When Amy Porterfield's copywriter went on leave, she was forced to write the newsletter herself. This unexpected task allowed her to reconnect with her personal voice and stories, which became the key to the newsletter's revitalization and success.
Stop waiting for the perfect niche or a crystal-clear message before you start. Clarity isn't discovered in your head; it's crafted by doing. The process of consistently producing content serves as the ultimate testing ground for discovering what resonates with you and your audience.
A well-defined brand voice shouldn't stifle creativity; it should channel it. Viewing guidelines as creative constraints—the "rules of the game"—makes the writing process more interesting and fun. This mindset encourages writers to play and innovate within a defined space, rather than just follow orders.
Amy Porterfield found her newsletters with the highest open rates and clicks were those sharing personal stories, not just promoting content. This human connection, she argues, is the most powerful business strategy available to a creator.
For a solo founder, documenting the brand's voice, tone, and strategy into a 'brand bible' or playbook is a critical pre-hiring step. This living document ensures that even a temporary or part-time hire can operate authentically, minimizing missteps and accelerating their impact.
Instead of using AI to generate generic text, leverage it as a partner to enhance your unique voice. A powerful technique is to have AI interview you to create a "story log"—a database of your personal anecdotes and experiences. This provides authentic, non-replicable material for future content.
Amy Porterfield dictates her personal stories to ChatGPT, then prompts it to extract the key parts into a concise draft. This uses AI as a partner for clarity and structure while preserving her authentic voice, avoiding soulless, AI-generated content.
The speaker took a three-month break from burnout, not just to rest, but to engage in new experiences. This period of "me time" unexpectedly resulted in writing two books and creating new training programs, demonstrating that stepping away can be a powerful catalyst for creativity and productivity.
Creating a genuine brand voice requires deep immersion, not just a brief. By spending months interacting with dozens of employees across all departments, a consultant can uncover the shared language and core truths that form an authentic, resonant voice.
Leverage AI in email marketing not to replace your voice, but to augment it. Use tools like ChatGPT as a brainstorming partner to generate angles and outlines. This frees up your creative energy to focus on infusing the content with personal stories and genuine connection that only a human can provide.
Personal newsletters are resurging as a sanctuary from the exhaustion of social media. Creators crave a space for deeper context away from performative platforms, while audiences seek intentional, high-value content that respects their attention, leading to a boom in personality-driven newsletters.