Content Marketing To-Do: What To Read, Watch, Listen To & Do This Week [3.24.16]

As I sat enjoying breakfast with one of my school marketing friends this week, our conversation switched from personal catch-up to professional chatter — as it usually does among entrepreneurs.
We started talking about school marketing trends, and where there seemed to be the most opportunity for storytelling. And what did I find myself rambling on and on about?
Email. Yep, email.
We’ve talked a lot about email on this blog already, but I’ve been diving deep into email best practices over the past few weeks. We see big opportunities here at Cursive, and we want to learn all there is to know about how to kill the email game.
Which is why I’m reading, watching, listening to and doing the following this week…

To Read: 7 Deadly Sins and 7 Virtues of Email Marketing

The first step to improving your email marketing is knowing what works … and what doesn’t.
This Copyblogger article gives great tips and reminders that will help you keep your email marketing successful instead of spammy. (I’m guilty of Sin #2, and working super hard on Virtue #7!)

To Watch: List Surge by Melyssa Griffin

Ok, this is a paid resource. But if you’re new to email marketing and you really want to learn how to grow your list and create great content while skipping the learning curve, this is a fantastic online course.
List Surge teaches you everything you need to know about growing your list from scratch, creating successful incentives for joining your list, and different ways you can promote your list. It’s straightforward and actionable, which I love.

To Listen To: Being Boss Podcast Episode #64 // Email Marketing Tips And Best Practices With Nathan Barry Of Convertkit

If you’re looking for new ideas about email marketing, or if you’re considering switching your email marketing platform, this is a great episode.
Bosses Kathleen and Emily interview Convertkit founder Nathan Barry all about his seemingly awesome platform and his email marketing best practices. MailChimp — sorry, but I’m about to jump ship!

To Do: Revisit WHY Email Marketing Is So Important

Not sure why you would want to devote your time and resources to focusing on email marketing? Here’s a refresher for you:

• Old-Cool Marketing: Is 2016 the Year of the Email?
• 7 Reasons to Fall in Love with Email Marketing
• 7 Ways to Make a Big Splash with Drip Email Campaigns
• 20 Best Tips for Fast, Effective Email List Building
• 20 Best Ways to Kill Your Boring Email Campaigns – And Bring Them Back To Life
• What “The Skimm” Can Teach Businesses About Email Marketing

Well, that’s my to-do list for this week. Have suggestions for what we should read, watch, listen to, or do next week? Email us and share your thoughts! Or, add your suggestions to the comments below.