Brand Story of Ethical Email Marketing

Yuval Ackerman is an Ethical email strategist and copywriter at Yuval Ackerman Copywriting

Where do you reside currently?

Berlin, Germany

What do you do?

I'm an ethical email strategist and copywriter. I help entrepreneurs and business owners to nurture a love-love relationship with their email list and subscribers.

What is your top personal value?

I'll go with integrity. To me it represents both the transparency value that I'm all for, as well as leading and acting from your intuition. A story I can share about that has to do with my time as a young journalist. I spent 3 years doing what the "system" demanded me to do, and it felt completely off every single day - asking intrusive, pointless questions, covering stories that made no sense and pushing myself to the edge of my physical limits just to get the next scoop. When I finally got out of that role, I made an agreement with myself that whatever it is I'd do next, I'd be following my intuition and my guts.

What do you do when you aren't working?

I love watching/reading/listening to any good content, especially podcasts and tv shows. Anything food-wise goes, including spending hours on hours on cooking. I also just launched a relationships podcast, so that's something that takes up a bit of my free time, but I enjoy it. And I'm also a songwriter/producer, and record my own songs.

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What makes you unique?

That journalism role that I shared a story about? It was my army service. Other than that, maybe the fact that I moved to a new continent with zero contacts or language skills to pursue my dream as a music producer?

What do you love about what you do and how do you help others?

I love helping others share and tell their stories in the way they'd like it to be told - but also in a way that helps their audience. I love finding the words and the terms to come up with an effective story. I find that emails are a great way to do that in a way that's digestible (and fun) for everyone involved!

What is the number one goal you are trying to achieve in your professional life?

Keep redefining what success means to me as I progress, and reach those successes too.

What did you do before you became an entrepreneur or business owner?

I started my professional life with that journalism role for 3 years.

Then I went on a writing hiatus that lasted about 7 years, and went to pursue another love of mine, which is food, by working in gastronomy. I worked in several restaurants and cafes, both in Israel and in Berlin, and learned a lot about management, customer experience, sales and human psychology.

What happened to inspire you to start a business or buy one?

I was honestly physically tired of my job in gastronomy, and mentally exhausted for getting so many push backs when I made all kinds of suggestions to improve things at my workplace(s). A few weeks before the pandemic hit, I finally opened my business (although it had nothing to do with the pandemic, just a coincidence). When the pandemic did hit, I had all the time I needed to actually start building and running my business. By the time that the restaurants came back in late spring of 2020, I was already one foot out the door.

How do you assess an idea, risk, or opportunity to ensure it is the right one for you?

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Honestly it boils down to my intuition and data. If an idea or an opportunity doesn't sit right with me, I'll sleep on it, see the data that supports it, and make a decision.

What is the number one skill a successful Entrepreneur or Business Owner needs to possess to be successful?

Experimental mindset. As a business owner/entrepreneur, failure is a part of the process, it's almost a given. Instead of being afraid of it, I love the idea of embracing the so-called failure as a lesson or an opportunity to learn from, tweak and improve.

When you started what mistake or failure taught you the most about running a business?

I didn't invest enough, and fast enough, in personal and professional growth. That includes courses, paid communities, and coaching. Had I invested in those from the get-go, I believe I would've reached some milestones faster.

What support did you have?

The biggest mind shift and change in my business happened while I did Eman Ismail's mastermind. She's a brilliant email strategist and copywriter herself, and she showed me that I could do things my way, and redefine my success in a way that aligns with my values (while keeping my high customer experience standards).

How do you stay motivated to keep trying when there is a set back?

I know that I need accountability, so I surrounded myself with professional who help me with this. I'm a member of a community that helps me a lot (called "The LAB"), I also have my social media strategist, accountability buddies, and my therapist. And I plan to expand this circle as I go.

Which platforms must a brand have in their digital footprint?

I'm biased of course - emails!

What one thing must you do on Social Media when telling a brand story?

Being authentic and real is always my go-to. People are tired of the over-polished version of reality.

What is your favourite platform to tell a brand story and why?

Biased again - emails. Every week, I'm sharing a life lesson with my subscribers, which then translates to my work life. Doing that, in combination of talking about my list everywhere, increased my subscribers by 67.65% in the past month alone.

What is a common mistake you see brands making in the brand awareness part of their story?

Using marketing formulas and tactics that other brands used too, instead of really questioning those and doing the proper market research.