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Management site · Kate's request

The investor mailing list

Somewhere on the management site for people to sign up for help with investing in serviced accommodation, a guide that gives them real value for signing up, a separate mailing list, and socials to feed it.

See the sign-up page See it on the homepage

What's built

  • An investor guide page on the management site, with the six chapters, who it's for, and a sign-up form at the top and bottom.
  • A sign-up band on the homepage, and "Investor guide" in the menu.
  • The form asks for first name, email and where they are (researching, looking now, already own), with a consent tick and a link to our privacy notice. It adds people to the new mailing list with double opt-in, tagged by stage and by where they signed up. Until the new Mailchimp account is connected, it says it's a preview.

Setting up the separate mailing list

Andrew's steps, about 15 minutes. I can't create accounts, so this part is yours.

  1. Create a new Mailchimp account using a management email address, for example info@bluepuffin.co.uk.
  2. Create one audience called "Blue Puffin Investors" and turn on double opt-in.
  3. Authenticate the sending domain bluepuffin.co.uk in the new account (Mailchimp gives two DNS records to add).
  4. Send me the API key and the audience ID. I'll add them to the site, test a sign-up end to end, and switch the preview off.

The free plan covers up to 500 contacts and 1,000 emails a month, and includes one automated welcome email: that's the one that delivers the guide. The weekly follow-up emails can go out as scheduled campaigns on the free plan, or as an automatic series if we move to a paid plan once the list grows.

The guide: what makes signing up worth it

The six chapters people are promised on the page:

  1. Is serviced accommodation right for you? Short-let, holiday let or long let: income, workload and risk compared.
  2. Choosing and buying the right property. What guests book, where demand comes from, and the lease, mortgage, planning and licensing checks.
  3. Doing your numbers properly. Nightly rate, occupancy, seasonality and every running cost.
  4. Checking your numbers are right. Real market data, like-for-like comparisons, and a quiet-year test.
  5. Staying compliant. Fire safety, gas and electrical checks, alarms, insurance, planning, data protection and registration.
  6. Tax questions for your accountant. What changed when the furnished holiday lettings rules ended in April 2025.

Next step: I draft the guide (around 3,000 words, a one-page compliance checklist and a simple numbers template) from how we actually run our homes, and Kate reviews it before sign-ups go live. No fees and no promised returns anywhere in it.

The welcome emails

One email a week after the guide, each with one useful lesson:

  1. Straight away: the guide.
  2. Week 1: the three numbers that decide whether a short let works.
  3. Week 2: five checks to do before you make an offer.
  4. Week 3: the compliance checklist, in the order you'll need it.
  5. Week 4: a real year in the numbers, from one of our homes (anonymised, only with strong, verified figures).
  6. Week 5: if you already own a property and want a second opinion, a free appraisal. No pressure.

After that, a monthly email with a market update or a new lesson.

Socials for the management brand

Content does the work. No networking, no cold messages: posts that teach, each pointing to the guide.

  • Where: LinkedIn first, on a Blue Puffin Management page and Kate's own profile, because that's where owners and investors are. Instagram can follow later. Facebook only for paid adverts.
  • What: numbers lessons from the guide, compliance explainers, before-and-after of homes we've set up, and market facts from our own data (only strong, verified figures). Every few posts, a direct invitation to the free guide.
  • How often: three posts a week, one of them a carousel.
  • How it gets made: the social system we already run can produce these as a separate "management" brand, with Kate approving them in the same Sunday digest as the guest posts. Nothing goes out without approval.
  • Paid, later: a small LinkedIn or Meta advert test pointing straight at the guide page, when you decide the timing.
  • Measuring it: every sign-up is tagged with where it came from, so we can see which posts and adverts bring investors in.

Decisions

  • Andrew: create the new Mailchimp account and send the API key and audience ID.
  • Kate: happy with the six chapters and the page wording? Then I'll write the guide for her to review.
  • Both: a LinkedIn page for Blue Puffin Management, or post from the existing Blue Puffin Stays page?