The biggest challenge I have writing this newsletter is finding useful examples for the concepts I’m writing about.
With real-world examples, you either need to use something so universally familiar (e.g. Apple) that it adds nothing to the discussion, or pick a lesser known subject where you have to water down the context and nuance so much that it enters the realm of fantasy.
And I just don’t have the creativity nor patience to make up an imaginary dog grooming business or whatever for every issue.
I’ve settled on using examples sparingly, and hoping the ideas are clear enough that you can start applying it to your own situation right away.
But today’s concept really needs an example. So why not use something convenient: this newsletter.
Building a strategic narrative
Last issue we covered the three questions you can ask yourself to build a strategic foundation before starting a project. This week, I want to take it a step further with how you can begin to build a strategic narrative.
Marketing is an exploration of cause-and-effect.
We do this — our customer does that.
Strategy is the way we link those disparate actions together. It’s the story we’re trying to tell.
That’s why it’s so detrimental when we focus our strategic efforts on numbers and metrics. The numbers don’t tell a story. They don’t lead us from one action to the next.
When I am trying to approach something strategically, I’m trying to build that story in my head. So for this newsletter, I’ve compiled the questions Jeff and I tried to answer when it comes to telling that story.
This isn’t something I generally put to paper before embarking on a project (though, if I had a boss breathing down my neck, I probably would). But it’s a pretty good synopsis of the type of conversations Jeff and I had upon starting this newsletter.
I’m not sharing this with you because we have some brilliant perspective on how to run a newsletter. There’s nothing new or unique here.
It’s pretty simple — and that’s the point.
It feels weird sharing a direct explanation of how we're trying to market to you. But I hope this transparent view gives you insight into what this can look like.
This newsletter’s strategic narrative
What’s the problem that needs to be solved?
Our ambition is to help marketers gain control of their marketing and their lives through building a strategic mindset. Through upMarketer, we’ve built a platform to work with marketing leaders to build that mindset with workshops, intensives, and coaching.
But outside of our clients, no one knows we exist, how we think, or how we can help.
This type of product has a long sales cycle. It can take years to build the trust necessary for someone to feel comfortable even starting the conversation. So we need a way to get in front of our potential audience and start building that trust.
Who do we need to influence and what do we want them to do or think?
Though there’s a lot of folks that could benefit from a more strategic mindset, we’re focused on marketers. They’re our people, and we understand the pain points they deal with every day.
At this stage, all we’re trying to do is to get our audience to feel we have a unique perspective on their challenges, and might know how to help them out.
Where should we focus our efforts?
Of course, this effort led us to focusing on the newsletter you’re reading now. Most of you have an email inbox that's absolutely overflowing with crap. But I know from talking to marketers and from my own experience that a newsletter which offers real value creates a connection with an audience.
How do we define success?
A newsletter is not a transactional medium. There’s no reality in which someone will go from having never heard of us to paying us to give them coaching. Or calling us to put on a workshop just by reading an email.
So success is not going to be defined by any traditional email marketing measures. We know that if we start having more conversations about our work, the newsletter is doing its job.
It’s unlikely we’ll even be able to attribute those conversations directly to the newsletter! But we’ll keep our ears open for topics to pop up in the conversation that stemmed from one of the newsletters.
And success depends on the newsletter providing actual value to our audience. So the feeling that we’re putting something out in the world worth reading is one of the biggest markers of success.
What’s the timeline?
This is a long-term play. It can take years to build an audience into a sustainable and monetizable state. In the short term, we’d like to start seeing signs that people are reading and enjoying the content, but we won’t expect to see results in terms of closed opportunities for 12-18 months.
What’s worth measuring?
There’s two “indicator” metrics that are worth paying attention to while we build out the future of the newsletter.
Organic-ish subscriber growth - The better and more valuable the content, the more likely a reader is to subscribe and share. We’ll have to do work to get the content in front of people, but if over time those people subscribe and stick around, we’re likely doing something right. Our success on that front can also be measured by open rates and unsubscribe rates, but only in the long term.
Anecdotal evidence of people enjoying the content - This is really the primary metric. If we hear from our readers that this content is useful, then it’s worth doing.
Outside of that, all of the other metrics are just noise. It’s against my nature, but I try not to even check the metrics of these emails until I’m ready to send the next one.
Give it a try
At the end of the day, strategy is a communication tool. A well-built strategy communicates your priorities and successes, and keeps your leadership and team on the same page as you execute.
But it’s also a tool for communicating with your future self. It’s so easy to get sidetracked by short term concerns. What was the open rate on the last email? Should I broaden my audience so I can get more shares? What if I hide some of the content in the blog post so I can increase my click through rate?
Going back to the strategic narrative gives clarity on all of those concerns. We’re in this for the long game. There’s no reason to prioritize short-term success at the expense of long-term sustainability.
So for your next major project, try taking the time to go through the questions I’ve answered above, and apply them to your work. Once you’ve internalized your answers, file them away for later. When you start to doubt what you’re doing, pull your answers back out and see if they still feel right.