Email Newsletter Marketing Tips

Email Newsletter Marketing Tips

• Include option to forward to a friend
• Include archive
• Include preview

Inspiring Company Mission Statements

Inspiring Company Mission Statements

Creative GIFs

Make use of creative GIFs.

• Animated sketches

Ralph Ammer

Out of the Ordinary Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are increasingly common - and also increasingly boring and mundane.
A few examples that stand out are:

• Think Clearly's Handwritten newsletter

• Pen Parade's Illustrated Pen Review newsletter

Stand out from the crowd by doing something different!

Workspaces

Good workspaces should:

• Be attractive
• Have whiteboards
• Group people by projects, not by position
• Have people interacting
• Have people having fun and laughing

Tips on Naming Your Company/Product

Adapted from:

Tips on coming up with a name for your company/product

1. Simple
2. Noun
3. Passes the "phone" test (e.g. when spoken out loud, "Fiverrr" sounds like "Fiver")
4. 1-3 syllables
5. Does not sound similar to other companies/products
6. If you have no ideas, try changing one letter of a word
7. Think of as many names as possible. 

Funding Your Startup

Whenever someone tells me that they can't figure out how to raise the first $25,000 they need to get their company started, remember that the founders of Airbnb repackaged cereals as Obama O’s and Cap’n McCains and sold them for $40/box during the US presidential election campaign period to fund their startup.

Tips from Startup Playbook

Startup Playbook

• You want to build a “product improvement engine” in your company. You should talk to your users and watch them use your product, figure out what parts are sub-par, and then make your product better. Then do it again. This cycle should be the number one focus of the company, and it should drive everything else.

• When there’s a disagreement about anything in the company, talk to your users.

• Don’t let your company start doing the next thing until you’ve dominated the first thing.

• Among your most important jobs are defining the mission and defining the values. This can feel a little hokey, but it’s worth doing early on. Whatever you set at the beginning will usually still be in force years later, and as you grow, each new person needs to first buy in and then sell others on the mission and values of the company. So write your cultural values and mission down early.

• Building a company is somewhat like building a religion. If people don’t connect what they’re doing day-to-day with a higher purpose they care about, they will not do a great job.

• My first piece of advice about hiring is don’t do it.

• 99% of startups die from suicide, not murder. Don't worry about competition, just focus on yourself.

Business Lessons from Nature

Symbiosis

Plants grow flowers to attract pollinating insects. Your business should do likewise to attract customers. Large, vibrant flowers that emit a sweet fragrance attracts bees and butterflies. Appealing aesthetics that engages the senses attracts customers. The relationship should be symbiotic: both sides interact with and mutually benefit from one another. The insects help pollinate the plants, and the plants offer nectar to them in return. Your business should not only take from your customers, but also offer incentives to reward them.

Adaptation

Make structural and/or behavioral adaptations to adjust to your environment. A rabbit that lives in a forest habitat is brown to camouflage with the ground, while a rabbit that lives in a snowy habitat is white. Similarly, different businesses should adapt accordingly in order to survive and thrive.

Evolution

Change for the better. Organisms evolve, businesses pivot. This is the process of natural selection, and the survival of the fittest. 

The Paradox of Creative People

From Gamechangers, by Peter Fisk

Creative people are

• Extroverted and introverted: full of energy and enthusiasm, but can also be quiet and reclusive
• Smart but innocent: knowledgeable, but can also seem naive and idealistic
• Playful and disciplined: focused and determined, but also childlike and carefree
• Imaginative and grounded: first to dream, but also first to point out the limitations of an idea
• Humble and confident: shy and self-deprecating, but also confident of themselves and their vision
• Conform and disrupt: accept current norms, but also willing to challenge and change it