a popular idea, a popular line of thought or a public figure.
30) Dispel a myth. Are there things people commonly think that just aren’t true?
31) Talk about common mistakes. What trips up your audience frequently?
32) Give X Top Tips. For example, “55 Tips for Better Web Design.”
33) Give tips for specific locations. For example: Fishing in salt lakes, shopping in local markets, making money in Asia, etc.
34) Do an in depth case study. Take an example of something you or someone else has done and use it as an in depth example.
35) Talk about news stories. Was there something significant on the news that may influence your industry? Talk about it.
36) Do a multi-part series. Pick a complicated topic and explain it in detail.
37) Give away simple software. Go to eLance or oDesk and have someone code up a simple piece of software for you. Give it away for free.
38) Help people establish a plan. Guide people through the process of creating a step by step plan.
39) Ask a question. Have them answer you by email, Twitter or Facebook.
40) Offer a chance to correspond with you. If you have some free time and want to deepen your connection with your market, try giving away some one on one time.
41) Do a mailbag. Have all your customers mail in their questions, then answer those questions in your email list.
42) Split test. Test different kinds of emails and see which ones generate the highest open and click through rates.
43) Try out a new design. Email out a website with a new design template. See how people respond.
44) Ask them to be a part of a co-created video. Ask members of your audience to send in short videos. Compile them all together into one completed video project.
45) Make a confession.
46) Share your mission or vision. For your business, for the world or for your customers.
47) Offer to help someone on their project. For example, if you run a business newsletter, offer to help someone write their business plan. Make sure you record the process so everyone can learn from it.
48) Start a cause or movement, or contribute to one. People love being part of something that makes an impact.
49) Do an FAQ post. What are the most frequently asked questions in your industry?
50) Recap the most interesting blog posts of the week. Look through all the blogs in your industry, then recap the most interesting posts.