“Have a newsletter.”
“Build your email list.”
“You don’t own your followers.”
“If Instagram goes down, what will you do?”
If you’ve been in the online business world for more than a minute, you’ve probably heard one of these. Everyone is very concerned about taking their audience off social media, and onto something they own.
But you may be wondering how to get people to read your newsletter, like, actually.
Because, as we know, Instagram actually can go down, and major social media apps like TikTok can be banned.
So, all this noise online about email marketing and having a newsletter is true. In fact, the average ROI of email marketing is still $36 for every $1 spent.
But if you’ve landed on this blog post, it probably means you’re over the stale, boring, spammy email marketing that we’ve all come to know.
So, here’s how to create a newsletter that serves your business and that people actually want to read.
Yes, having a newsletter is still a good idea
“But Delaney, I already have 7589 social media accounts, a website, and a network. Do I really need a newsletter too?”
No. I’m not into forcing you to open marketing channels that you don’t like or aren’t sustainable for you.
But if you’re like me, you like the idea of opening sustainable, long-lasting marketing channels that have a longer shelf life than social media.
And if you’re not actively collecting emails from all your other marketing channels, it probably means you simply aren’t aware of the benefits of email marketing yet, or you haven’t chosen an email marketing platform yet.
(Here’s 50% off Flodesk for your first year, you’re welcome! That’s one less decision you have to make.)
We’ve already mentioned the huge ROI of email marketing, but if you’re a small business owner or personal brand, it gets even better for you.
Newsletter marketing allows you to speak directly to your audience and create exclusive experiences around your brand.
You’re probably familiar with email blasts from your favorite companies announcing new products or flash sales, but for service providers and personal brands, you can be more personal in your newsletter.
If you create it, your newsletter can be an asset that grows your brand and your bottom line.
Here’s how:
Give your newsletter a name
The first aspect of branding anything is to give it a name!
And, unlike your business’s name (or child’s name, lol) changing the name of your newsletter down the line will be pretty easy.
***this is going to be a recurring theme here, but one of the benefits of newsletter marketing is that they go away after you hit “send.”
You don’t have to go through and delete your whole social media feed, edit your blog posts, or change the name of your domain or LLC. You simply tell your subscribers, “hey, this is the new name! Anyway…”
That said, make sure your newsletter name is related to your brand and the topics you’ll be talking about.
My newsletter name, wired & inspired, correlates to my brand because: 1) “wired” is the feeling you get from drinking caffeine, and 2) I talk about my inspiration of the week with each edition.
BTW, you can subscribe to my newsletter here to see all these tips and more in action.
Decide on a frequency or day of the week your newsletter goes out
People freak out about consistency with their newsletters.
And yes, it does help to be consistent with your newsletter, but don’t feel like “consistency” for you needs to be the same as everyone else.
If you can manage sending a newsletter every week? Awesome!
If you can only do once or twice a month? Great.
Quarterly? You’ve got this.
I would recommend keeping it at least consistent enough that your subscribers have some idea on when they will hear from you again. As in, don’t spam them 3 times a week, and then ghost for a month.
Choose what works for you, knowing that you can change it as your bandwidth allows.
Break the rules to get subject lines people INSTANTLY open
I used to use the Coschedule subject line tester to write subject lines for my clients.
Here are some of the parameters they recommend using:
– Adding “power” words
– Decreasing “common” words
– Using emojis
– Keeping the sentiment positive
– At least 40-50 characters
And yes, these aren’t “bad” recommendations, but there’s definitely some room to play around with your headlines to see what work for you.
For example, here are some of my most opened subject lines from my newsletter:
– “Cheers to putting your hand on the stove 🔥”
– “Freelancer purgatory 💀”
– “From my teeth to yours 🦷”
– “3 big copy mistakes 😬”
– “My failed novel 🫠”
I’m definitely not trying to follow any “formulas” when crafting my subject lines. I like to play around with different styles (although clearly, adding an emoji seems to work best!)
My list is tiny, but mighty. I have an average open rate of 57% (which the average open rate for email marketing is about 36%, so not bad at all!)
All this to say, some rules work better broken.
Pick a CTA for each newsletter… but don’t overthink it
Ideally, you’re directing someone towards one of your offers when you’re sending out your newsletter.
However, it’s fine if you don’t have anything to sell every time you send out a newsletter. Or maybe you’re booked up, but you still want to keep your list engaged.
Choosing 1 CTA for each newsletter is a good idea, but it could be as simple as directing people to watch a video you found insightful, having them read an article about a topic you found interesting, or checking out a podcast interview you’ve done.
Sometimes, engagement is more important than always selling to your list. Showing that you can provide value to them even when you’re not selling is a good practice to keep them opening every newsletter you send them.
Besides, one of the biggest benefits of sending regular newsletters is simply to remind people that you exist.
Write like you’re speaking to a good friend
Not surprisingly, my newsletter sounds a lot like my blog posts.
(I might get a little more unhinged with wired & inspired though…)
Your newsletter is not the place where your subscribers are secretly hoping you sound uber-professional and polished. If anything, it’s the opposite.
On average, people get 121 emails a day. But how many do we actually open and read all the way through?
On the other hand, if your friend sends you a text or email, what are the chances you’re opening it AND reading every word? Pretty high, I’d guess.
Writing your emails like you’re speaking to a good friend can help people feel like you’re a good friend! Your newsletter becomes something they look forward to opening and reading every word of.
Read this post if you want to improve your conversational copywriting skills and leverage them in your newsletter.
Storytelling is the way to go
If you have one takeaway from this post, let it be that leaning into storytelling is ideal for your newsletters!
Why? Because it’s the perfect long-form way to communicate with your audience without having to worry about optimizing for SEO.
While I love storytelling in blog posts too, there simply isn’t going to be a way to make my story about picking paint colors for my apartment and how it’s relevant to your website copy searchable on Google.
So, practice your storytelling skills in your newsletters, and both you and your subscribers will enjoy it!
Play around with the different segments or features of your newsletter
There are soooo many creative ideas you can use for your newsletter, so definitely read that blog post.
Like I mentioned, I always include my inspiration of the week in wired & inspired, but you could add your own twist on things.
Think about what you like to talk about, what your subscribers want to hear, what makes sense with your brand (like, I could 100% talk about the coffee shops I visit each week, because it fits with my brand) or pop culture or media moments that relate to your work.
Crafting your newsletter segments is exciting because it 1) takes the decision out of what you have to write each week and 2) gives your subscribers something to look forward to because it’s predictable.
All that said, you now have SOO many tools to create a newsletter that people actually want to read.
Connecting with your audience is easy – with the right words on your side
Which, as a copywriter, is exactly what I help my clients with all the time!
If you want to see these concepts and more in action, you should subscribe to my newsletter.
Subscribe: The Wired & Inspired Newsletter
Need some copywriting support for your business? Check out my copywriting services here.
