What Topics Should I Write to My TPT Email List?
Everyone says to start a list.
But no one tells you how hard it will be to send out weekly content. All you can come up with is a few words of an email before you decide it's not good enough.
Then erase it.
Again.
You sit there and try to think, but nothing worth writing comes to your brain. You do more erasing than writing. So what do you do?
Instead of going back and forth between typing and backspacing, use these email ideas.
Sell a Product in an Email
There are lots of ways to sell a product.
You can start with a story. Or an activity idea. Or a disaster other teachers want to avoid. Or a result teachers drool over want.
It doesn't matter how you sell. But, it needs to be done without shoving the product down the reader’s throat.
Ask yourself how you'd like to be introduced to the product. Would you like to hear how it changed a student's perspective? Or how an administrator commented on how well the students engaged? Or how easy it is to set up for the teacher? Then write your sales email that way.
I’m a big fan of selling through example, so you might find the next type of email easier to write if you’re just getting started.
Give 3-5 Activity Ideas
Teachers are brain dead.
They’ve made 841 decisions today and they need a fun activity for this week to make learning fun. Give them 3-5 easy activity ideas. Then how them step by step how to implement one of the activities.
Bonus points if it’s on a difficult or boring topic.
Since you’ve given them 3-5 free ideas, link to a product for a few of the activity ideas. It's a great way to invite teachers to buy. (And not say, “Open wide! This product may hurt a little as I shove it down your throat. But it’s for your own good to buy!”)
Another powerful way to connect with teachers is through humor.
Share a Funny Story
…And that’s how a hammer ended up in my computer.
Start your funny email with an unexpected line. Every teacher needs to laugh. And the best way to give them a laugh is for them to read your email. So when you pick your story, start it off with the punchline.
Make sure it’s a funny story teachers can relate to from a teaching point of view.
A story about grading something wrong. About tripping and falling during a lesson. About the principal walking in as you were making fun of him with your back to the door and the students had to tell you. (Too specific not to be true, huh? Whoops.) It doesn’t matter what the story is about as long as it’s relatable to your audience’s daily frustrations.
But don’t make this next mistake.
Don’t tell a funny story about your dog, your kids, or the grocery store. You could throw those in every once in a while to show your personality. But make it rare. You want to be the educational expert.
Not a lifestyle expert.
If you want them to remember your tips, show them how you’re the expert.
Explain How to Teach a Difficult Topic
Every teacher has a secret they don’t want to admit.
They don’t like or *gasp* don’t understand a topic the way they should to teach it. They worry about that topic constantly. They dread it each year. And they rush through teaching it the way I rush through eating brussels sprouts. A unnecessary evil.
Can you imagine how they’ll feel about your products if you can take something they don’t like are terrified of and make it awesome?
Not only will they love you forever and ever, but they’ll also remember how much help your products are. And look for your products later.
Especially when they need a little support.
Send an Email Encouraging Teachers
Show your audience that you’re in their corner.
They may be the only one in their building who teaches on a certain topic.
They may feel alone.
The administration could be breathing down their necks for no reason.
They feel pressured about state standards. They're frustrated because they can never get all the grading done on time. They need to hear you are in their corner.
Encourage them. Cheer them on. Tell them that it doesn’t matter what that student said to them. It’s okay. They are doing a great job and bad days happen.
And parents happen.
But better days are ahead.
Send an Email About How to Deal With Difficult Parents
This could be the most powerful email you send to bond with your readers.
You could send emails for a year on stories about parents. Write an email about your strategies for dealing with really fun parents.
Teachers dealing with really fun parents are in the moment of high emotion. They need to be reminded what to do and what not to do in a parent email. (They want to spew molten crazy in the email.)
You could help them cool off and write something helpful.
Send an Email About Classroom Management
Every teacher has a specialty.
Some teachers know content inside and out. Some teachers connect with students easily. Some teachers can heard sugar-infused banshees into perfectly well-behaved students.
If you’re one of those teachers, send an email about how you do that. (Especially the banshee one. I’d like a video…)
You could also email about the things you love to use in your class. Or things never use in your classroom.
Like those overly expensive, portable paperweights with an identity crisis textbooks the school buys.
In fact, you should put your opinion on that out in the world.
Send an Email Reviewing a Textbook
Schools are always switching textbooks.
I see so many posts about this vs. that textbook. Teachers want advice from others who have used the book. Give them an honest opinion of your top 3 textbooks.
Or write why you would never go back to a certain textbook ever again.
You could write it from either a teacher or student perspective.
But since you are paying for your email list, let’s bring it back to another soft sell.
Send an Email Revamping a Product
This is a very strategic email.
Not only does this show that you had an amazing product to start with, but it also builds trust.
You are showing that you're committed to updating and making products better even after they bought.
It also serves as a reminder to those who bought, and forgot they bought that they need to use your helpful product.
Teachers who haven’t bought get a detailed view of how you serve and improve. Which makes them more likely to buy.
And if you love those ideas, but want me to write your subject line, purpose of the email, and first few lines of text, you should grab the Whole Year Email Starters here or the Whole Year Email Starters for Elementary Teachers.