Pen and Purpose, Houston, TX (2026)

09/26/2023

Let’s talk email! It may not be the newest marketing channel, but it is still the MOST effective and LEAST expensive way to get your customers to buy from you. On average, brands make $36 for every dollar spent on email marketing.

But now more than ever, emails have to fight for attention, and a good subject line is the first step to getting it.

👉 Swipe for 5 psychologically-proven techniques for writing subject lines that make your emails must-reads, not must-deletes.

10/18/2021

Your words matter, especially on your website!

Our brains have a instinctual reaction to words and language. A single word can change how we feel, process, and react.

With the right words, your website is so much more than a place for buyers to gather information. It’s a conversion tool that sells.

Luckily for us, marketers and psychologists have been in the word-science game for years. Books, blog posts, podcasts, and articles on words that work (and how) are plentiful! The Art + Science of the Persuasive Word by William Oni is a great place to start; it’s 80 pages and $5.99 on Amazon.

Little changes to your word selection can mean a big change for your website conversion rate!

09/07/2021

Is there anything ‘s wisdom doesn’t apply to???

I doubt she was thinking of copywriting when she wrote this, but it applies perfectly (of course)!

To write copy that connects with your ideal customers, you must first understand their experiences from their perspectives (as it relates to your brand). It’s easy to make assumptions, especially if you’re in the same demographic as your audience, but it’s a mistake.

Take the time to gain a deep understanding of your ideal customer. When you use their words in your copy, you will see a dramatic improvement in engagement and conversion!

👉 Swipe for ideas on how to get words from your ideal customers.
.
.

09/02/2021

Don’t say it! Don’t say it!

Content is about money. 💵

That’s ok!

You should be leading your audience to a place where you can sell to them from that very first connection.

You might have other goals, but your content should lead to a payday!

When you’re planning your content, it’s helpful to flip the funnel and work backwards:
Step 1: What do I want my audience
to buy?
Step 2: How will I sell it to them?
Step 3: How will I prove its value?
Step 4: What can I exchange for
access to their inboxes?
Step 5: How am I going to connect
and gain their trust?

🔄 Flip it over. You’ve created a content strategy that leads to revenue. 🙌

08/23/2021

Confession: I’ve been practicing selfies in carpool line. 🤦‍♀️

Being of the flip-phone generation, the selfie is solidly out of my skill set. But I want to improve because you need soooo many images to feed the content machine, and selfies are often the most practical choice. 📱

I sought selfie help and found that for me these 3 tips are the easiest and make a big difference:

✅ Tilt something: Angle your phone up or down or if you’re taking straight on, tilt your head.
✅ Use portrait mode: If you’re taking a pic of just your face, this gives you the studio lighting effect!
✅ Off center your face: this is a well-known photography trick to make your photo more interesting.
Photos with faces perform 40 percent better than those without on Instagram. Your audience wants to see your face! Without a compelling photo, they won’t slow their scroll enough to read your brilliant message. So don’t shy away from a selfie sesh! 😉

Photographers and selfie aficionados, please chime in with your expert tips! I need all the help.

**Carpool selfie sessions only occur at the back of the line far, far away from the school. No lines were held up as a result.**😜

08/19/2021

Vision Boards. Do you use them for goal setting? I created my first one today. It was super-easy (I used a template in Canva), and I loved doing it. My words-first brain has historically steered me towards list-making. But I see the benefit of creating visual goals you can look at every single day. I printed mine, framed it, and put it on my desk. As directed by vision board gurus, I’ll use the images on my vision board to drive my weekly, monthly, and quarterly goals. 🤓

Do you create vision boards for your business or life? I’d love to hear your experience. 🙌

08/18/2021

School season has commenced, and I couldn’t be more excited (and filled with gratitude for our teachers and school staff). 👏

My routines took a nose dive this summer as my kids and I opted for all the goodness of staying up late, waking up late, and being outside. 😬

At work, I made time for existing client projects and essentially nothing else. I ghosted my social platforms and all other marketing efforts. 😬 again.

But I got to create priceless memories with my family and enjoy some down time after a stressful few months, and I wouldn’t trade it.

That being said, I’m very ready to get busy and am working on a new free resource and an online course that I’ll be sharing in the next few weeks!

In the meantime, swipe for some fun summer pics! Hope your back-to-school is off to a great start! 🙌

07/06/2021

How many brands send you emails you delete without opening?

I delete a lot! Especially email newsletters.

But I consistently open emails from a select few brands that pop into my inbox because I know the content will be worth it!

On today’s blog post, I’ve listed what those emails have in common. There’s no question that consistently emailing your audience with branded content, such as an email newsletter, drives business, but only if your audience reads it!

Check out the link in my bio for how to create an email newsletter that gets more opens, reads, click-throughs, and business.

02/15/2021

We’re settling into a new decade, and while skinny jeans and side parts might be in question (thanks Gen Z TikToker), email marketing is not.
Marketers have long speculated whether or not email will fall out of favor, but it certainly hasn’t yet. Email outperforms social media in every way you think of - engagements, click throughs, conversions, and ROI.
If you’re a stranger to your audiences’ inboxes, here are a few tips for getting in and getting noticed.
📧 Build your email list by giving your audience a reason to opt-in. Think exclusive discounts or free, valuable content.
📧 Choose an email marketing platform that makes designing and sending emails REALLY easy. There’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to get your bullet points to align or a video to embed correctly! Sign up for free trials on a few platforms, and play with them to see which one you like.
📧 Mind your deliverability. Only send emails to opt-in recipients and avoid spammy subject line words like FREE, SECRET, CONTEST, BUY NOW, DON’T DELETE.
📧 Don’t disappoint! You achieved the difficult task of getting recipients to trust you with their email addresses, you’ve gotten into their inboxes, and they’ve opened your email. Make your content worth it. You can do that by understanding what your audience wants and giving them something that will help them achieve it.
While email might be as old as the side part, it’s not going out any time soon. Numbers don’t lie, and they say the inbox is in!
Double tap if you’re rocking a side part, skinny jeans and email marketing because they work!!

01/21/2021

Happy almost-weekend. Had to snap a pic because Thursday is my hair-down-makeup-on-no-sweats day. I try and schedule all pitch and kick-off calls for Thursday, which helps me:

1️⃣ Keep meetings efficient and on point.
2️⃣ Stay focused on business
development and high-level
outcomes.
3️⃣ Take a break from word docs and
project boards to look at some
(beautiful) faces.
4️⃣ Go messy-bun-workout-clothes-no-
makeup the rest of the week, which
saves me an hour a day.

The skim: batching your days increases your efficiency. I didn’t make this up. I took advice from boss ladies like and .

If you’re usually client facing but want to post content more consistently, block off a messy-hair-don’t-care-no-meetings day once a week or two to batch write your content. It’ll be a fun little break from getting ready, zooming, and being “on”. And you’ll save an hour that you can put towards writing! The other days, you won’t have to think about or schedule time to write or post. 🙌

01/01/2021

Happy New Year and 👋 see ya 2020. We celebrated NYE with a snow storm (in the middle of TX!) and are enjoying a beautiful sunny New Year’s Day! ❄️🌞

Has there ever been a more welcome new year? I know Jan 1 doesn’t magically change our reality, but I’m so grateful for a reset and hopeful for a better year.💃

Twenty twenty had its share of joyful moments, but overall, it was tough! I struggled to stay motivated as projects were put on hold and contracts were paused or canceled. I felt guilty working with my kids home and guilty about not giving work my full attention. Everything felt hard, and I just wanted to stop. 🤯

I took some time to reflect why I chose this path and if it’s still what I want. I concluded that I chose it because I want to create and contribute and grow. The hard is what makes that possible. I had to learn to work more efficiently, set up scalable processes, and create a more results-driven approach to stay in business. This year rocked my boat. It forced me to change, and for that, I’m grateful. 🙌

I know the hard isn’t over (and it really never will be), but I’m excited for a new beginning! 🌱

Happy 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣1️⃣!

10/15/2020

I’ve so loved helping client Amy Pottenger with create a plan for her blog and social media content. I can’t wait to see her put her it into action! 👩‍💻
Amy is an interior designer, specializing in creating beautiful, multi-functional spaces for mompreneurs. Amy’s based in Michigan and booked through 2020 for full-service design, BUT she offers virtual services, in which she’ll help you design, decorate and shop for your space! So ideal for clients who know what they like, but need (serious) help executing it, like me! 🙋‍♀️
Amy is super organized and so fun to work with! Plus, I’ve spent weeks scrolling through her project photos, and they are gorgeous! Keep your insta eye on for all the good interior design ideas!

Pen and Purpose

09/26/2023

10/18/2021

09/07/2021

09/02/2021

08/23/2021

08/19/2021

08/18/2021

07/06/2021

02/15/2021

01/21/2021

01/01/2021

10/15/2020

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category