Sign up to get updates from us
when I think of heartbeat, notice how everything I'm saying is like, you still need
to talk to your audience. Right? That's what that was the first thing I shared.
Ask them. Send a survey, add a survey to your welcome
sequence, or when people first opt in so that you can learn more about them.
Like, My and I guess my heartbeat, my heart is to serve
the people whose attention I have.
Welcome to Too Legitimate to Quit instantly actionable
small business strategies with a pop culture spin.
I am your host, Annie P. Ruggles, and I am so
excited to welcome you back to our fabulous
summer school season. And, boy, Do we have a jam
packed episode for you today? Allea
Grummert is our guest, and Allea Grummert is a email
marketing strategist and conversion copywriter who helps
bloggers and content creators make a killer first impression
through automated welcome and nurture sequences. She helps
her clients build intentional email strategies that engage
readers build brand loyalty, and optimize conversations
for sales and site traffic. After starting a personal
finance blog in 2016, and learning the ropes of online
marketing, Ali has paired her hands on experience with
her advertising degree. She works with clients, including food
bloggers, money experts, service providers, product and course
creators, and membership communities to create tailored
strategic email sequences that promote products and
content that readers both love and engage with.
Ali holds the coveted spot as the email marketing
expert for the Food blogger pro membership community
is a recommended expert through Nerd Press and has been
featured on industry podcasts, including the Copywriter Club
podcast, system saved me, and the Food blogger
pro podcast. Ellie. We
met in Orlando on a porch. We
became friends immediately and started
swapping. We are from the middle of nowhere stories, and I
knew that I loved you. And then you turned around and said, hey.
Can we do an episode about the Keira Knightly pride and prejudice? And I was
like, would you like to get married? I'm already married, but we could change
it. But before we get into P And P and my Austin
obsession, which you share? I gotta ask you a more important
question, which is What do small business owners need to focus on this
week? I would say focus on getting to know your
audience. Like, ask them a question. Yeah.
Talk to the people. Talk to the people.
Whether that's, like, sending out a question in your email marketing to
have people reply back to or, yeah, or
sending out a survey. But it it can be as simple as, like, hey,
audience. I'm curious. Answer this question. Reply
back. You know, I love that. And then, also, I think
one thing where I what comes up for me immediately, like, if I
turn off strategist brain that's like, yes. Do this. Do this
immediately. If I put on, like, stressed out business
owner side of my brain, I'm like, but what if nobody
risk bonds to me. So I think one
of the I think I worry about questions because I worry about
receiving crickets. And I think I also worry about not
asking the right questions. So if
I'm asking questions and getting crickets, What does
that mean? Or how do I ask better questions?
Well, first of all, nobody on your list will know if nobody else answered.
That's valid. It's just you. That's valid.
Like, I have a question or 2 in my welcome sequence. think it's actually
my very first welcome email. And, like, I'm not getting replies from
every new subscriber, but I get replies every now and then, or there's weeks where
I'll get 4 replies and weeks where I'll get none. And so it
really just kinda depends on that person's, like, willingness to engage at that
moment too. But as far asking good questions. I think ask
something that's not maybe a yes or no question, but still is
still is easy to reply back to you. Like, I have clients, like, who maybe
are Italian food bloggers. So we'll just ask, like, what's your connection to
Italy? Oh, man. If people like our from Italy
or their grandparents are or they visited there once. Like, they wanna talk they
wanna talk about it. I love that. Open the door for story.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, as an Italian American, by
god. Believe me. I understand. Where it's like, you know,
it's like nothing. I'm not knocking my people.
Okay? Ancestors don't roll in your graves, and nobody at me. But,
like, you could tell how proud
people's connection to Italy is every
Columbus day of all trashy things. And I'm like, y'all.
Can we have Sofia Lorene? Can we have another day? Like, can we
do literally freaking same Patrick was actually Italian. Can
we co op, Saint Patrick's Day. Like -- Oh my god. -- come on. But,
you know, because it but people are so
proud and excited to talk about the things that light them
up, whether it's their multigenerational Italian
heritage, their grandma's, you know, you
will never ever know over my call dead hands pasta sauce recipe
or, you know, just the they wanna show you the
trip. They wanna show you, you know, the places that they ate in
Sicily. And and I think that's because you're saying, hey.
by asking you this question, what I'm really showing you is genuine interest and
giving you access. Yeah. And, like, that your story is
welcome here? or, like, you are in a good spot.
Okay. As a content creator, right, so much of what we do is, like, we're
pushing information. Like, here's something about my life, or here's my new
recipe that I created. But to say, like,
your you are the other part of this scenario. Yes.
It's not a vacuum. You're not just, like, sending out information to robots. Like,
they are actual people behind actual email addresses.
Your story is welcome here. It's just can we put that on the
billboard -- Yeah. -- or a tote bag or something? I mean, that's just
so good because, you know, you
work predominantly with bloggers and people that
have found a home on the Internet saying
their peace, sharing the things they love, and using their
voice. Right? Mhmm. And And yet,
that's a self created mechanism
in that, like, that's visibility that is born of you. And
when you put yourself out there so much,
having somebody ask you a great question you can respond to
feels like coming home. You're like, oh, somebody
else cares about what I'm saying. Like, because we
know there are some blog posts you put out that again 127,000
comments overnight. And some stuff that you put out that you think is freaking
incredible that maybe you get one random comment 4 years
later, and you're like, Finally. Somebody
commented on the damn lemon bar post, like, finally.
How do we dance this dance of of putting out
content and adding our voice to the global mix of voices,
but making sure that people understand that through our
own content, their story is welcome here.
Yeah. I think I mean, part of it is asking Part of it is telling
your own story and being vulnerable with that instead of just being like, I'm a
purely a content creator. It's like, no. You're a person behind the content. Yes.
So one of the things You know? I always ask our clients like,
yeah, what what triggered you what happened in your life
that you started this blog? Yep. Or -- Mhmm. -- because then it was like,
oh, because you were a mom with young kids and didn't have time to make,
you know, hour long meals. Mhmm. If you even just say that, it's
giving the permission of the people reading that to be like, oh my gosh. That's
where I'm at. Me too. And then they're like, I'm in I'm in the right
place. Right? The end of it is huge, and there are 100 of
1000 of food blogs. Right? And so to be like, oh, this
person gets it, that's the that's the angle that this creator's coming
from. I'm gonna stick around because I feel like I fit
in here, and they're gonna meet my needs and help solve my problems.
Yeah. And that's why I'm always, like, telling my clients or, you know, I'm I
have a roundtable every month and just encouraging people, like, to find
who you are writing for. Because even just by, like, saying
it, they're gonna be like, oh, yeah. This is my spot -- Yeah. -- for
the stick around versus just keeping things super general. Like, I
provide recipes. It's like, yeah, but what problem are you solving? Let's talk about
roundtables. Yeah. In that okay. We hear a lot
about mastermind groups. we hear a lot about networking, but
there's something really magical about a well executed
roundtable. So how do you find that? And what makes it
so exciting as a concept? My business name is Duette, which, like,
has a couple different meanings. But one of them is, get the thing done. Like
-- Yeah. -- do it. Do it. Do it. Sounds like do it. Do it.
Do it. And I felt like I was passively sharing a ton of content through
my email list Right? You're like, I'm creating this content. I'm on a podcast. Whatever.
I'm, like, pushing it out. But I was like, I know there are a ton
of DIY wires on my list who, like, are hung up on, like, 1
or 2 questions that are keeping them from getting their message out. Right?
So, like, the master or the the round table for me was, like, How do
I answer those questions so that you don't have an excuse anymore? They're
like, can I use emojis in the subject line? I was like, if that's what's
keeping you from sending the day in emails, Let me answer that,
and then we keep moving, and you just go share your wonderful content with the
world. So mine is set up. So,
like, we have it the 3rd Thursday at 3 PM because I like
alliteration. So but it's called email
marketing answers with Ali. It's like a topic that we cover
every month, and then there's kind of an open ended q and a. So,
yeah, the promise is we're gonna get your questions answered. So part
of its education part of its, like, do the dang thing because
I've answered the question for you. I always love, like,
You and I were talking the pre chat. Like, we're gonna talk about email. We're
gonna talk about this. We're gonna talk about that. And there's always, like, the
hidden topic that comes through. And the hidden
topic today is what questions are you asking and what
questions are you answering? right? Because how are we
using questions to build rapport? How are we using questions to
clarify? How are we using questions to build community?
Right? And and, you know, you and I met
tangentially through or through. Danielle Wyle, friend of the show,
and you were there when Danielle was walking around podcast asking everybody
their favorite ice cream. Oh, yeah. And just
like your point, everybody
had an opinion, lactose intolerant people,
that only eat ice cream when they hate themselves that day had
strong opinions. Like, you know, people that are like, I don't
really like sweets, but my favorite. I feel like everybody
had an opinion, and I think, you know, you in
the foodie space That's such a literal example. But
what's the question equivalent listeners that will
get your people riled up, and it might be about
something that has nothing to do with your work. Danielle, like
Ali, is a copy strategist and a writer like
she doesn't and she's not in the food space. She's in, like, the personal development
master 90 space. Like, what's your favorite ice cream? People get talking. And
then What she does is she says, okay. How was your business like that ice
cream? Oh, and now we've drawn the connection. Right?
So You and I and I were talking in the pre chat
about the fact that you just had this amazing brand shoot, and you shared
with me that you on this went on this quest for this incredible lemon
bar. Right? And it had to be a camera ready lemon bar,
and it's like, Alright. Cool. Why a lemon bar?
And how is your business like that lemon bar? Like, that that that
right there. Right? You know, I just wanna tell you now. I'm like, let me
tell you because it's bright, and it's tangy. And have you ever had a bad
lemon bar? No. And how it's like my business is
refreshing -- Yeah. -- delightful, and it's a treat. I don't eat lemon bars
every day, only when I when I wanna But I never have had a
bad lemon bar. Right? I mean and so we could be like, Ally, the
lemon bar of blogging. Like, what what does it even make Who
knows? Now it's a Tyson League egg, but now we're having a conversation. Right?
And -- Yeah. -- and and food is
so memory driven and emotional and
sensory. But if you're not in the food space listener, I don't want
you to worry because you can still invoke and involve the
senses, and you can still use food as a tool. You
can. You can also, I mean, one of my initial questions in
the -- in my welcome sequence actually, like, what's your anxiety around this
blank? You know? What, yeah, what is your number one frustration with
your email marketing right now? Or, like, how is it not meeting your own expectations?
So, you know, you can invoke, like, the really positive and give people to engage
that way. You can also ask, like, what's your problem? Sorry. That's not a really
a problem. No. Not a problem. Well, why -- Yeah. -- why see your pop
up? Like but also, like we said before, your story is welcome here.
That also, someone implies your confusion is welcome here.
Yeah. And then when they reply, I just like, I reply back
empathetically. Like, I get it. You know, marketing is complex.
Here's a video training I already did on it. Like, these are people who are
brand new to my list instead of waiting for them to get that nurture email
in 3 months. Yeah. They're still gonna get it, but I how can I
help you know, shorten that learning curve. Well, why would you withhold something
that you're ready to give? Right. You just have to be willing to do the
work. You have to be willing to go grab that for someone. in remembering that
these people are individuals and not robots. Yeah. I
just put that -- They understand that you're emailing lots of people, but they
wanna feel like you're emailing just them. So when you are emailing just them,
put some effort in. Yeah. And thank them. Like, thanks for replying.
Thanks for being vulnerable. You know, maybe not in those terms. But
yes. Oh, I mean, it you could thank them for
being vulnerable in those terms. Yeah. You could. And if you don't
wanna thank them, you could at least applaud them, be like, hey. Gotta hand it
to you. This was a vulnerable email, and I acknowledge that. Yeah. So I had
a client this Italian blogger that I mentioned.
When we had her welcome sequence ready to go, she, like, teed it
up to her existing list and was like, guys, I have this new thing. I'm
gonna share it with you. You could expect it starting next week. Well, after the
first couple emails came in, she said she got hundreds of replies.
100. And, like, these are not these are not the vanity metrics that you see
on, like, Instagram, followers, or comments on a post or something. It was
like all of these people are, like, I love you. I love your stuff. I
love your story. Here's my story. And, like, that's a connection.
Right? If you're ever going to sell something and she does, she has ebooks. and
she's selling, quote unquote, like, her content and getting traffic back to her site.
But, like, once people feel like an emotional connection to you, Whether
it's like pride or relief or something like that, they're more
likely to stay engaged with you. Well yeah. Because
it's not a flat amorphous
thing. You know? We see an actor
in a that we don't know in a movie that we
really love and they nail that performance, suddenly we love that person. Like, we have
emotional attachment that wasn't there before. And then you go watch every
you video they've ever been in. Exactly. Oh, yeah.
This happens with food too where you're like, I have never eaten
this weird ass thing. And then you eat it, and you're like, have I mentioned
that my favorite food is this weird ass thing that no one else has
had. Like, because because once we've experienced it, we've experienced
it, right, which part of the reason why when I'm working on funnels
with people, I try to get them as experiential as possible, get them the quick
win. Bring in the emotional stuff, bring in the senses. Like,
when you download from direct from me, when you download the
coach you would not sell, the first thing you got from me after
that is you get a playlist of, like, weird noir music so that you can
listen while you read. Right? And Because here's
the it's it's part of it is invoking the census, but the other thing is
I know as a lead magnet and as a community builder and as
a marketing piece, for me. If they download the book
but don't read it -- They're not gonna get the full
effect. They don't get any effect. Like, they get the effect of the fact that
my cover is cute, which doesn't make me any money. Right? And so
one of the objections that I have to handle as someone who puts out long
form content is I don't have time to read
this. I'm a business owner, which is why my book is very short, which is
why you can do the whole thing in 2 hours or less, which is why
I put on a 90 minute playlist to say this 90 minute playlist
should cover you from soup to nuts. Right? Like, this 90 minute, but,
also, people are writing me notes back being like, My favorite track on the
playlist is this 1. What's yours? And I'm like, you're asking me questions.
Yay. Engagement. That's engagement.
Exactly. That's engagement. Well, I've done that with, like, a welcome
sequence for our clients. We have, like, a whole beginner cook
sequence. And part of it, like, their brand is, like, we want you
to be a confident home cook. So in there, like, we had emails of, like,
how to cut up garlic and how to cut up a sweet potato without cutting
your finger off. Right? Like, these are things you need to know. But towards the
end, it was like, please have fun. Here's a playlist. pour something
like sparkling. You know? And, like -- Yep. -- enjoy enjoy the
opportunity to, like, create something. So that reminds me of, yeah, what does it look
like to give people that full breadth of experience. Did
you know that after you chop garlic, if you
rub your fingers on stainless steel like your
sink, it makes the garlic smell go away? I did not know that. Do you
wanna know something else? I actually have no sense of smell at all.
Fun fact. Fun sand fact. Interesting. My friend, Ken,
also has no sense of smell at all, and yet is routinely
the best smelling person I know. Like, notoriously
amazing smelling? because his wife, like, keeps that shit,
like, fabulous. I was just saying, other than -- Every time I get in
there, I'm just like, I gotta give you the double stiff for both of us.
Like, I gotta appreciate how good you smell because you can't. Like,
damn. Oh, man. What happened to your sense of smell? Where did it
go? I've never had one. Never. Never. So but I can still
taste like lemon bars. Don't you worry. I still taste that. -- move somewhere
disgusting that other people cannot tread. Well, for your friend who's,
like, overcompensating and smells super great, I'm like, I might just be a walking
trash bag right now. I don't really know. I don't really know. And
so when I started dating my boyfriend, he, like it was that weird line of,
like, do I tell her she smells, or do I just, like, suck it up?
And then we go out in public, and she smells around other people because I
have the guts to tell her. Oh, it was a whole thing. He's like, I
feel like this is a lose lose. And so we had to figure out a
way for him to kindly say, Hey, girlfriend. You might wanna
go put some put some more deodorant on. It's like everybody poops, but it's
like everybody smells, but not everybody can smell. Ugh. Not
everyone knows they smell. And that that's me. Oh,
man. The stories I have from college, I used to wear a shirt six times
before I wash it. I had no concept of, like, one is probably
enough. Yeah. Like -- See, with that right there.
The dirty t shirt that you cannot smell and continue
to wear is in and of itself a
metaphor for entrepreneurship. Like,
that dirty t shirt could be our pop culture topic today. It's not.
But, like, How many times
do we get fixed
on a strategy beyond what it's working,
or we find a gimmick that works well, and so we
just stick to it, or we're unwilling
to change something like a brand color
because we're really, really connected to it, and and we don't
let it evolve. because it's casual.
It's there as possible. Right? Like, you had other clean clothing, but that t
shirt was comfortable and available, so t shirt it is. Right? Like
so I think I mean, it's a stretch, like, many, many metaphors on
this show, but I do think there's something of, like, we go with the
tried and true over the innovative. And a lot of the time,
that's the correct choice, but sometimes it's also a smelly choice
that maybe we should place, and maybe you should, like, you know, get a
clean t shirt. Well and then it's also like, that's the fun part of entrepreneurship.
Right? Like, once you have something that works, you actually have a little bit more
room to experiment with other things.
Right? And then you can always bring it back. You can always wash the shirt
and put it back on. You can always see that. Well, like, I'm even thinking
about my wardrobe right now. It is winter in Nebraska and we are, like, on
our freaking last nerve, like, as as a as a world right
now, like, in the state. We're just like, is spring yet. And I'm like, I'm
getting so annoyed with my clothing choices. I'm like, do I hate everything I
own, or is it just, like or is it just time to retire these clothes
to the closet? And part of me is, like, some of these things, you know,
old favorites I've had for, like, 10 years. I'm like, maybe you do retire it.
What would that look like for you, Ali, to, like, go invest in a new
sweater that you, like, really love and show up better as, you know,
versus you know? So sometimes same old same old is like, yeah.
But What would it look like? Yeah. What would it look like if I, like,
Marie Kondo, bless and release this thing. Yeah. Right?
But, also, oh my god. There's another one. Like, Are we blessing and releasing
our content? Are we are we still are we putting it out
so that it can turn into something new and impact people and hopefully come
back to us in the form of feedback, or are we so fixated
on how it's being received? We're not really letting it go. Oh my
gosh. Yeah. I mean, guys, don't look at your unsubscribes for
starters. Right? Like, part of our job as
creators and problem solvers is to put out content
and see how it lands. Right? If you are micromanaging every
email that goes out or every blog post or every Instagram post,
like, you're gonna paralyze yourself, and you're gonna lose the freedom of just
creating with your audience in mind. Right?
So So don't, yeah, don't hyper fixate
on that. Don't even look at your unsubscribes. Like, don't click through and see who
they are because you're gonna find out it was somebody you actually know in real
That's so sad. And you don't need that. So, like, what I tell people
to do is, like, you're sending out emails if you especially if you're getting
started. send the dang email. Like, what you know right
now, even if it's not polished, even if it's not, like, the most helpful thing
on the Internet, is still going to help someone. Yep. So get
the message out there. Like, I and I I turn in my early nurture
emails, like, my very early ones. They're part of my nurture sequence. And, like,
they're not the best copywriting, but the message is
still important. The message is there. And so and I can always go back and
tweak them. But for the most part, it's like -- They exist because they're out
there. They exist, and they're out there. And then what you do is, like then
you go back and gather the data. 6 months later, a year later, see what
people have engaged with the most. Mhmm. And then
yeah. But otherwise, like -- We can't fix what we don't know.
Right? And so I think a lot of the time when people come to me
and they're like, okay. Okay. I need to write these email campaigns, and they need
to be perfect right from the get go. I'm like, they're never gonna be perfect
from the get go because we don't know how they're gonna be received. We can
make our best estimations based on best practices
and your brand and your audience. But because
of trends or things that will change or the
weird Zeitgeist that nobody understands, but it happens.
Like, You know, somebody the lemon bar email
might not do well, and we're shocked. And then suddenly, lemon
bars become totally in vogue, and it blows we don't know, but we
also don't know until we check things like your open
rate and your response rate and your click rate and not your unsubscribes.
Like, Well and those things just can't don't let them
dictate your entire content schedule and, like, what you're
creating. because you're gonna lose your soul in the process.
Explain. If you're gonna bend to every whim of what people want or don't want
or the style they want it or don't want it, know that you're gonna get
exhausted because people are gonna say, well, now I want it in video. Now I
want it as a PDF. Now I want it as whatever. Like, you get to
be like I kinda say, like, you're, like, the magazine editor. you have all this
information. It's just how are you going to present it. You still wanna listen to
your people. I would say it's more important to
what I say, Darren Rouse from pro blogger. I listen to him speak once. And
he was like, if you put too much emphasis on what everyone thinks, you're just
creating for money's sake and you lose your, like, passion for it. But if you're
only doing it passion driven and you're not making any money and you're not actually
engaging with people and you're not delivering what they want, you're gonna make no money,
and then you're gonna be out of business. So there has to be, like, a
balance there. Yeah. So so as you say, like, define what
is important for you to share with people. Like, what are what is the
heartbeat, what is your soapbox, create content around that,
but then also ask your audience and make sure that you're answering their questions. Like,
I swear, like, the whole first year of me writing emails was just, like, what
are people asking -- Yeah. -- and answering those questions. And it's a practice in
defining your own intellectual property. How would I solve this problem? I mean, that's the
exact same question I ask when when I'm devining
new programming. right, is, like, what do I get asked all the
time? Right? And and so everything has a kind of,
like, size gauge. Right? So I always use Goldilocks than
3 bears. Like, if it's a bite sized
chunk of your content, intellectual property,
thought leadership, whatever, perfect for an email.
Right? If it's a mama bear sized chunk of like
this plus go in a little deeper, that's an awesome lead magnet.
And if it's a full problem solved, then that goes behind your
paywall. Right? But -- Yeah. -- we still gotta know what we wanna say, and
I love fuh. This word that you used
that I don't think I've ever heard used about branding or visibility
or outreach before. You used the word heartbeat.
Wow. Tell me more about what it means for your brand and your
vision to have a heartbeat. Well, it
makes it how do I wanna say this?
If you don't I mean, it's it's kind of cheesy to think of, like, you
need to know your why. Like, that that feels like cute. talk about Simon
Scenic on this show all the time because that book is damn good and important.
Right? Like, your why is important. I'm sorry. It's tight,
everybody, but it's true. Or we think about it this way. Like,
as the content creator, you are the person you are the
face. You are the living being. You're not a
content generating AI machine. You are presenting new
thoughts new ways of thinking, we are just helpful thoughts. Not
everything you create has to be, like, the most original thing on the earth. Right?
Like, nothing original anymore? Every email that you
send has got to be a Nobel Prize winner or
GTFO. Like, if you're not gonna win a Pulitzer, don't do it. No. I'm just
kidding. Why are you even showing up today? Yeah. Right. But, like,
what? You're totally right because that pressure we put on where we're like, I
couldn't find the perfect adjective for
scrumptious. And so it's just Oh, thanks a disaster.
And it's like, dude, come on. Just send it. Well and when
I think of heartbeat, like, Notice how everything I'm saying is
like, you still need to talk to your audience. Right? That's what that was the
first thing I shared. Ask them, send a survey, add a
survey to your welcome sequence or when people first opt in so that you can
learn more about them. Like, my and I guess my
heartbeat my heart is to serve the people whose attention I
have, whether it's my clients, whether it's people on my email list,
you know, I'm giggling my ass off because I just
figured out the transition of the pop culture piece. And
Here comes listeners, put your seat belt on.
If Elizabeth Bennett had sent out a
survey to the
people that she met. at the dance. It probably
woulda helped her to know that maybe she
was being prideful and prejudiced.
And and, also, if Mister Darcy had considered his audience
at all, he, Elizabeth Bennett, probably wouldn't have had to send the damn
survey because he would have communicated better. That's right.
That's right. We're talking about pride and prejudice today, folks.
Know your audience. Yeah. Know your audience. and how you show up.
Yeah. Right? Because here's what Mister Darcy did. Mister Darcy sent out a welcoming
email that was not so welcoming. He says, I'm here.
Do you see me? Do you see what I have? Do you want what I
have? That's not exactly welcoming. I wouldn't I
wouldn't say say subscribe to you. But he also
did the thing where he goes I mean, and I've totally seen people do this
in their email marketing where it's like, this email list is not
for assholes. and ugly people. And you're like,
did you really come out the gate with an insult trying to be
charming? Like, I guess she's not attractive enough to
dance with, but whatever. Like, what? Did you really just say,
like, it's one thing to be very clear about who you're for and who you're
not for. But, like, being a bitch right out the gate is an
interesting move, Darcy. Well, and, like so I think
Elizabeth's reaction is completely valid. Right? Well, if
it's all gonna be about you and you're going to
insult me or talk down to me, Or
even if she slides in the slightest bit of tongue. Right? Like, I'm like, we'll
talk another time when it's not all about you. Yeah. But even if she had
sent a survey being like, hotness, Am I hot or not? She would have gotten
hot back and being like, oh, he's mean to me because he likes me
like a 3rd grader. Okay. Yes. I get it.
Okay. Maybe, like, are these things a good idea? See,
the men of PMP, I think, are really gonna teach us a lot
about emails because we got the Darcy
who's, like, insult out the gate. Keep your best content
until ever. because he knows his
audience eventually. He's like, I need to find Lizzie Bennett. Where is she?
Oh, wandering in the rain. That tracks. Right? But it
takes him a really long time to understand how understanding
his audience changes his pitch. Right? Like, come on.
But then we also have these other 2 yahoos,
Bingley, and Wickham. k? Alright.
So we got the Bingly principle, which is
like, I am going to ardently love my client
for months and never tell them and bow to the
whims of the populace and just be totally
malleable. which is also like a persuasion thing if we're just going into
Austin. But, like, you know, Mister Bingley
sends pleasant emails that says nothing.
Mister Darcy sends compliments disguised as
insults. And Mister Wickham doesn't ever tell you what he's
actually selling, he just markets to you constantly.
Yeah. Mhmm. All of that is true.
Mhmm. And then Caroline doesn't get an email list. she's
stubborn. Caroline's, like,
email is for the plebs. I don't email. The
pollers I don't email. That's disgusting.
No. Right? And then we send
poor poor Jane out wandering the
moors where she you know? Can we talk
about Mister Collins? I feel like -- Mister Collins How did
I leave him out of this? Yes. Okay. What kind of -- Please hear me.
Please hear me. Oh my god. Mister Collins only sends
sales emails. Mister Collins. Right? Mister
Wickham markets you all the time and never lets you know what he's selling until
it's too late and then he tripwires you. Whereas Mister Collins, has
never sent a content email in his life. Mister Collins
only sends by now in the next 5 minutes and you get me for life.
Like, Yep. Dad cannot read the room.
Cannot. Will not take no for an answer. He makes unsubscribing super
hard. Yeah. I don't think he even honors unsubscribes.
Probably not. He's breaking slow sorts of loss. I think he's one of those unethical
people like my freaking ex boyfriend who sudden like, why
how many times do I have to unsubscribe from your list, bro? And
then I get put back on it. Like, that's that's that's the mister
Collins of this whole -- He's like, you know, you want it. She's like, pretty
sure I don't. Pretty sure I don't. No.
No. Yeah. No. They're all terrible. Even
Mister Bennett. Like, Mister Bennett doesn't send any emails.
Once a quarter, he might send out a little like,
hey. Are you still interested on staying on the list? And then doesn't ever
actually say anything in between. Like, just sort of sits in his living room and
waits for people to come to him. Well, or he's taking so much time
consuming what's possible, but not taking action.
See. Just hanging out in that library. See. Just
hanging out in that good old library. Oh my god.
Alright. So we have Collins who only send sales emails, Wickham, who
only sends flashy, marketing, trendy emails, Like, Wickham
has a TikTok account, hardcore. Not that
I'm dogging TikTok, but, you know, it's shiny. Darcy's got a
hate blog. that sends insulting
emails. And Mister Bingley wants to be everybody's best friend and says
nothing. Okay. Yeah. I think that's fair. I think
that's totally fair. How much how much
better can things have gone off from the get go? Ugh.
if Darcy, like, ask some other questions. I'm thinking
mostly, Darcy and Elizabeth, they went through some stuff. Yeah. They went through some I
mean, they are the pride and the prejudice. So, yeah, I mean, they went
through a lot. Well, then there's that whole like, he writes her an actual letter.
Mhmm. Like, he has his these are my confession. Like,
has his moment, and then she stares in the mirror for, like, 6 hours?
Yeah. I mean, like, we all do. Right? We get a love letter. We stare
at ourselves. We, like, have an existential crisis. But,
I mean, I just hate this there is this theme and I already brought up
my favorite, which is persuasion, but there is this theme in Austin of,
like, when I opened my mouth to speak, I sound like a complete
moron or asshole. And yet, when I write it in
a letter, suddenly, everything's okay, but that's also true
because when we talk, we talk all over the place. But if you're
sitting down to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard,
Right? Like, we tend to get our shit together a little bit better.
Yeah. Well and, like, I guess we should say too, like, what
each of those characters are doing are not bad, they
just shouldn't be isolated. Yeah. They're miscommunicating.
They're misfiring good intent with the exception of Mister Wickham.
Like, even Collins, who's only sending a sales email, he's just
like, okay. He he has a guru in his ear being like, position
yourself. position yourself. Be proud. Know your value, Mister
Collins. You're a good man, Mister Collins. Be you're gonna be a good
reliable husband, Mister Collins, so just only talk about what you can do for
them forever. Right? He's like, he got good coaching. It just
wasn't complete. Yeah. And it was all about him.
Right. Right. What would Charlotte's
email situation look like? Oh god. Don't forget
Charlotte floating in the background, so quiet. So quiet. It would
be like it would be like the one sentence, like, whisper
email. Like, hi.
What's going on with you? Is there anyone alive out there?
Hello? Would she feel like a bother when she sends her emails? Yeah. Like, I
don't wanna bother you, but I feel like a lot of the women in
PNP would feel like their emails are a bother. I feel like the only person,
like, similar on the Wickham front, feel like the only person who's like, I get
to wake up and send an email today is like Lydia with maybe
a bonus of kitty. Like, And and, also, I combine them in my head all
the time as Kitty Lydia because I'm like, also learn a lot. Right? But, like,
I feel like Lydia has the
Lydia is the influencer who is
taking close ups in a kiddie pool in her backyard to make
it look like she's at, like, Mar a Lago or some shit. Like,
you're like, what are you even doing? But yeah. And then she meets
Wickham who only sends Mark getting emails, and the 2 of them are like, we're
shiny influencers now. Oh, man. That just
imagining Wickam and Lydia in today's context. Kinda
fun. It gives it, like, a British invite for you to, like, you know, put
some Nicki Minaj in the back of that, and suddenly it all makes sense. You're
like, yeah. I get that. Right? But then but but that's
there's there's emailing for attraction and marketing for a
track and that is bold and bright and
shiny, and that is Lydia and Wickham, and that serves a purpose.
Right? And then there are the deep heartfelt Darcy letters
I have to reveal my deepest secrets to you, and that reveals
stuff. And that's important. And then there are the Collins. No. No. No.
Wait. Please do buy from me, and here's why. Like, all of these things in
combination work beautifully but when we only do
the one thing, when we don't mix it up,
We become a one trick pony, which we do not want to be because that
it's easier for people to disregard us. Right.
Well, like, doing a sales a sales launch, if you
will, the Charlotte's of the world are gonna send one email. Yeah. Be like, oh,
man. I just hope that works. Nobody likes it. You know? Whereas I
think of, like, Darcy doing a sales sequence, I recently edited
one for a client who, yeah, told some of her story. about her,
like, weight loss experience -- Mhmm. -- and why intuitive eating you know, like, that
ended up being, like, a lead into the course. But, like, her story
just it and it performed super well because people are,
like, I too have that £30 that I just can't lose.
Yep. Right? And that's giving people permission to say, like, the way that you're feeling
not that weird because I felt that. Come along on my journey.
And you're much more a dip like, likely to do that because --
Mhmm. -- you don't feel alone. Right. Can't forget that there are
people. And, like, the stories matter, the context
and value matters. Yes. Right? Like, the the Collins
relationship is just like, dude, it's like you don't even see
me. Right. Oh, man. The fact that he was like, he came to town for
Jane, and then was like, Elizabeth, I've been thinking about you this whole time. And
I'm like, easy. I know that's not true. It's like Peter Pan coming back
for Wendy's granddaughter. You're like, gross, dude. grass. Yeah.
Boundaries. Read the room, dude. Come on. Like, ugh. Boundary.
Yeah. Boundaries. Exactly. But, yeah, you don't know the context.
Right? And if you did know the context, it would be helpful. If you knew
I mean, famously, very famously, my very
astute husband, Ryan, is really,
really annoying to watch movies with, especially movies based on
classics. Because when you're reading, you might be like,
That's really interesting. But then you get through and you're like, oh, I had a
feeling that guy was gonna be a jerk. No. No. I introduced
Ryan, the pride and prejudice, through this movie version that we are discussing today.
Right? And the second that Rupert Friend walks on screen, as
Mister Wickham, Ryan immediately goes.
I don't trust this mister Wickham. And I'm
like, cool. On one hand, I'm like, good. Good instinct. You shouldn't.
And on the other hand, I'm like, You just wasted a half hour of movie
for you when we figure that out. But not for nothing, if Darcy
came out at the very beginning, it was like, hey. Let me spill some tea
on this dude. He's not ethical. He's a butt head,
and you should stay away from him. Instead of just standing across the room and
pouting about it, Like, if he had been forthcoming, it'd been like, that
dude, hurt my sister. If he had even been like, hello, I
have a sister. If we could find out about the sister before we go
two hundred pages in, he might be a bit more sympathetic. Right? So,
like, the question that I have for our listeners
is What secrets are you swirling away that don't need to
be secretive? And I'm not saying don't have boundaries.
I'm saying it's a whole
range of what you disclose and when you don't have to tell
your sister's social security number, but the fact that she exists
might be important. Yeah. Are you so you're saying, you know, we can
bring in some of those personal elements? Yes.
Yes. The only personal element that we had about Darcy
at the beginning is that he's BFFs with Bingway. And
Bingley's so not and rich as shit. Right? It's like, okay. He's
rich. He's visiting, and he's friends with Bingley. And then Bingley gives
us so little in the form of differentiation that,
like, okay. All we know about these is that they're 2 rich dudes. That one's
kind of dopey and sweet, and that one is hot and an asshole. Okay.
Right? Even in one of my favorite things to do because, you know, I watched
this movie on repeat. Like, you just I mean, as you should.
Just watch it again. It's like going from the
last couple scenes, especially the one where he's, like, walking across the meadow, and he
is disheveled. So -- Like, his shirt is open. His hair's
a mess. Like -- He's wet. Yep. And then you
start the next you start the movie over again, and he's all buttoned up. And
you see these, like, very distinctly different darcy's, and
you're like, I don't -- Yeah. Like and and part of me just, like, loves
that. Like, love seeing him, like, so torn down,
like, so op not, like, that sounds mean. Like, turn down. But, like, just
so, like -- Unfiltered, unglossy.
Yeah. You know, like, I think that's very often
too of, like, let's take some people down the peg that's necessary.
But, like, normally, in order to do that, there's, like, a scandal or someone
gets sick in bed for, like, a month and a half, and then, like,
everybody saw, you know, unbazed Jane for a
month and it still worked through. They're like, oh, love. Right?
But but no. Yeah. He's wandering
the wet moors at, like, 5
o'clock in the morning with unbrushed hair at a
wet t shirt in an unfun way. And
then he by the time he runs into her, he just has to tell the
truth because why else would he be out
wandering the wet at 5 AM other than to
disclose. Yeah. I I I do appreciate that he didn't
beat around the bush. He's like, I love. I love. I love.
I love you. The triple love is real fun. I
love I love I love you.
He also just really loves to say things like multiple types, Missus Darcy.
Missus Darcy. Missus Darcy. We're like, we get it. You like to whisper
things three times. At the beginning of the movie slash book, if you
could have been like a come off as kind of an asshole. I'm an asshole.
I'm an asshole, then maybe that would have been helpful. But -- Can I get
some clues outside? Like, a hint?
Can I get a hint? Can we just put, like, a fuck boy pin on
him and just be like, oh, yeah. He'll get there. But it is interesting, like,
watching him develop, like, generosity. Right? And he doesn't like, it
wasn't flashy. She wasn't even supposed to know that he had rescued the wedding. No.
Like, There are a lot of things and maybe that's part of your heartbeat --
Yeah. -- of, like, the content you share is, like, how can I be generous?
Like, one of the fears people always had.
Oh, how can I be generous? Well, because, like, we always
have a fear of oversharing. But what does it look like to act actually just,
like, deliver the whole thing and not leave people guessing. Right.
Like, how do you be rich in a Mister Darcy way where everybody just knows
it? and not in a Caroline Bingly way where she makes sure everybody knows it.
Like, how can you be genuinely generous and have it
be a heartbeat without telling everybody how generous you are.
And, like, that can go beyond email. That can go in how you treat your
team, how you treat your coworkers, how you treat your clients. Like, mean, I could
talk about that all day. Like -- How you treat your competitors? How you treat
your peers? How you treat your vendors? I mean,
How you treat everyone? Well and, like, we especially when Darcy
introduces his sister, and you're like, oh, there's this whole side of him that is,
like, kind. and generous. And his sister
doesn't know the difference. Mm-mm. No. She doesn't know the Darcy that we know. Well,
she doesn't leave the house. So, you know, she plays piano
in size and only knows her brother as a peach.
You know? Right. Yes. But yeah. I
mean, it must be hard to play piano all day. She has very fair
skinned. I wonder if she doesn't like the house. I don't think she does. I
think she's too I think she's too Austin ill.
Meaning, like, she's got the immune system of a tiktok. And and if
she goes out into the sun, she'll shrivel up
like Kirsten Dunst in that Vampire movie. Like, just bye bye.
Oh, man. At least she has more freedom to run around the house versus, you
know, the birthdays of the world in Jane Air. Oh,
listen. and you don't even how long is this
episode? Y'all don't even wanna I will bring you back for a J. Nair
episode because I have so many
things that I could draw about being the birther in the attic and and why
we should be. Why we should all be the birther May of our
brand, but we are not gonna talk about -- We don't have time for that
today. Tieser. Open loop. We'll come back. We're not going Bronte's.
We're staying in Austin. Alright. We'll make a persuasion reference once
or twice, but we're not going right. But but even
so, I mean, Jane Air is an entire book
about miscommunication and secrets and holding on to your
secrets. At the very beginning, if he was like, it's not Grace
pool, have this crazy wife. She lives in my attic. This
is very complicated, and I don't know how to navigate it, Jane, so maybe you
could help me before she tries to light my bet on fire. You know?
But, again, miscommunication, we squirrel away
our best content. until they've air
quotes earned it. And what happens? Your crazy wife lights your
bed on fire, or You make yourself seem like a jerk
for 2 entire seasons of balls, so nobody wants to
dance with you even though you're rich and hot.
k. Like, we can't be so stingy with our
truth. If there's a crazy woman living in your attic, just tell
people she's there. Yeah. Don't wait until you're
literally at the altar. I mean, spoilers for Jane Air. Okay? Sorry
for -- You haven't read it by now. If you haven't read it by now,
Skip Loewood School. It sucks. She stands on a stool and her
friend dies. I mean, if we're gonna spoil it, let's just spoil it. But
You know, I think but there is that idea. And, I mean, I'm
gonna make a really broad statement. That's probably totally wrong. But I
think in this era
of of these great, amazing period
classics that we love so well. A lot of the
undercurrent of it was how do women who historically
no one wants to hear from tell stories that everybody wants to. And
so there's always a muzzled woman in these books, always.
Maybe more than 1. I mean, I would argue that, like, every single
woman in J and A are down to Adele the child. is a muzzled woman.
The housekeeper is muzzled. Birth is muzzled. Grace,
even the horrible aunt. Like, they're all not saying what they need to
say. But on the Austin side of it, it's
less angry and oppressive and violent and
more languishing and yearning and
misunderstanding each other and how,
you know, we might not have to explain the deepest
darkest secrets of our life like Abrante, but we
might have to explain. I'm sore we might have to apologize
for some stuff. We might have to allow our brand to grow. We
might have to be vulnerable. We might have to change how we show
up. We might have to admit -- Mhmm. how we've evolved, we
might have to show that evolution. Right? Yeah. I think it's like I mean, I'm
an email marketing expert. It's what I do. And I had a team member
managing my email list or or my email that was going out while I was
at a conference. Well, the wrong link got sent or it was an error in
the link. So I went and fixed it during the conference. Only to duplicate the
email, write a little apology, which is, like, whatever. I'm fine doing
that. but then I had a typo in the subject line. Oh my god.
Oops. Oops. I fixed I fixed the think is what I
put. And I just hit send, and then you're like,
well, everyone makes mistakes, you know, and just, like, that doesn't
keep you from continuing to send. even right there. Like, that's a perfect
perfect message for us. And on a typo and an email
does not have to be a disaster. If it's a minor typo, you don't
have to own it. If it's a broken link, the word oops can be your
friend. Mhmm. What if Mister Darcy had just said?
Oops. I came off wrong there, Lizzie. I didn't mean to
insult you to your face when I didn't know you were listening. I didn't I
don't know why I came in, so brass. I apologize. and she could have been
like, oops. I'm sorry. I've been sending your emails to spam.
Oops. Maybe write me a letter next time, and then I'll see you in the
rain. It it just teaches us how we how we show up to people, and
then we can be intentional about that. Right? Like, all all I do is write
welcome sequences. Right? It's like, how do you actually introduce yourself to people so that
they feel welcome, connected, They have a full understanding of who
you are and what they're gonna get from you before they just, like, hop in
midstream as though they've been there forever. So they get the right first
impression. And so do you? because it goes both ways. Oh, freaking
gorgeous. Alright. I got two more questions for you before I release
you to your gorgeous day. We're back in the day.
We're having salads, and you and I are taking a
turn about the room, which literally for people that are not in the Austin
world means you walk around the room in a circle. Okay? So you
and I are taking a turn about the room, and
we're talking. And someone needs to
be impressed. Suddenly, a high profile client comes in, But
in order to impress them, you can only use the hobbies of
the period on which women were graded. Are you
going to choose to play an instrument,
needlepoint, sing
garden, or something else. speak in French?
Oh, you're pulling out the exotic
card. You're gonna be like, hold on. for that. My god. Because in this
imaginary world, I can speak French. For reason, this world, I cannot. So we're just
I can speak the modern languages. Oh, she's
so worldly. And for people that understand
how worldly you truly, truly are, What is the best way for our
listeners to come into your world and start a conversation with you? So I
created a landing page for y'all called duet.co/tltq.
where you can get my freebie on writing your first welcome sequence, namely
such so you can yourself. You can also learn more about my services and
how you can work with me. I do done for you services for content creators
and bloggers so that we can really build that brand loyalty and
awareness, but also drive traffic for sales and site traffic
Gorgeous. And that's duet, which is d u e t t,
titties. c o. Dot c o. that,
c o. Well, I'm so glad we finally did this. It was
so goofy and wonderful, and wow, we pulled a lot of lessons out
today. Ali, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for being my guest today.
Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Annie. Oh, heck. Yeah. Y'all I will be back
in just a second with my final thought and your homework for this
week.
Well, hey there. Alright. I know we went a little in the
weeds with the idea of your email marketing being
a character from pride and prejudice. But seriously, have you
ever thought about what it would be like to date your
email list or better yet. What it would feel
like if your email list was trying to date you?
Are you asking the kind of questions that foster connection, or
are you just being disruptive or making assumptions? Are
you coming off too soft too meek to bingly ask
or possibly too brusque and too cocky like a Mister
Darcy. What is the tone of the emails
you send and how frequently, how ardently, how
earnestly are you expressing your love to your
audience. Email is a weird beast, and it certainly
doesn't feel like it's for everyone, but it is the now
It is the future, and it is the most consistent marketing tool that
we all wield and own the intellectual property
for. No matter what Facebook does, no matter what, Twitter
does, our email lists are our own. Your homework
this week is to look at the emails you've been sending lately and to
assign them a persona. What kind of boyfriend,
girlfriend, or they friend are you putting out into the world And is that
the kind of friend that you want to be? Are you showing
up in those emails? How do you want to show up?
Are you leaving too much to potential miscommunication
and chance, or are you playing all your cards? If you're
holding back this week, I challenge you to let them in
a little more. Obviously, within boundary,
and in a way that feels semi comfortable for you. But in
order to stand out from the competition, we have to be willing to
connect more deeply. That's what I encourage
you to do.
Hey. Thanks, for listening. If this episode kept you laughing and
learning, I have 2 requests for you. First, make sure
you hit that subscribe or follow button depending on your platform
so you never miss an episode. And also,
more importantly, If you are looking for support,
inspiration, networking, collaborations, or just a
chance to hang out with me, NEP Ruggles, and our fantastic
guests make sure that you are a member of our
LinkedIn community, the legitimati, It is a weird
and wonderful place. I can't even believe it's on LinkedIn, and
we want you there. you'll find the link in the show
notes. Big shout out, as always, to the fabulous dudes who
helped me make this show. My producer and editor Andrew
Sims, hypopal impact, my theme composer,
Riley Horbacio, and my show art creator, Francois
Vigno. See you next time.
We recommend upgrading to the latest Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.
Please check your internet connection and refresh the page. You might also try disabling any ad blockers.
You can visit our support center if you're having problems.