Some of my most successful emails in the past have been ones I would call “inspirational emails”.

Not the “look at me, I had a tough life but I turned it around and climbed Everest – if I can do it so can you” type stories that you might hear from motivational speakers.

Nothing wrong with those, except that I didn't have such a tough life and I didn't climb Everest.

No, in my case, I made my inspirational emails all about my audience. And I think that works best.

In “Here's to you” I raised a glass to my readers for all the work they do as entrepreneurs or professionals helping clients.

And in “Are you a shining light?” I challenged them to be courageous and stand up for something they believed in – and to make that visible in their marketing.

A different kind of inspiration to what you might normally think. But judging by the feedback, it did the trick.

And there's a marketing side to this too. If your audience feels inspired by you they're rather more likely to hire you.

What could you cheerlead your audience about? What could you challenge them to do?