Depending on the size of your online shop, there’s a tool that’s right for you. Here’s a breakdown of the top ecommerce tools that work with your Showit website.

Top Ecommerce Tools That Work With Showit Templates

Shopify

Shopify is our #1 recommendation for selling digital and physical products online with your Showit website

Thrivecart / SamCart / Spiffy (That’s what Amy Porterfield uses!)

These tools allow you to link your visitors to custom checkout pages.

Woocommerce

For serious brands wanting to level up their shop, WooCommerce gives you the most flexibility and customization possible, but not without custom code. 

Shopify

Buy Buttons

Shopify is our #1 recommendation for selling digital and physical products online with your Showit website. Shopify allows you to embed buy buttons on any page of your site that, when clicked, adds a really nice slide out cart. This is great if you want your customers to be able to add multiple products to their cart rather than selling a one off product.

If your products have variants, the options will also show with your buy button. It’s really the easiest way to sell digital and physical products with Showit!

If your online shop is big, or you plan on scaling your shop to more than 30+ products, then I wouldn’t recommend Shopify buy buttons. The reason being is that you have to create each individual product page in Showit and then add the buy button. It’s definitely possible to do this but with a large shop you’re better off using Shopify Collection buy buttons.

Collection Buy Buttons

Shopify also allows you to embed “collections” which are groups of products. This is great if you want to add multiple products to a shop category page with one code snippet.

Shopify collection embeds only allow you to add the product to the cart, show a popup with a cart button, or go directly to the checkout page. The downside to this is that there’s no ability to link out to individual product pages with collection buy buttons.

If you have more than 30+ products and you need individual product pages, then WooCommerce is going to be your best bet!

Checkout Pages: Thrivecart / SamCart / Spiffy

Tools like ThriveCart, SamCart, and Spiffy allow you to sell digital products by linking out to a custom checkout page created for a specific product. They allow you to add upsells, downsells, testimonials, subscriptions and more to these checkout pages making conversion their top priority. They are easy to set up, however, cost significantly more than Shopify. Shopify starts at $5 / month, where Spiffy and SamCart start at $79 / month. ThriveCart is a one time fee of $495.

Checkout pages vs Shopify

Besides price, the main difference between checkout page tools and Shopify is that checkout pages allow you to customize the checkout process (upsells, downsells, testimonials, etc.), however you can’t have a shopping cart on your site. Shopify allows you to have a cart where you can add multiple products, but the checkout page is not customizable.

If having a custom checkout page with upsells, subscription and payment plans, testimonials, and more are important for you, and you have less than 30+ products, then a Checkout page like Spiffy is what you’ll need. Even Amy Porterfield uses Spify to sell her digital products!

WooCommerce

If you’re serious about selling digital or physical products online, then WooCommerce is going to be your best bet. WooCommerce is a robust WordPress plugin that gives you the power to sell 1 to 100+ products online… easily.

Well, it’s easy if you know your way around WordPress and have a bit of coding experience.

Here at TONIC we use WooCommerce to power our online shop, product pages, cart pages, checkout pages, and customer account pages. We have an Affiliate program, payment plans, coupon codes, and more that create a powerful ecommerce experience for our visitors.

If you know your shop is going to make you a lot of money (or it already is) then it’s worth paying a developer who knows WordPress really well. We found ours on UpWork! WooCommerce is free, however there are a lot of add-ons that add up. Expect to pay around $500 – $1000 per year for WooCommerce add-ons, plus $30-$50 / hour for a developer.

Conclusion

Creating an ecommerce site with your Showit template is easy when choosing the right tool. If you’re just starting out, use Shopify buy buttons. This will give you the most flexibility when designing your shop pages.

If you strictly sell digital products and you want to utilize marketing tactics like upsells, downsells, subscriptions and more, then a checkout page tool like Spiffy is great.

If you’re looking for the best, robust online ecommerce experience, then WooCommerce will be the tool for you. However, be prepared to work with a developer who can code in custom functionality that you need!

The post 3 Ways to Create an Ecommerce Shop With Showit appeared first on Tonic Site Shop.

📢 Allow me to introduce you to our NEW Webinar + Sales Funnel Canva Slide Deck and our Speaking + Presentation Canva Slide Deck — aka the BEST Canva presentation templates for your business, and your content creation solution for anything you’d EVER need to create a presentation for. 

(Spoiler alert: even though our presentation slides are, duh, perfect for presenters, they’re *not* solely made for a speaker on a stage.)

#1 — Speaking engagements

There’s nothing that’ll make your speeches more entertaining than killer slides to go along with your presentation.

Sure, you can have a great hook, and you can move around the stage, and you can dramatically pause at the right moments, but the ONE thing that’s going to really engage your audience?

Slides that capture their attention, and help you tell the story. 

Our Canva slide deck templates are the perfect wingman for entertaining your audience with a captivating narrative — and, unlike your typical presentation slide, won’t distract them from your presentation.

#2 — Internal Team Meetings 

Hot take: those team meetings *don’t* have to be boring. 

No matter what you’re presenting to your team about, you officially have our permission to stop using the same old tired PowerPoint templates, and start using something a LOT more fun.

There are few things I dislike more than meetings that could’ve been an email, and I’m willing to bet I’m not alone in that. 

And what better way to signal to your coworkers that “hey, just so you know, this isn’t gonna be one of those boring hour-long snooze-fests!” than by kicking things off with engaging, entertaining presentation slides?! 

>> Use our templates to create the slides for your next team meeting

#3 — Online Course Modules

Because our templates are ridiculously easy to duplicate and continue to repurpose, using them for your online course modules will save you SO. MUCH. TIME. 

Building an online course is already overwhelming enough; you don’t need to *also* worry about spending all of your free time customizing and creating templates for each of your modules. 

Plus, when you duplicate and reuse them, you’re ensuring that every single module is cohesive and on-brand, helping your course look more put-together and thoughtfully created. 

(I mean, it’s basically a given that your students won’t be able to resist binging your whole course and immediately craving more content from you, right?)

>> Use our templates to create your next online course

#4 — Webinars and Masterclasses

Our webinars and masterclasses have been totally transformed since using our Canva slide decks. 

What use to take me FOREVER to build from scratch now takes me a FRACTION of the time — and I still get the same result:

Beautifully designed, super engaging presentations.

If you’re someone who hosts webinars or masterclasses often, you know that creating the slides is always the part of the process that takes the longest. 

…but not anymore. 

(Unless you, like me, are obsessed with creating 7 zillion more slides than you need, because you get sucked into the beautiful creative black hole of template customization, and end up with a 6-hour presentation instead of a 60-minute one.)

👀 Want to see our templates customized for a TONIC masterclass?! Click here to sign up for our Email Marketing Masterclass to see how we’ve used our slide decks to create an engaging presentation — and get some killer tips on how to improve your email marketing from our team while you’re at it!

>> Use our templates to create the slides for your next webinar

#5 — Lead Magnets

And while we’re on the subject of email marketing…

The best way to get new subscribers on your email list is to provide them an element of free value worthy of trading their email address for — aka a lead magnet.

And the best way to keep those new subscribers on your email list is by impressing the heck out of them with a GORGEOUS lead magnet. One that they can’t get enough of. 

In case you haven’t heard, I (Jen) moonlight as a master email marketer (subscribe to my #longandweird newsletter here!) and I can tell you firsthand that the #1 thing that consistently keeps our list growing is our lead magnets.

Your freebies are often a lead’s first interaction with what your brand is like beyond just your social media profile, your blog, or your website, so dazzling them with a designer-grade lead magnet is KEY to impressing them enough to make them stick around. 

#6 — Welcome Guide

If you’re hoping to give your clients a great first impression, we recommend adding a Welcome Guide to your onboarding process. 

Not only will you prove that you’re super organized and committed to the success of your project, but you’ll also be able to show off how streamlined your client process is by outlining everything they need to know with a gorgeous, on-brand presentation. 

(You know the whole “surprise and delight” concept? The one that marketers are always talking about, to help you improve your client process? Where you give your clients an element of value they weren’t expecting, to enhance their experience with you? Yeah, this counts as that.)

#7 — Next Steps Guide

Your Welcome Guide is what helps you start your client projects off on the best foot, and your Next Steps Guide is what helps you end your projects on the best foot. 

(Streamlined client process from beginning to end?! Yes, please.)

Including a Next Steps Guide in your off-boarding process is such a game-changer, because it helps your clients feel supported long after your project has ended.

Creating a guide that tells your clients what their next steps are is such a great way to provide some (unexpected!) added value to improve their experience, AND it’s also a great way for you to answer the questions you know your clients have about the off-boarding process (to save you all that unnecessary email back-and-forth). 

#8 — Proposals

Have a pitch or proposal you really want to make a splash with?! Our Canva presentation templates are PERFECT for spicing up your sales pitches and offerings for any audience.

#9 — Workbooks and Long-Form PDFs

Hosting a course, mastermind, class, or meeting that you plan on using a workbook for? Our slide deck templates are perfect for creating supplemental materials to help your audience follow along with anything you’re teaching.

Want to see our Canva slide decks in action?

Our Webinar + Sales Funnel Canva Slide Deck and our Speaking + Presentation Canva Slide Deck are both equipped 80+ slides, gorgeous typography and stock photos (all pre-licensed for your use!), and easy-to-use, plug-and-play designs that’ll save you hours upon hours of time. 

Does all this talk about Canva slide decks have you thinking about how to create the best presentations?!

How convenient — we happen to have a resource all about that, too. 

Because as soon as we launched our Webinar + Sales Funnel Canva Slide Deck and our Speaking + Presentation Canva Slide Deck I *knew* you’d be wondering about how to give better presentations, I interviewed our friend Mike Pacchione, expert speech coach, all about how to become a better speaker + use slides to enhance your presentations. 

Read the post right here!

Now, how about you go customize some Canva presentations of your own?!

We can’t WAIT to see what you come up with. ✨Tag us on Instagram @tonicsiteshop so we can stalk your creations!

The post 9 Ways To Use The TONIC Canva Presentation Slide Deck Templates appeared first on Tonic Site Shop.

Not when you happen to be Internet friends with a team of cocktail-obsessed marketing experts at your disposal, ready to help you accomplish your goals in style. 

While we may be an online template shop, we don’t think our support should end with templates, but rather begin with them. 

We don’t just want to give you a beautiful template for your online presence, we also want to give you advice about how to improve your online presence. 

We want to teach you how to market yourself, how to sell your offerings, how to communicate with your audience, how to grow your business… basically, as many resources as we can possibly provide you, that’s our goal.

So, when we launched our Webinar + Sales Funnel Canva Slide Deck and our Speaking + Presentation Canva Slide Deck, we knew we wanted to share that same level of additional support that we always set out to give. It’s just the TONIC way.

And, because you deserve better advice than “picture everyone in their underwear!” — I called in the big guns to help out.

Meet Mike Pacchione.

Mike, in addition to being a fast friend of mine, is the Founder of Best Speech, and he happens to be the KING of giving (and teaching others how to give) audience-capturing, attention-grabbing, entertaining-as-hell speeches.

He’s coached industry rockstars like James Clear, Donald Miller, Amy Porterfield, Tarzan Kay, Laura Belgray, and a whole lot of other best-selling authors, Olympic gold medalists, pro athletes, & more — and ALL of his clients cite him as the reason they feel confident in writing and delivering the best speeches. 

…which is why, when I decided I wanted to support you in not only creating but also conceptualizing, preparing for, and delivering the best presentations EVER, I knew Mike had to be the one to do it.

So, I gathered all of my best questions about how to give better presentations, and asked Mike to please tell us everything. 

Here’s how it went. 👇

Q: So our lovely readers don’t have to take my word for it, how did you get into the world of public speaking + why should we trust your advice about giving better presentations?

A: I really want to give you a nice, short answer here, but it’s impossible. So, I’ll do my best to summarize the story here:

I was working as an adjunct professor, and a guy from Nike came to my class.

I had no idea he’d be there; he came with his girlfriend. 

(He apparently had nothing better to do that day than to come to his girlfriend’s college class, but thank goodness for that, because that guy changed my life.)

He came up to me during a break, and said “hey, you’re a really good presenter.” 

When I thanked him, he said, “I’m not in your class. My girlfriend is. I actually work at Nike, and I’m in charge of bringing in speakers. Would you like to present at Main Campus sometime?” 

And, of course, I thought “sure, this seems like something I should do.” 

After that presentation, I basically thought: okay, cool, I want to do this as a job.

So, I latched onto an awesome company in the Bay Area called Duarte, and — it was a little more complicated than this, but for the sake of keeping the story short — they hired me and I flew all over the world, presenting at some of the biggest, most impressive companies in the world.

I did that for 8 years, and encountered every single type of thing that could go wrong (and right!) during a presentation, and I just… figured it all out on my own by doing.

And then, on the side, I started helping out other people who wanted to give better presentations and that’s how my company, Best Speech, was born.

Q: If someone asked you “hey, Mike, do you have tips about public speaking?” where would you tell them to start?

A: The beginning.

Ha, ha. I know it sounds like I’m being facetious when I say that, but it’s true: 

Whenever I work with someone to craft a better speech, we always obsess over the beginning, because if you have a good beginning, you win the audience over right away, and the rest of your presentation feels easy.

Q: What would you tell someone who feels nervous about giving a presentation or anxiety from public speaking?

A: I would tell them that, despite their anxiety from the prospect of public speaking, the audience is rooting for them. 

When people are nervous about giving a presentation, it’s usually because they have some fear about how the audience will react.

I PROMISE YOU: NO ONE IS THINKING “I HOPE SHE BOTCHES THIS RIGHT NOW.”

Your audience isn’t hoping you mess up, or feel awkward, or look uncomfortable; they genuinely want you to do a good job. They’re hoping that you’ll be entertaining, and clear. 

They’re cheering you on, not rooting for your downfall. 

I know it can be intimidating to step up on a stage and give a presentation in front of a group of people, but remember: they want you to do a good job.

My best tip for overcoming nerves when giving a presentation is to do your best to replace the feeling of anxiety with some level of excitement. Find the dopamine hit, and chase it.

Q: What would you tell me if I’m not ‘stagefright’ nervous, but instead am ‘what if they already know this and they boo me off the stage’ nervous?

A: First of all, I’d tell you that you do deserve to be onstage.

It’s very unlikely that you’d ever be onstage giving a presentation about something you know nothing about, however, here’s a little speaking secret:

You only need to be ONE step ahead of the audience.

Your job is to, on a basic level, share a new perspective about a given topic, using material from your own experience.

(That “but anyone could talk about this, why me?” type of nervous = GONE, when you remember that your purpose on that stage is to share your stories and your examples.) 

When you’re giving a presentation, you’re, of course, sharing information about something, but you’re doing it in a way that says:

“I’ve been down this road before, and I want to give you these shortcuts to getting to this place, so you don’t have to get banged up like I did.” 

Hot take? People don’t want to hear from *experts.*

People want to hear from people who are just a little bit past them in their journey, because oftentimes it’s been so long since the “experts” have experienced what the audience is going through, that they aren’t able to relate to them anymore. 

It’s a big win to be closer to your audience — not a disadvantage. 

Making the mental switch from “I can’t do this, this is really nerve-wracking to “I know I can do this” is also a huge help in getting presentation-ready, which is something you’re only able to do when you adequately prepare for the event.

Q: So… how do you adequately prepare for giving a presentation?

A: Rehearse, part by part, until you get it perfect. 

A lot of presenters make the mistake of rehearsing their speech in full, from beginning to end, when they’re preparing, but it makes way more sense to master it in parts.

Practice the introduction of your speech until you feel great about it. Then do the same with the first point, and the second, and repeat the process until the end. 

It’ll make things feel a lot more manageable, and it’ll help you feel certain that you’re confident in the entire thing.

Side note: find that rehearsing with music on minimizes the awkwardness of it. It feels weird to stand alone in your office and talk to yourself.

Q: How will I know if I’ve prepared enough for my presentation? Is there anything else I can do to prepare besides rehearse it?

A: Here’s the thing: You will do your best if you already KNOW the talk is good. 

Get feedback from people you know and trust ahead of time.

If you have the opportunity, practice delivering the presentation to someone in person, or over Zoom. If not, record it and send it to them. 

One of my favorite clients swears by this method.

He’ll record himself reading the script, email it to people, include an anonymous Google form, and ask questions about the speech, like…

• Was it unclear?
• What felt long?
• Was there anything I over-explained?
• What was your favorite part?

The anonymity allowed him to get feedback without feelings involved, and the specific questions allowed him to get better feedback than just “sounds great to me!” 

When you practice delivering your speech, you’ll feel so much more prepared.

Instead of seeking validation from your audience, hoping and praying your speech is good, you’ll already know it’s good, because you verified it ahead of time with the help of people you trust.

Q: What’s the #1 mistake people make when giving presentations?

A: I can’t narrow it down to one, so I’m gonna give you three. 

#1 – Over-explaining things.

Don’t force your audience to scuba dive when you want them to snorkel.

If they want more information from you, they can GET more information from you… later. Your talk doesn’t have to demonstrate an encyclopedic level of knowledge on your topic. Just give them enough to satisfy them for now.

After your speech, they can visit your website, ask you questions, introduce themselves and chat with you – there are tons of options for the “more” later.

Of course, there will be a little voice in your head wondering “do they get it?” – but this is your sign to ignore the urge to keep explaining.

Audience members can only process so much, so err on the side of concise. 

#2 – Looking to the audience for affirmation.

Walk on that stage confident that what you have is good. 

You have to deliver that talk no matter what. You can either do it tentatively, or let it rip. 

So, let it rip.

#3 – Speaking too fast.

Not to be confused with speaking too quickly. I’m not talking about fast talkers. People can watch videos and listen to podcasts on 2x speed, and it’s fine.

I’m talking about not letting the audience catch up.

When you listen to a podcast, there’s naturally a break. People need this break to stay engaged in the content.

You can speak as fast as you want, as long as you give a ‘paragraph break’ to your audience here and there.

Think of not giving this break being the equivalent to reading one looong email on your phone. You’re not gonna want to read that big, huge block of text. You’ll zone out. 

Speaking too fast, without breaks, is the equivalent of that.

Q: How do you know if your presentation is good enough?

A: If you took my earlier advice and practiced with / sent your presentation to people and heard their response; you’ve already seen and heard their reactions, and you’ve likely implemented their feedback.

You got this. 

Now, if you were panicking pre-presentation, and you came to me and asked “is this good enough?!?!” my pep talk would be:

There’s no version where you get to *not* deliver this talk right now. 

You don’t need to be a pro wrestler flexing your knuckles by your waist, completely confident and ready to crush it, but you DO need to trust yourself.

Trust > anxiety.

Q: Any advice for making presentations more engaging?

A: Find a creative way to make a point that people intrinsically understand, but hasn’t yet hit them on a deeper level.

You’re looking for a relatable way to deliver that “aha!” moment, or that “oh, I hadn’t thought of it like that, now I get it” moment, or that “what a good way to look at it” moment. 

The moment of JOY.

This is something that can only be done by sharing your stories, your experiences, your point of view. Think of a way you can relate to your audience, to help them reach that moment.

Q: Actually, I want more. What are your 3 best tips about public speaking and  giving a good presentation?

A: I’m gonna split my tips up into the 3 categories of giving the best presentation: engagement, writing, and supporting materials:

ENGAGEMENT — Look for ways you can surprise your audience.

And because I know your next question is “how?!” – do this by thinking about how you can do something your audience isn’t expecting, like starting off with a really great hook, or moving around the room, or starting your speech without introducing yourself. 

My clients have done things like… 

• Sneak into the room early and put things under chairs
• Planting a heckler in the audience
• Breaking out into song
• Asking for a volunteer for a surprise mock first date

People are expecting you to go up, introduce yourself, give your speech, thank them, and leave. Anything outside of those norms would be enough to shock them; it’s simpler than you’d think. 

WRITING — Remember that, even if your audience knows something about the topic you’re presenting on, they don’t know your perspective.

Everyone is always so scared that they’ll tell their audience something they already know, but chances are, they don’t.

Even if they know the subject, they don’t know the story.

Using personal examples and experiences to showcase your perspective is the easiest way to ensure that your presentation will be a) entertaining, and b) memorable.

PRESENTATION MATERIALS — Use slides to help you tell your story, not to replace your story.

You wouldn’t go to the movie theater to watch the cast read the script.

So, why would anyone want to watch you read your presentation straight off of slides on a screen?

(Interrupting Mike for a sec to share an important side note here — have you seen our Canva presentation templates?! With Mike’s advice in mind, we designed the best slide deck templates for you to use for your presentations, speeches, webinars, online courses… anything. Check them out right here!)

Q: Speaking of presentation materials… Do you have any tried-and-true tips for creating great slides for presentations? 

A: Duh! So many. 

#1 – Warning: people will read whatever you put on the screen. 

The more words you put there, the more times you’re asking them to read and not listen to you. As I mentioned earlier, people don’t want to watch you read off of a screen. They want to hear you talk. Your slides are just a supplement to your story. 

#2 – Whenever you can, represent your ideas with visuals, not words. 

It doesn’t have to be pictures, either. Drawings, diagrams, anything. Visuals are easier to process than words, meaning they’ll distract the audience from the story way less, keeping the attention where it belongs: on you and your speech.

#3 – Think of your slides as a billboard.

You want your audience to be able to quickly process what’s on the slide while you’re talking.

If what you’re putting on your slides takes your audience more than a second to think about it or process it, you’ve failed the billboard test.

If brands plastered billboards with paragraphs of text all over them, they’d be responsible for lots of highway crashes, don’t you think? 

There’s a reason why they’re so short and to-the-point. Avoid crashes by keeping things concise. 

#4 – Use the sound bite. 

Sometimes, it’s best to use your slide to reiterate what you’re saying out loud, to emphasize the point or help illustrate the story.

This is something you’re likely familiar with already.

Take this blog post, for example. Maybe I’ll say something really noteworthy or profound or relatable, and you’ll want to share it on Instagram. You’ll take the quote out from the blog (aka the longer, more involved piece of content), and post it on its own (to emphasize the point).

#5 – Use your presentation slides as more than just your own notes. 

Instead, use it for drama, humor, or story support. It shouldn’t just be a list of bullets to help you remember what you’re supposed to be talking about.

#6 – You lead the slides, they don’t lead you.

Don’t click the slide then talk. Talk first, then click the slide. 

Your slides should be a visual guiding your audience through the presentation seamlessly. They’re not your notes, remember?

#7 – Care about how they look.

The moment you show up on stage, and slide 1 looks beautiful and well thought-out, it makes your job as a speaker so much easier, because you’re signaling to your audience that you put effort in — they can tell immediately that what they’re about to hear is gonna be good.

Now, I have to step in here and say: I swear I didn’t pay Mike to say this next thing. 

Was I secretly hoping he would? Yes.

Did I internally jump for joy when he articulated exactly what’s so important about having beautiful presentation slides? Yes.

The #1 thing Mike told us you can’t have a killer presentation without was… 

“Your story.”

If you know me at all, you know how much I love a story. How much I live for a story. But that’s not why I was so excited by his answer.

His next sentence was. 

“Your slides are meant to be the character in your story, like a comic book, helping your audience visualize what you’re talking about,” he said. “And the perceived worth of good design is off the charts.” 

(Tell ‘em, Mike!) 

“Well-designed slides will not only engage your audience and cause them to willingly pay closer attention to your presentation, they’ll also cover up for any flaws in your presentation itself, making them invaluable.”

I couldn’t have said it any better myself. 

The design of your slides MATTERS. (A lot)

It’s why we chose to design our Webinar + Sales Funnel Canva Slide Deck and our Speaking + Presentation Canva Slide Deck in the first place — because great design is important in all aspects of your business, not just for your website, or your social media presence.

The post How To Give Better Presentations ft. Expert Speaking Coach Mike Pacchione appeared first on Tonic Site Shop.

(Especially because it’s most people’s kryptonite. 🙅🏼‍♀️)

Okay, so… define presentations.

By definition, a presentation is a speech or a talk in which the speaker shows and explains a new idea or piece of work to an audience.

Now, let’s be clear. The size of audience doesn’t matter here. A presentation could be for one person in a boardroom or for 1000 people while presenting on stage. It could be a virtual masterclass to hundreds or a 1:1 client meeting.

So what makes a great presentation?

The way we see it, the recipe for a perfect presentation is:

• A topic that the audience is interested in learning about (which, frankly, could be anything — all it takes for your audience to become invested is the 2 other ingredients of this perfect presentation recipe below)
• Engaging speaker who knows how to simultaneously entertain and inform a crowd (we’ve got tips for how to get on that level right here!)
• Aesthetically pleasing slides (that don’t take away from the presenter’s overall performance on stage, which we’ve also got for you right here!)

While we’re both biased and confident enough to say that your presentations will automatically be 10x better with our Canva slide deck templates, we *do* also have REAL advice for creating better presentations.

(Well, actually, the advice is from our friend and expert speech coach, Mike Pacchione, but we’re defaulting to whatever he says because he’s the best of the best.)

→ Speak to your audience like you’re reading them a children’s book.

Entertain with the same energy you would a child, by acting things out, modulating your voice, using bigger gestures than you think you need, pausing for dramatic effect… you get the picture. 

→ Push your audience into the pool.

Launch into a great story, or make a strong statement, or ask a question. Surprise attack them into being interested, as opposed to easing them into it.

→ Don’t take your audience scuba diving when they should be snorkeling.

Amateur speakers often try to deep dive when all they need to do is skim the surface. Give your audience less information while making it more interesting, then give them a way to connect with you to follow up after your presentation to continue providing value.

(A deep dive, although one of my favorite things in the world—hence the length of my Instagram posts and newsletters and this post—has no place in a presentation, because it just feels like WORK, and your audience will check out.)

→ Use your slides like a comic book.

Think of them as individual billboards, visually guiding your audience through the presentation alongside the story to support the narrative (not distract from it).

One of my favorite pieces of Mike Advice is that “whenever you’re asking your audience to take more than a second to read something on a slide, what you’re really asking is for them NOT to listen to you.”

Read the rest of our advice right here!

How do you create a good outline for your presentations?

When creating an outline for your presentation, the first thing we recommend doing is determining the purpose of it. 

⭐️ What’s the topic you’re educating about?

⭐️ What does your audience need to know about it?

⭐️ What are the main takeaways of the presentation going to be?

Once you’ve solidified those things, you’ll be able to build everything else in your presentation outline from there.

You’ll want to make sure your presentation outline has:

• A good, attention-grabbing hook — first impressions are everything, so a compelling introduction to your presentation is necessary. Your goal is to make your audience want to listen to the next line, so start off with a captivating statement or intriguing personal story.

• A story worth listening to — use stories to illustrate your points, instead of solely using statistics and facts. Stories are drastically more memorable. And they have a unique ability to release oxytocin, creating a chemical bond between the story and the listener, which will ensure your message deeply resonates with them.

• Effective slides — not slides that take away from your presentation. Our friend, Mike, loves to use “The Billboard Test” – would your audience crash trying to read that slide if it were a billboard they were driving by? If yes, cut it down. 

& while we’re on the topic of slides…

How do you create slides for a presentation?

There are tons of platforms you can use to create slides for your presentations, but if I’m being honest, there’s only one platform that’ll actually make creating them EASILY — while also ensuring they look BEAUTIFUL — and that’s Canva.

Now, I know what you’re thinking:

“But Jen… have you heard of PowerPoint? You know that’s like THE slide making go-to for presentations, right?!”

And, yeah, sure, it WAS … when I was in high school.

Here in 2023, though, Canva is lightyears ahead of platforms like PowerPoint and Google Slides, because it has a ridiculous amount of capabilities — and they’re displayed in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming.

Wait, so… are Canva presentations better than other presentations?

Don’t tell Microsoft and Google I said this, but… YES.

It’s why we chose to create our Webinar + Sales Funnel Canva Slide Deck and our Speaking + Presentation Canva Slide Deck on Canva — our entire brand is based on the foundation of being obsessed with giving you the best of the best, so when it came to creating templates for you to make presentations with, we knew we had to choose the platform that’d make the process as seamless as possible for you.

Here are a few more reasons why we use (and LOVE) Canva for presentations:

⭐️ Canva is the most user-friendly option for designers of any skill level.

As in: you don’t have to be a designer in order to understand how to use it. Canva was made for creators of all kinds to use, and we find that it’s the simplest, most intuitive platform for designing and customizing anything.

⭐️ Canva has WAY more capabilities than any other presentation building platform (like Google Slides or PowerPoint).

While other presentation building options may be capable of helping you create a good presentation, they’re nowhere NEAR as beautiful. 

A huge part of creating an engaging presentation (that people actually want to look at) is the design. 

In addition to capturing the attention of your audience, great design also proves to them that you care about providing them value, and that you’ve put a lot of effort into your slides.

(Hint: the easiest way to look like you’ve put a TON of effort in, without actually spending a TON of time on the design = using a presentation template.)

⭐️ Canva presentation templates are so easy to duplicate and use over and over again.

I’m not kidding when I tell you that we use our Canva slide decks for EVERYTHING, and everything we create somehow looks different.

Canva makes it SO easy to duplicate + reuse templates, saving you even more time.

⭐️ You don’t need to pay for Canva to use our templates.

Our Canva presentation templates work perfectly with the free version of Canva, because all of the fonts + photos have been pre-licensed for your use.

However, we do love having the Canva Pro membership, because when we’re designing other things, it gives us a lot more flexibility. Use this link to get one month free of your Pro membership!

Want to learn how to take the next step toward giving the best presentation ever?

For expert tips about how to become a better public speaker and give great presentations, we recommend consulting the advice of our friend Mike — and we’ve taken the liberty of asking him every single question you’re already wondering about all things presentations. 

>> Click here to read our interview with Mike about presentation + speaking tips!

For presentation slides that’ll ensure you’re able to effortlessly engage your audience EVERY time, check out our Webinar + Sales Funnel Canva Slide Deck and our Speaking + Presentation Canva Slide Deck. 

Our TONIC regulars have been completely obsessed with customizing them for their presentations, but also for all kinds of different uses — and we can hardly blame them. They are pretty perfect.

>> Click here to read 9 ways to use our Canva presentation slide deck templates!

The post What Is A Presentation And How Do You Create A Great One In Canva? appeared first on Tonic Site Shop.

But first, some backstory:

We joined Instagram in 2013….. aka back when people posted photos of their coffee, slapped a Valencia filter on it, dashed off a witty caption, and got 3853857 likes. 😂😭

And yet, for the past two years — and especially for the last one — like most small business owners, we’ve been SO. ANNOYED. with Instagram.

Sure, we had 15k, then 18k followers… fine! But it didn’t matter because our posts BARELY got seen and our engagement was so low we found ourselves Googling  “SERIOUSLY, IS SHADOWBANNING A THING” on the regular.

I had to LEARN TO MAKE REELS. I am old! Not great!

The person managing our social media left, so I had to take over, and fed up + ready to quit (“I’ll be over at my EMAIL LIST, where it’s FUN!”)… we decided to make a few Hail-Mary changes around here.

And… damn. 🤯

I’ll share the results—and the first 6 takeaways from the last three months of weird Instagram-Wild-West growth—with you in a sec, but first, I have to address the elephant in the room:

One BIG thing that makes it easier for our content to get seen around here? Is that I am a designer, I can make a pretty, standout post graphic in a flash, and I’ve learned what works.

THAT’S why we’ve released Canva social media templates that incorporate everything we’ve learned and what we know WORKS… so you can focus on making great content, not ALSO having to become a designer. (You can also try our FREE templates and see how easy Instagram can be!)

Okay, okay, now we’ll tell you everything we know about growing Instagram organically..

#1 – Every post is an opportunity

If you want to organically increase your following and grow your reach, each post you create is an opportunity… not a piece of placeholder content primarily meant to fill a square.

When I stopped focusing on “getting something up” and started focusing on adding as much value to each post — i.e. making it helpful, thoughtful, specific, or entertaining — as we possibly could, our results took off. Stop thinking piecemeal. Build a binge-able content library your followers want to explore.

#2 – Consistency isn’t key

Hear me out: This is controversial, but posting consistency on Instagram matters much less than we’ve all been told. (Shocker. Like, why would IG want us spending all our time here?!)

Sure, you might get great results from posting every day, but you’re going to get far better results from posting freaking great content.

Post in your feed as often as you can while maintaining the integrity of your content.

(My current life mantra: Do less, but better.) The “consistency” you want? Is when people legit look forward to your content because it’s consistently fantastic.

#3 – Serve, don’t sell

Months ago, we had a new template launch, and despite my whole content plan, our engagement tanked, our pretty product posts bombed, and only a tiny percentage of our sales came from Instagram (after all that work!)

Want to guess what happened when we stopped selling and focused on informing / serving / educating / adding value here instead?

1) We built trust, authority, and relationship with our audience. 

2) That audience doubled.

3) Ironically, our sales with buyers specifically citing Instagram as their referral source increased by roughly 500%. 

Serve > Sell.

#4 – Create the content you actually want

Great news: You don’t ever have to make another effing reel (unless you really want to). Yes, everyone’s pronounced static content dead, and to that, I say WORDS AREN’T GOING ANYWHERE. (Also, carousel posts actually have the highest engagement rate per impression!)

Our engagement blew up when we threw out what we thought we “had” to post and made the content we wanted (like a deep dive into the Little Miss trend, because seriously, wtf?!) Genuine interest generates the signature, high-quality content your audience can’t find anywhere else.

#5 – Stop blaming the freaking Instagram algorithm

You know what’s great about the Instagram algorithm?

When you create content that your audience likes, it shows that content to more people. If the Instagram algorithm isn’t loving your content, that’s your cue to… create better content.

(An annoying truth I resisted for far too long.)

Want to create more algorithmic (just made that up!) posts? Analyze top-performing content for trends, ensure your design is algorithm-friendly, and hone your content creation skills. You don’t need to “beat” the Instagram algorithm. You need to use the algorithm.

#6 – Design matters, so scale up your hook

Here’s an easy one: Make everything bigger.

If you browse your explore page — which you should because it tells you what Instagram thinks people like you will enjoy — you’re going to notice something: you can get the gist of most “top posts” at a glance.

Viewers tap the post they find most interesting, which they determine entirely based on the post cover. So, start with a hook to capture interest and scale it up to snag attention in (tiny) context.

Need an example? Check out our viral “Stop Telling People You Love Coffee“ post.

Want the rest of our social media lessons?

We’ve got something just for you to fall in love with content marketing again! Get the replay to our Email Marketing and Social Media Masterclass!

If “finally figure out Instagram” is on your list, this is the masterclass you need in your life. We took everything we’ve learned generating multiple seven figures from our email list AND growing a highly engaged social following and shared it with you!

I’m also always sharing inside our #longandweird newsletter what I’m learning along the way and what’s working (and not working) for us here at TONIC. Join our VIP list so you can continue learning how to grow online + steal our exact strategy for creating content that performs well on social media.

Beat the Instagram Algorithm with our FREE Canva Templates

Oh and did we mention, we spent the past 12 months studying the algorithm, collecting viral posts, testing designs, and have watched our account grow around 1,000 followers per week. Now we’re giving everything we’ve learned to you – and you can try them FOR FREE.

These Canva templates are designed to stand out in the feed, beat the algorithm, and get your content in front of your dream clients.

👉 “Your templates are literally dominating my growth!! I’ve never got this many likes in 30 minutes 😭 I’m so grateful!!” – Erin, sexy Instagram-haver

Grab your FREE set of Canva social media templates for Instagram posts, stories, and reels. Featuring elegant pre-licensed, custom fonts, scroll-stopping photos and videos you can use, and strategy to grow your audience.

The post Growing Instagram Organically: The 6 Rules We Live By appeared first on Tonic Site Shop.

Before we can get into our *official* stance on the debate, it’s important that we establish the difference between paid ads vs. organic traffic.

What is paid traffic? According to SEO guru Neil Patel, paid ads definition refers to “online methods a company uses to attract more customers by paying for ad space on search, other websites, or social media.” 

For the sake of this conversation, though, we’re focusing less on social media advertising, and more on all things paid search – aka those first hits at the tip-top of Google before you get down to the organic traffic results. 

What is organic traffic? Organic marketing is exactly what it sounds like: creating and distributing valuable content that leads to people finding you organically. 

(As in, without the help of paid advertising.) 

Any content you post that doesn’t involve paying for visibility can fall under the ‘organic marketing’ category: blog posts, case studies, guest posts, tweets, social media posts, email newsletters…

So, now that we’re all on the same page about what’s what—which option is better: paid ads or organic traffic?

So….Paid Ads or Organic Traffic?

Sorry in advance for this answer, but… it depends.

Specifically, it depends on what your goals are, what your timeline is, how much you’re willing to invest, and what you consider a worthy ROI to be. 

We’ll skip over the obvious goal of marketing—increasing brand awareness and getting more eyes on your content—to give you an example of which situation might be best to choose organic marketing vs. paid ads. 

Are you hoping to increase email list sign-ups before a big launch?

Are you trying to drive traffic to the landing page of your new product? 

Are you in the middle of cart-open for your new online course, hoping to increase sales?

Then use paid ads. 

Paid ads are a great way to increase clicks for a time-sensitive goal because they generate instant results. While they are getting more expensive, they’re worth it! In fact, 80% of consumers have admitted they’re more likely to purchase from companies who run paid ads.)

If we’re talking longevity, though…

Compared to paid advertising, organic traffic wins every time—because it creates a permanent traffic source for your website, naturally giving new people the opportunity to get their eyes on your content. 

The second you stop paying for an ad, the traction disappears. But when you publish a nice, juicy, value-packed blog post? That could drive organic traffic to your website for years to come. 

(We posted this article about How to Write Copy People Actually Want To Read for-ev-er ago, we’re talkin’ back in 2020 which feels like a century ago… and it’s still bringing organic traffic to our site.) 

Organic marketing—specifically, organic search—boosts your credibility, attracts relevant users, and costs you nothing. 

However, we do have to note: organic marketing can be time-consuming, and it will take longer for you to get results. 

It’s no secret that writing one paid ad is a lot less labor-intensive than writing a 2,000-word blog post—but if there’s a possibility of that few hours spent researching and writing making you $$, your time + effort is worth it. 

Plus, Google low key loves organic marketing…

Because it’s impossible to talk about paid ads vs. organic traffic without mentioning SEO, let’s dive into discoverability.

If all you cared about were paid ads—and you didn’t take advantage of organic marketing at all—you’d be driving traffic to an empty website, with nothing for those newly-paid-for eyes to see. 

“Organic marketing also convinces search engines that your website is relevant to what your audience is looking for,” according to Buffer. “Optimizing all your content assets for search engines will improve your discoverability and lead more qualified customers to you.” 

Like we said: organic marketing is about longevity.

Here’s how organic content marketing can get you on Google’s good side:

1) Effortlessly integrated keywords.

Take our blog about why we love Showit, for example. Because we were writing about all the reasons the website builder is so great, it was easy for us to include relevant keywords that we know our target audience is searching for, like “Showit website templates” and “best website design templates” and “switch to Showit.”

2) More content for Google to index.

Aka more reasons for Google to look through your site, and make the equivalent of a “mental note” about what you have to offer, so they can then recommend it to anyone who searches for what you’re writing about. 

Every time a new piece of content is added to your site, you’re essentially signaling to Google “hey, c’mere—there’s something new for you to look at!” to which Google will respond “ooh, thanks, I can tell you’re an active site; let me tell all my users to head over there ASAP!”

3) More opportunities to “rank” on Google.

Forgive us for getting all techy on you, but this is a huge reason to add a blog to your site: your website can only rank for a few specific keywords relative to your business, but your blog can rank for hundreds.

Essentially, every time you post something new on your blog, you’re opening that line of communication with Google again, telling them hey, I’d like to rank for *these* keywords now, check me out.

4) Link building.

Another techy thing, but stay with us: including links in your blogs—both to other creators’ websites and different places on your site—lets Google know that you care about making your blog a user-friendly place. 

Anything you do to make your user’s experience more enjoyable can earn you a Google Gold Star (we made that up, but it should be a thing, don’t you think?) and signal to the search engine that you’re all in on helping readers get where they need to go faster and easier.

If you think of your blog—or your website in general—as a map, including links is the equivalent of providing your user directions. And Google loves easy-to-follow directions.

Organic marketing isn’t just about blogging, though…

There are plenty of ways you can organically market your business. Our favorites are sending our #longandweird newsletter (by the way, you should subscribe—it’s basically the opposite of every other marketing newsletter ever) and posting on Instagram (specifically about how to effectively market your biz).

Other forms of content marketing can include:

You’ve got options, friend. There’s a content marketing sweet spot out there for everyone—all you have to do is find it.

So… wait—are there any paid ads advantages?

We know we’ve sort of been setting up camp in the “organic is best!” side of this debate, but we definitely do also see benefits of investing in paid search.

The most prominent of which being the fact that organic marketing and paid search work together.

Your paid ads bring the traffic in, but your organic marketing efforts are what make people stay.

If we used Google Ads to get more eyes on our Showit website templates, we’d get more eyes on our Showit website templates. But that doesn’t mean we’d sell them. 

We have to do our part in educating why what we have to offer is the solution to the problem that brought them to our website in the first place. 

At the end of the day, it’s not really an either-or conversation. 

Paid ads and organic marketing efforts each have a place in your traffic generation strategy.

→ Paid ads have great short-term gain, but you need to be willing to allocate some of your funds toward ad spend.

→ With organic traffic content, you don’t need money—but you do need time. 

But BOTH options will deliver great benefits for your business, like:

✔️ Delivering an impressive ROI

✔️ Boosting your brand’s awareness

✔️ Introducing your content to new audiences

✔️ Expanding your visibility

So there you have it. Our take on the paid ads vs organic traffic “which is right for you” conversation.

Did you find this helpful? Do you want to hear more about how we use paid ads and organic traffic here at TONIC? Get our SEO strategy that will drive high-quality organic traffic to your website with our Simply SEO Newsletter.

The post Paid Ads vs. Organic Traffic Marketing: Which Should You Use? appeared first on Tonic Site Shop.

And because we had a feeling you might be feeling that way too, we decided to create Canva social media templates to make Instagram fun again… but not just any templates. 

The most strategic, curated, customizable, and intentional Canva social media templates on the market. 

(Fine. We’ll just say it — the only social media templates you’ll ever need.)

We designed and tested them to ensure they look great with your content and branding—not just with the exact fonts and images we used—and that they’re built with the same high-impact, stand-out strategy that has grown our own account by tens of thousands of followers in the last few months alone.

Yes, you read that right—tens of thousands of followers over the last few months.

But you’re not here to read about how awesome our templates are. You’re here to find out if Canva social media templates are right for your business.

And we’re here to help you figure that out, by answering all of the *actual* questions about them.

(Aka the ones you’re really wondering deep down, not the surface-level ones you’d find on sales pages and in product descriptions.)

At the end of this post you’ll learn exactly what’s inside of each social media template pack – what they do best, how they’re unique, and how they can give you hours of your day back every time you use them.

“What’s all the hype about Canva?”

There’s a reason everyone and their mother recommends Canva: it’s SO easy to use. 

Like, actually easy to use for an actual human who doesn’t have a background in design. 

(Pause: in case you’re still wondering “um, help, what is Canva, anyway?” – it’s a free online graphic design tool used to create things like presentations, videos, PDFs, digital downloads, and—of course—social media posts. I recommend upgrading to Canva Pro, though, because you unlock so many more features, and it only costs $12.99/month.) 

No matter which type of business you run—personal brand, online service provider, e-commerce powerhouse, brick-and-mortar store, seasonal lemonade stand in your front yard—Canva was made for you. 

Because (shocker!) you don’t have to be a graphic designer to create awesome social media content. 

Now is probably as good a time as any for us to finally make our stance on the infamous “do professionals use Canva?” debate, so, here goes: 

*stands up taller, stares dutifully into the (virtual) expectant crowd* Yes. Professionals do use Canva.

And while we can’t speak for everyone, we certainly can confirm that WE use Canva to market our own business (aka create social media posts, lead magnets, PDFs, etc) and we couldn’t be more obsessed with just how simple, seamless, and accessible it is.

“I know they’re technically for anyone, but, tell me the truth… will Canva templates actually work for me?”

Short answer? Yes. 

Long answer? Yes, of course, absolutely, let us show you proof:

Just a few brands making use of our social templates in their feeds:

“Since anyone can use the platform, and anyone can buy the templates, wouldn’t my feed just look like everyone else’s?”

We’re glad you asked—we’ve been looking for an excuse to tell you this story:

We had this same thought.

…and we almost didn’t even create our social media templates because of it. 

When we looked around the market, there were countless Canva social media templates available, both free AND paid, and the majority were under $30 for a pack of 3 million. The market seemed saturated.

But when we looked a little closer, we saw that the products on the market didn’t actually meet our audience’s needs. 

They weren’t excellent or strategically designed for what actually performs well on Instagram, and didn’t include fonts, images, or content prompts.

So, we saw an opportunity to be innovative, and launched the templates anyway.

And to our surprise, our Canva social media templates for Instagram made up the majority of our revenue from our most recent launch. 🤯

Want to know why we think these templates did so well? Because they’re easy to customize and *actually* make YOUR OWN. 

You can quite literally adjust any detail to fit your needs, which means that you can tweak and adjust them as you see fit to ensure that your version of the template looks like your brand. 

Don’t take our word for it, though, see for yourself right here, or watch this video:

“What can I use your Canva social media templates for?”

You can use our social media templates for quite literally anything you’re already posting—or wish you were posting—on Instagram. 

We’ve split our Canva social media templates up into 4 packs:

• the content pack
• the marketing pack
• the sales pack
• the stories + reels cover pack

Or shop the bundle pack and get the sales pack, marketing pack, and content pack #1 AND ALSO save yourself some $$$. We loveeee the bundle — it’s one of our bestselling products in the whole shop.

Let’s take a look at what’s included in each pack…

The Canva Social Media Content Templates Pack

Our content Batch No. 1 is perfect for posting standalone graphics, carousel designs (to share educational info!), quote templates, ‘reminder’ graphics, cover pages, tweet-style templates (we’re loving these lately), testimonials… you name it, there’s a template for it. 54 of them, to be exact.

Annnddd, many of you asked for even more content templates and um well… WE DELIVERED! Our second pack is jam-packed (see what we did there) with even more designs to easily transform your content into beat-the-algorithm, explore-page-landing, engagement-growing material. (Psst — they’d also make GREAT Facebook ads!)

Batch No. 2 features many additional carousel designs (both cover and interior, plus final CTA pages), mockups, and post styles in a variety of aesthetics.

In Batch No. 3 we updated our traditional Canva templates with large format typography and striking colors. Batch No. 3 features a mix of editorial design and modern typography (hello, gorgeous) – all with stock images you can use and control yourself.

The Marketing Canva Social Media Templates Pack

Our marketing pack is, of course, for all things marketing – podcast, freebie, blog post, product, live event, service, course, sale, video, anything! 

Many of you asked for posts you could use to promote what you’ve been working on, whether that’s content or product, ESPECIALLY blog posts (just like this one!) and now you have 46 strategically designed, Canva templates to choose from.

(Here’s a sneak peek, if you’re curious to see what the stunning templates look like up close.)

The Sales Canva Social Media Templates Pack

Our sales pack makes selling with strategy STYLISH (for once) and we’re not sure we’ve ever made anything more beautiful. If you have something to sell—product, course, mockup, membership, coaching program, service—you’ll definitely have a use for all 46 of them, no problem. 

The IG Stories and Reels Canva Social Media Templates Pack

Our Stories pack (is an absolute MUST if we do say so ourselves) has a HUGE range of designs — from affiliate product / gift guides, event, sale and product promo, to fun video stories. This pack can also be used for Reels, Reel covers, blog AND Pinterest graphics!

We believe a strong, well-branded, instantly-recognizable stories game is the secret weapon of the top brands on social media.

The Bundle Canva Social Media Templates Pack

Orrrr you could purchase our social media template bundle and get the sales pack, marketing pack, and content pack #1 altogether for a fraction of what it’d cost you to buy all of them individually, PLUS 25 extra templates for Instagram stories. 

You’ve been asking us for: completely customizable, stunning Canva social media Instagram templates, built with all the signature TONIC strategy, designed to help YOU beat the algorithm + stand out in the feed. And here they are!

“Will I actually see a return on investment for social media templates, or are they another biz expense I’ll come to regret?”

Unfortunately, only you can truly be the judge of that, but… we have a good feeling you won’t regret your purchase. Here’s why:

Our Canva social media templates don’t just make your life (and marketing) easier, they make it more FUN. That was our entire goal in creating them. 

Without templates, content creation is an overwhelming, frustrating mix of fonts, colors, images, ideas, adjustments, and blue-light headaches. And none of that is fun.

What *is* fun, though, is getting thousands of new followers per week because your social posts look so dang good and your content is so irresistible. 

We spent five months testing design, sourcing stock photos and free fonts, collecting viral posts, and studying what works & what doesn’t so YOU could have the perfect templates to support your social media growth. 

When your social presence looks like you care—aka when scrollers stumble on your account and see a professional, curated feed that you clearly put a lot of effort in—you’ll get real results.

Results like this:

So, what do you think—are you ready to use Canva for social media marketing?

And save your sanity in the process, now that you don’t have to waste time Googling things like “how to make templates on Canva” and “most popular Canva templates for sale” and “how to create social media posts on Canva”? 

We can’t wait to help you give your feed a facelift — shop our social media templates right here!

But wait, there’s more—try our Canva social media templates for FREE!

Get a FREE collection of our Canva social media templates for Instagram posts, stories, and reels.
See what all the fuss is about (no card required).

The post The Best Canva Templates for Social Media Marketing appeared first on Tonic Site Shop.

But after all my resistance, when I saw one of my favorite influencer friends raving about her new Stanley cups tumbler (that she’d ALSO resisted), I finally purchased one a few months ago… practically out of spite.

And damned if I don’t love it.

“So, what’s up with the Stanley Cup?” my friend Judah asked me a few weeks ago, seeing my Stanley snuggled up next to me on the couch. Apparently, he’d been confused by the fact that all the women in his office suddenly toted around giant camping water bottles to every meeting.

“I don’t know that much about hockey?” was my confused answer. (Let’s all agree to refer to them exclusively as mugs or tumblers.)

But his question got me thinking. What, exactly, was the marketing magic that turned a piece of camping gear into the viral, emotional-support water bottle we know and love today? How did Stanley mugs get so popular? Why did women love these things? I mean, what’s so special about Stanley mugs, anyways? Why, somehow, were we convinced that THIS water bottle was the PINACCLE of all beverage contains, forsaking all other alternatives and probably-better options?

I did some digging and I was shocked by what I found.

The Story Behind The-Now Viral Stanley Quencher Tumbler

Yep. Three years after the Quencher mug hit the market in 2016, sales were so bad that Stanley’s executives decided to pull the tumbler from their website altogether. The market was too saturated — it wasn’t selling.

But when two women running the affiliate marketing blog / Instagram account The Buy Guide found out one of their favorite products (which sold out every time they shared about it) was being discontinued, they took action.

Their emails to Stanley went unanswered for months until finally, their plea to reinstate the mug caught the attention of a Stanley sales manager investigating why former Bachelorette Emily Maynard had just, seemingly out of nowhere, posted about how much she loved the (discontinued) mug…

(Answer? The Buy Guide ladies had sent it to her months before.)

Stanley finally agreed to let The Buy Guide founders purchase 5000 mugs (with their own money!) to resell on their own — a test to see if they could rebrand the mug as a must-have accessory and reach the powerful new market of women-selling-to-women they’d promised.

Yep. The mugs sold out in days. It was more sales volume than Stanley had ever seen(!).

And yet, the Stanley execs were still unconvinced.

So, The Buy Guide ladies did it again.  (Nice.)

Finally, Stanley agreed they were on to something. They met with the women and partnered on the marketing strategy that has grown one of the internet’s most viral products — a $40, always-sold-out water bottle with over 3.4 billion TikTok views and sales up 300% year over year. ONE product that’s more than doubled Stanley’s total revenue.

Basically, every marketer’s dream. So, of course, we’ve got to break this down.

5 Genius Marketing Strategies for Small Business: How Stanley Mugs took Over the Internet

Here are the top FIVE marketing strategies I think we can steal from Stanley.

#1 Embrace Scarcity

In part because they weren’t sure of the demand, Stanley switched from a typical, large product order model to a collection release model, with limited stock in each drop.

(Stanley’s Global President Terence Reilly referred to this as a “sneakerhead” model, not unlike what he supervised at his old brand, Nike, where limited edition, limited-quantity shoe collaborations would create lines of hopeful buyers around the block.)

Without fail, each release sold out (still does!), and at its peak, the waitlist for new tumblers hit over 150,000 people.

Suddenly, just being able to buy the tumbler felt like a feat (!), so consumers rushed to purchase at every restock. (Purchasing as a privilege = every marketer’s dream.)

This also provided an easy angle and timestamp for the brand’s influencers to promote the product.(“Hurry, they just got restocked and won’t last long! Don’t think, just buy!”)

Each release also featured new, limited edition colors, planting the idea that the tumblers were collectible. Now, there’s a truly insane market for Stanley buy / sell / trade, with legions of women who own not one, but DOZENS of Stanley mugs, collect rare colors, and somehow need one for every possible daily beverage / life hack. (Thanks to our #longandweird reader Tara, for sending me this ridiculous video.)

Since when is a water bottle a collector’s item?! (Since marketing.)

Lesson #1.5? The easiest customer to convert is the one you already have.

#2 — Find Your People, then Market to Them

Stanley was originally marketing their tumblers to the same people who bought their other adventure / camping gear — mostly men.

However, The Buy Guide ladies argued that the customers most likely to buy were women (often teachers or nurses who needed a large, portable drink, or moms on the go who’d view the mug as a vital everyday accessory, not a piece of gear). They knew the specific segments of their own audience who’d most loved the mug.

Stanley redesigned their website, marketing, and color palette to reach their target market. The Buy Guide helped send an OG crew of influencers the new product. And boom, when they found + marketed to the right people, sales skyrocketed.

Lesson? Even great products fail in front of the wrong audience. (And when you market to everyone, you reach no one.)

Get extremely clear on who’s already buying your product, who you want it to reach, and what you’ll need to shift to reach them even better. (Our free Attract & Repel Guide is a great place to start!)

#3 Sell the Benefits, not the Product

Stanley’s main detractors have a few primary battle cries — “It’s $40 for a water bottle…that’s no different than any other mug? Why aren’t we freaking out about Yeti?!” But um, no other water bottle company’s sales are going up 300% year over year, and that’s because Stanley (and their host of influencers) know they’re marketing benefits, not product.

It helps that a water bottle is a “virtue purchase,” which you can easily justify based on the transformation it promises (“I’ll be a person who hydrates!”). But Stanleys also fit in your cup holder, come in aesthetic colors, feel great to hold, etc… (just a handful of the benefits you see devotees touting on TikTok.)

Lesson? Market like you’re the only one out there.

Stanley’s not busy explaining why they’re better or different than Yeti cups or how their handle is a little more ergonomic. (Their influencers do that for them!). Instead, they market like their product — which, again, is a water bottle — is revolutionary. And people believe it.

Sell your benefits, not your product.

#4 Make it a Gateway

You’ll notice a theme when you look through the #stanleymug TikTok tag (which, alone, has amassed over 34 million views): “I finally got it! I feel so cool now! Am I an influencer yet?”

When you’re buying a Stanley mug, you’re not just buying a tumbler — you’re buying into the aspirational community the NYT famously called The Sisterhood of the Stanley Tumbler.

You’re buying a keycard — a gateway to get on the same level as thousands of influential, stylish women whose calling card is currently a giant emotional support water bottle — and at $40, it’s far more accessible than the rest of their lifestyle.

Lesson? Create a community, not a product.

#5 Reward Your True Believers

There were three primary changes The Buy Guide women advised Stanley to make:

1) Redesign their website / customer experience (a great first step!)

2) Introduce new, trendy colors, and most of all

3) Start an affiliate program. (is affiliate marketing worth it? we say yes and here’s why!)

Stanley’s marketing exec, Terence Reilly, has gone on record saying the brand has almost no influencer partnerships budget. Instead, they seek to reward “true fans” who organically talk about the product with commissions.

Lesson? Authentic enthusiasm is priceless.

In 2023, UGC (or user-generated content) is one of the most powerful forms of marketing (92 of consumers say they trust it more than any other form of advertising), and when it’s used on your website / social media, can increase your conversions by over 6x.

(A few more stats:  51% of millennials trust word-of-mouth recommendations from strangers more than recommendations from friends and family — hello, TikTok! 74% of consumers decide what to buy based on social media posts.)

If you want to skyrocket your conversions, find the people who ALREADY love what you offer, incentivize them to create content, and reward them for it.

(Psst: TONIC has a fantastic affiliate program!)

What is Influencer Marketing?

When I was researching this article, I found a quote from The Buy Guide founder Linley Hutchinson that stopped me in my tracks.

Talking about Stanley’s affiliate / influencer marketing strategy, she said:

“That’s how people shop these days. We don’t have time to browse the internet. It’s so nice to be able to hop on social media and be told what to buy.”

I loved that. We’re all busy; we don’t have time to shop. We just want to KNOW what we’re purchasing is going to be good. We want to be told what to buy.

They want someone they trust to assure them their investment is going to pay off; they’re going to love the Stanley mug. They’re going to be the best, most-hydrated version of themselves.

When I look at the Stanley strategy, I don’t just see a strong influencer marketing push. To sum it up,

• They found the right market.
• They adapted to reach that market.
• They built a loyal fan base, then rewarded them for creating content.
• They turned that fan base into a community.
• They let their community tell everyone else to buy.

But if you take nothing else away from this piece, let it be these two genius marketing strategies:

1) Done right, marketing is powerful – it can literally bring a product back from the dead and turn it into a profit-generating machine. Holy crap.

2) There is nothing more powerful than letting your customer sell for you, in their own words. (And you should reward that).

Brb — need to refill my Stanley.

You can find the abbreviated version of this post here for easy sharing, and of course subscribe to our #longandweird newsletter for more genius marketing strategy breakdowns just like this one! 

The post 5 Genius Marketing Strategies: How Stanley Mugs Took Over the Internet appeared first on Tonic Site Shop.

But, let’s unpack this power of affiliate marketing so you can see why we love it so much and how it’s totally possible to grow your affiliate income without the sales-y infomercial “ALWAYS BE CLOSING!” vibes.

If you’ve ever considered getting into affiliate marketing or have wondered “is affiliate marketing worth it?” keep on reading.

Disclosure: We’ve even included some of our own favorite affiliate links inside this post to show you our point of how easy and awesome affiliate marketing can be. And because their products are some of our faves. We may receive commission through purchases made with those links. And now you know…

Affiliate Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing

When it comes to purchasing decisions, humans like to buy from people, and hearing someone you trust validate a purchasing decision triggers an emotional response powerful enough to overcome objections.

(Plus, if I say, “OMG, these jeans are the best I’ve ever owned, and they have magic 🍑 butt powers, I get so many compliments when I wear them that they are also now my pajamas — here’s the link!” what brand’s traditional marketing can compete with THAT?!)

What is Affiliate Marketing?

If you’ve been around the education / influencer / entrepreneurship industry for any length of time, you’ve probably heard of the concept of affiliate marketing.

By definition, “affiliate marketing” is just when someone (the affiliate) shares a product or service (often with a link or discount code) and then gets a commission / percentage of the sale if someone else purchases as a result.

It’s mostly passive income—it requires no start-up costs or special equipment—and it’s one of the fastest-growing industries, period.

Just take a look at these numbers:

+ By 2023 the affiliate marketing industry is expected to reach an estimated worth of $12 billion. (That number has tripled since 2015.)

+ 8 in 10 brands run an affiliate marketing program. (So, most of them.)

+ Affiliate marketing is responsible for a mind-blowing 16% of global e-commerce sales.

And we’re telling you that with no headache, doing what you’re likely already doing, you could be getting a major piece of that industry, adding a revenue stream, and generating life-changing passive income.

Affiliate marketing is an easy way to make money. 

(Think about it: what would an extra $1,000 a month do for you? Take care of your student loans? Ditch your credit card debt? Click add to cart on those dreamy Moyo stock images? Tell all your friends about how awesome TONIC templates are with [insert your affiliate link!] (Hint, you can earn extra income by showing off your sexy TONIC site by becoming a TONIC affiliate.) …. See what we did there? THAT’S affiliate marketing!

But before we tell you all about how to add another revenue stream, let’s get a few things straight about if affiliate marketing is worth it:

1. Affiliate marketing isn’t sleazy.

We know you’re likely wondering “is affiliate marketing even worth it?” and “is affiliate marketing legit?” because affiliate marketing gets an oddly bad rap.

(Maybe you’ve even Googled “is affiliate marketing a pyramid scheme?” after binging more too-good-to-be-true TikTok videos than you’d like to admit.)

The world seems to think affiliates are like a bunch of shady infomercial salesmen profiting on predatory marketing tactics, all very “Have I got a DEAL for YOU…”

In reality, done right, affiliate marketing is simply connecting people with products and services you think they might like or benefit from… and then giving them a personalized path to purchase.

It’s sending your friend a link to those jeans you think she’d look great in. 

It’s telling people about your favorite dish at that new restaurant. 

It’s sharing your way-better-than-expected experience at the eye doctor with the grocery store cashier.

(Well, maybe not that last one… we may just still be figuring out what our boundaries look like when it comes to conversation. But when we’re passionate about something, we just can’t help but TELL THE WORLD, okay?!)

Affiliate marketing is all about using your experience and influence to help interested people get stuff you like.

And why not make money while you’re doing it?

Here’s the thing — if you’re not actively affiliating for brands or products you love, you’re missing out on some serious money hanging out on the table. The truth is… you’re probably already an affiliate for something. You’re just not getting paid for it yet.

2. Affiliate marketing isn’t weird, and people WANT to be told what to do. (We like direction, not trial-and-error!)

As humans, we’re pack animals. We rely on others to provide information that validates our decisions — especially our purchasing decisions. (It’s why we assume the restaurant with the line out the door is probably going to be good.)

When your friend tells you their skin has never been better than with that serum, that’s an example of affiliate marketing. And you know what? It feels natural. 

You want that recommendation from your friend, and because she was the one to recommend it to you, you feel more confident in your decision to buy it, because you trust her.

And later, when you love it, too, you’re grateful your friend hooked you up. 

(And if she made a little kickback, all the better!)

Let’s normalize responsible affiliate marketing. It’s a win / win / win for affiliates, consumers, and brands.

3. Affiliate marketing can happen anywhere.

You don’t need a giant following to be a successful affiliate marketer. All you have to do to be a fantastic affiliate is use whatever platform you have to tell people about things you authentically like.

If you spend the most time interacting with your followers on Instagram, why not use it for affiliate marketing?

If your blog posts always get great traction when you pin them, affiliate marketing on Pinterest would be a success. 

If you have Mark Zuckerburg to thank for your engaged community, start affiliate marketing on Facebook.

4. Affiliate marketing isn’t complicated.

You don’t need a team.

You don’t need a background in sales.

You don’t need any special equipment.

These are the only things you need to make an affiliate income:

• A product or service you actually believe in
• Someone to share it with
• A piece of content about that product
• A place (or few) for that content to live. (Big news on that coming in our post this Friday!)

We’ve seen firsthand the power of affiliate marketing to transform a business and generate massive revenue —like we said earlier, it now accounts for almost 50% of our total sales — and we have friends, clients, and TONIC affiliates making hundreds of thousands / literal millions of dollars in affiliate revenue alone… the kind of people who have this down to a science.

So, we asked a few of those affiliate geniuses if they’d sit down with us and share their BEST tips for making affiliate income, and they said YES.

What do the experts have to say about affiliate marketing?

You can’t spell “affiliate marketing” without A-m-y P-o-r-t-e-r-f-i-e-l-d. She is quite literally the queen of online education, and has grown her ridiculously successful business by teaching business owners, entrepreneurs, and other educators the profitable action steps for building a highly engaged email list, creating and marketing online courses, and using online marketing strategies to help them sell with ease.

(Like we said. Queen.)

When we asked Amy her best tips for affiliate marketing—after we got over how freaking cool it is that Amy freaking Porterfield was willing to help us educate our audience, and after we did our embarrassing happy dance about it—she opened our eyes to the power of affiliate content with this golden nugget:

“Narrow your focus. Rather than spreading yourself thin trying to affiliate for a bunch of products and programs, pick just a handful to go all-in on, then create content for those products like they’re your own!”

— Amy Porterfield

It’s the ‘create content like the products are your own’ piece that gets us. This strategy allows you to truly integrate affiliate marketing into what you’re already creating, making it effortless and authentic to your brand. 

The next affiliate marketer we asked for advice was Graham Cochrane, aka Kajabi’s #1 affiliate. He quite literally brings in MILLIONS of dollars each year in affiliate revenue alone, solely by making helpful, valuable content on his email list, podcast, courses, and his YouTube channel.

Here’s what he told us:

“Think evergreen. The best affiliate content isn’t a one-off, disappearing Instagram story, but searchable content people can discover and purchase from over and over. Hint: Think about the questions you had when purchasing the product, then answer them on a searchable platform, like a blog, website, or YouTube.”

— Graham Cochrane

We absolutely love Graham’s advice about creating the content that people are actively searching for to take advantage of affiliate marketing. 

Not only will it get the product you’re promoting on the map, it’ll also get YOU and YOUR brand on the map. SEO is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?!

Quick TONIC tip before moving onto the advice from our next affiliate—who happens to be our top affiliate—about creating more searchable content: answering your community’s questions is THE best way to create content that they’ll both love and be able to easily find. 

(Next time you’re brainstorming which questions to answer, we recommend using Pinterest to figure it out. The predicted text that comes up under the search bar—aka the suggested terms that pop up in that box below it—indicate what the platform’s 400 million monthly users are searching for!)

Okay, now we’re ready to reveal the identity of that top affiliate we mentioned: none other than Jenna Kutcher, of course. 

If you know Jenna at all, you know that her being our top affiliate is the least shocking fact in the world, because she’s the top affiliate for EVERY affiliate program she’s in. 

When we asked her what she attributes her affiliate success to, this is what she told us:

“Go above and beyond. Instead of just using the content a brand provides, I create my own, more personal content (often a landing page on my website) that goes deeper explaining what I love about the product and how I use it. Sometimes I’ll even include a download or freebie to help my people enjoy it even more! It’s not just about pushing sales — it’s about sharing an experience.”

— Jenna Kutcher

(We recommend taking her advice very seriously. Maybe even getting it tattooed on your forehead.)

And as if that helpful hint weren’t enough, Jenna has also graciously agreed to contribute to our new (100% free!) resource about how to grow an extra income stream with affiliate marketing by sharing 4 more top-dog-level affiliate marketing tips, and believe us when we say… this info is  GOOOOD.

So good, in fact, that we actually can’t wait another second to share part of her expertise with you, so we’ve decided to go rogue and tell you our favorite tip with you here and now:

Create resources that can inform, serve, and live on forever.

Jenna’s co-authored blog posts with us, she’s written her own, she’s got a killer TONIC landing page on her site that goes DEEP talking about what she loves about the product and her favorite sites…  She’s had Jen on the podcast, we recorded a webinar together, and she even made this AMAZING youtube video talking about TONIC.

You see the common theme with all of this expert affiliate marketing advice, right?

→ Create searchable content. If your goal is to influence as many people as possible, so you can earn as much money as possible, you’ll want to get your content in front of as many eyes as possible.

→ Create lasting content. Quality content has no shelf life, and your earning potential has no limits. 

→ Create relevant content. Consider what your audience actually wants and needs before promoting something, and only recommend the products and resources you feel are actually relevant to your business and your community.

We love this advice from our friend and affiliate Kaitlyn Parker of Copy Uncorked:

“Choose aligned affiliate partnerships and then thread those products through every part of your customer journey. When your affiliate relationships are easily integrated into your brand, you can offer them at multiple customer touchpoints. That familiarity increases sales!”

— Kaitlyn Parker

Just like she said, it’s all about aligned partnerships that feel familiar. It makes sense for her to recommend TONIC products to her audience, because they all need design. It’s a completely organic partnership, and Kaitlyn recommending design feels like a natural progression of everything else she’s already talking to them about. 

When your community knows that you respect them, and that you’d only recommend something you’re certain they’ll love, affiliate marketing is so easy.

Ready to learn more about how to grow your affiliate income promoting the brands you use, love, and trust?

Curious about the do’s and don’ts of affiliate marketing in the era of AI, Tiktok, and (healthy) internet skepticism?

Check out our Affiliate Marketing Masterclass, where you’ll learn how to steer clear of icky affiliate marketing and automate your way to sales success.

Whether you’re hoping to earn extra income by becoming a TONIC affiliate or promoting another brand you love, we’re so excited to help you learn more about how to become a killer affiliate marketer. 

With the help of some of the major affiliate marketing powerhouses—aka the experts who know everything about how to make money with (authentic, aligned) affiliate marketing—we’ve created a fantastic new, free 3-day email / video resource you do NOT want to miss. You can find all the details right here!

(Consider it a mini affiliate marketing course, fo’ free. You’re gonna love it. And so will your biz bank account.)

Or maybe you want to skip the whole learning part and go straight to the doing?

We’re cool with that, too—and we have just the thing for the perfect affiliate shop page to add to your website.

The post Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It? appeared first on Tonic Site Shop.

Two years ago, email marketing was my least favorite thing I did for our business. And it definitely wasn’t generating a giant chunk of our revenue.

In fact, while I knew we “had to have an email list” because blah blah, there’s no algorithm, you don’t have to dance and point in the inbox, etc., I could never think of anything to write about and thus, either sent NO emails or hated what we did send. Fun!

But then something magical happened.

One day, during the first of 19385 days in quarantine, I was bored. And instead of writing our typical “5 quick ways to make your website better!” email, I got distracted by our ugly email signature and wrote this weirdly long, random, not at ALL marketing-y email about procrastination, email signatures, and Nick Miller from New Girl (weirdly hot, right?).

It didn’t look pretty, there were 0 buttons, no fancy email newsletter layout—but it was fun to write (I’d kind of forgotten I love to write), it made me laugh, and it was sort of helpful? So I hit send and walked away.

And… holy crap. I never expected the response I’d get. 

As it turns out, everyone ELSE was *also* bored in quarantine, procrastinating, hated their email signatures, needed to discuss Nick Miller, and wanted something funny to read?

Our inbox *exploded.*

And in that one moment, our entire approach to email marketing changed. Heck, our entire business model — and revenue — changed. Our boring sales emails transformed into a famous (kinda weird) newsletter responsible for generating multiple 7-figures in two years. 

Email is now THE most powerful tool in our business. It’s also the most enjoyable.

It went from a chore I dreaded to the highlight of my week (And many of our #longandweird subscribers’ weekly highlight, too. 🤗)

And when we finally decided to use our email newsletter to sell, it WORKED.

& even better? Writing content for our subscribers feels easy, now that we know our audience is much more interested in real-life rambles than the perfect, curated “tips and tricks” that they’re bombarded with on every other marketing platform. 

If I have a weird experience at the grocery store? Newsletter. That time I got stuck in Panama? Newsletter. Crazy pest control guy? Newsletter.

(“I bet THIS is going in the newsletter!” = a phrase I hear a lot!)

Everything suddenly turned into email newsletter content in my mind, and TONIC has been reaping the rewards ever since—so I figured it’s time for me to share the “how to” of it all, since so far all I’ve done is tell you what not to do.

In our last post, I showed you a little bit about how it worked, but now I want to walk you through the strategy involved.

So, you want to stop writing boring emails (and fall in love with email marketing for good)?

Then you’ll have to ditch the digital marketer jail. 

You know, that place you land when you don’t send enough giant buttons or calls to action or spotlights on that one product you’re dying for your audience to buy. 

Instead, you’ll have to venture off into the world of the unknown and consider writing what you actually want to say, because chances are, your subscribers are as sick of the typical marketing content as you are. 

No one wants to read the email you think you should write; they want to hear what you really think, what you bought, that embarrassing story, what you’re learning, experiencing, hating, feeling… 
They want the details that create memorable, relatable personal connections.

5 Ways To Write Email Newsletters and Keep Your Readers Engaged

#1 – TELL BETTER STORIES

My simple, yet absolute holy grail advice for great emails? Start telling great stories.

Here’s why: no matter how busy your audience is, they’ll make time for great stories.

Sure, they may be extremely overbooked and stressed out, but they’ll welcome the distraction—because stories stick, and stories connect.

They get retold, passed down, and ultimately, remembered. (Um, Super Bowl commercials have a giant budget for a reason.)

One of my favorite studies shows that messages delivered as stories are twenty two times as memorable as facts. 

Not to get all science-y on you, but when we read a good story, our brains actually release oxytocin (the happy bonding hormone) which means suddenly, we CARE about the people involved.

This is why every-politician-ever invents a story about “little Rhonda from Iowa” when they really just want to make a point about, like, corn zoning laws. 

If you want people to read your emails, stop making them READ and start making them CARE by telling a story.

Your email newsletter subscribers don’t care nearly as much about “ways to grow your affiliate income” as they do about that time you arrived in Paris with only a breast pump to your name.

Email feels like a chore, stories feel like a break.

#2 – GET PERSONAL

Here’s a secret about email that most big brands have yet to figure out: we almost never want to read an email from a brand (anyone else immediately send them straight to Trash?) but we DO want to get letters from our friends. 

That means that all you have to do to stand out from 99% of marketing emails is make things more personal.

People want to connect with people. And people want to buy from people. 

I’m sure you’ve experienced this phenomenon in your own life plenty of times. Don’t you feel so much better about your purchase when you know exactly who your money is supporting?

(Do I suddenly feel like I’m saving the world one mom-and-pop shop at a time when I #ShopLocal on Small Business Saturday? Absolutely yes, I do.) 

Marketing in your email newsletters shouldn’t feel like marketing if you care about helping your subscribers get to know you—not your brand, YOU.

Email is the best place for building authentic connections, because of the nature of how the content is delivered; it’s a one-on-one conversation inside their inbox.

So, treat it as such, and email the kind of content only you can create: interesting, funny, breezy, casual, vulnerable, thoughtful, personal. 

The content that comes from your life and your story and your experiences will perform much better—and will foster deeper connections with your community—than any traditional email from a brand ever could.

(No one would read my emails if they came from Tonic Site Shop, but now thousands upon thousands of people open all of my #longandweirds because it comes from Jen.)

#3 – WRITE THE KIND OF EMAIL YOU’D ACTUALLY WANT TO READ

If you wouldn’t want to read your emails, why would anyone else?

When I hated email, this was the issue. I knew *I* wouldn’t have wanted what I was sending, therefore I wasn’t motivated about sending the content at all. My heart wasn’t in it, because I knew their eyes wouldn’t be on it. 

It was boring. 

If you’re gonna take up space in someone’s inbox, add value. 

When you email just to email—or worse, just to sell something—your subscribers’ interest starts to wane off, until they eventually X out and move onto the next just-like-everyone-else brand taking up space in their inbox.

But when you provide something insightful, inspirational, informational, inspiring, or—our personal favorite—entertaining,  you’re able to capture (and keep!) their attention much easier. 

Remember: there are no specific rules to follow to write the best email newsletter for your business. You don’t have to do what all the other brands are doing. 

(And, just in case you haven’t caught on by now, we’re telling you that you shouldn’t.)

Simply follow your interests and create the content you’d actually like to consume, and it’ll magically make you want to create more!

→ Quick tip before we move on: if you want to write better emails, start with reading better emails. My personal favorites are from Laura Belgray, Cole Schafer, and James Clear.

#4 – STOP WRITING LIKE A WEIRD ROBOT HUMAN

I know, sorry, I’m calling you out, but honestly, would you EVER say “I have an exciting new offer to share with you, Jennifer!” to a friend across the table at a coffee shop?

(I sure hope not.) 

Instead, what you’d probably say is something more like “ahhh Jen! I’ve been working on this for month and it’s FINALLY here!” 

But, for some odd reason, as soon as most people feel like they need to be “professional” they turn into weird, impersonal robots writing stiff, awkward (boring) phrases they’d NEVER say in real life.

#5 – START IN THE MIDDLE

Most boring emails start out the same way:

“Hi Jennifer, I want to tell you about something crazy that happened this week. I could hardly believe it!”

Nope, sorry. All of that copy is unnecessary, and I’m already bored. 

Try this instead:

“Hey, Jen! My friend Alex has a habit of befriending random bartenders, and sometimes it gets her everyone in trouble. This was one of those times…”

You want to see how that story ends, right?

No one wants to hear about the story you’re going to tell—don’t make them unwrap the Amazon packaging to get to the product.

By starting in the middle of the story, you’ll be able to hook your reader’s attention so they can’t WAIT to read on and find out what happens.

I always go back to this favorite copywriting tip: “if they don’t read your first line, they won’t read your second one, either.” And that 100% applies to writing email newsletters; capturing attention immediately is the only way you’ll get them to keep reading. 

And speaking of…

RE: How To Write Email Newsletter Subject Lines

Getting your subscribers to open your email newsletters is just as important as getting them to read them all the way through, and that responsibility falls on the shoulders of your subject lines. 

With limited space—41 characters total, but 16 characters being the optimum amount for conversion—you don’t have much to work with in terms of convincing your subscribers to open your emails, so every word counts. 

But that’s not a problem for you anymore, now that you know that (pretty much) all you have to do is put yourself in your reader’s shoes & consider what would make YOU want to open an email.

(“Um, Jen, do you have any more concrete tips than that?”)

According to email marketing powerhouse Mailchimp, the best subject lines are short, descriptive, personalized (use the reader’s first name!), limit punctuation, and use emojis carefully.

Thanks, Mailchimp. My less-confusing tip? Open a curiosity loop.

Almost all of our most effective subject lines have one thing in common — your brain HAS to know what happens next.

For example, a recent SL that crushed it for us?

“Start with a dead body?”

Think of the sheer number of questions your brain generates after reading that.

Start what?

Who’s dead?

Why is this a question? This hasn’t been decided?

Why is Jen talking about murder in a Friday email?

Scientists have found that when confronted with something that creates curiosity, your brain actually releases increased dopamine (the pleasure chemical) and there are increased pathways to the reward center of your brain that go off when you find the “answer,” and triggers the hippocampus, which leads to increased memory for whatever you’re discovering. 

Simply put, your brain literally THRIVES when it’s following curiosity. Open a curiosity loop in your subject line and people can’t help but find out more.

RE: How To Send An Email Newsletter

Alright, alright, alright — now you know how to: tell better stories, get personal, write the kind of email you’d actually want to read, stop writing like a weird robot human, and start in the middle.

Now it’s time to get your stories out into the world! Our go-to for anyone looking to get started with email marketing is Flodesk. We hate designing marketing emails because let’s be real, it’s hard to make email newsletters look pretty. And then FloDesk came in and saved the day by making email easy and pretty. We call that a win-win! Tonic Regulars save 50% with this link.

RE: Email Newsletter Examples

Subscribe to get more non-boring email newsletters delivered to your inbox 😏 Or, if you can’t wait til our next #longandweird goes out, read the series that started it all, Jennifer In Paris, right here!

The post How To Write Email Newsletters Your Audience Wants To Read appeared first on Tonic Site Shop.