Email marketing is a crucial aspect of any successful digital marketing strategy. For many, the go-to tool for email marketing is the newsletter.
However, is the newsletter really the best tool for building trust with your audience, establishing your authority, and guiding your customers through their journey with your brand?
In this article, we’ll explore the role of newsletters in email marketing and provide tips for creating effective email campaigns.
Real quick, before we explore newsletters and email marketing as a whole, how about we take a few minutes to appreciate the proud history of the email newsletter…
Email Newsletters Quick Facts
Email newsletters have been around for decades, but in recent years they’ve exploded in popularity. These days, you can find a newsletter on just about any topic you can think of, from news and politics to technology and lifestyle.
One of the earliest and most influential newsletters was “The Daily Beast,” (remember that?) which was founded by former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor Tina Brown in 2008. The newsletter quickly gained a reputation for its sharp writing and insider access to the world of politics and media.
Another early pioneer of the email newsletter was “TechCrunch,” which was founded by journalist Michael Arrington in 2005. The newsletter focused on the world of technology startups and quickly became a must-read for anyone interested in the tech industry.
Five of the Most Popular Newsletters As of 2023
- The Skimm: Launched in 2012, The Skimm is a daily newsletter that delivers a summary of the day’s top news stories in a conversational tone. The Skimm has over 7 million subscribers.
- Morning Brew: Launched in 2015, Morning Brew is a daily newsletter that covers business, finance, and technology news. It has a more playful tone than traditional business news sources, and has over 3 million subscribers.
- The Hustle: Launched in 2016, The Hustle is a daily newsletter that covers business, technology, and culture news. It has a more irreverent tone than traditional news sources, and has over 1.5 million subscribers.
- The New York Times Morning Briefing: Launched in 2017, the Morning Briefing is a daily newsletter that covers the top news stories of the day from The New York Times. It has over 1 million subscribers.
- theSkimm’s “No Excuses” Newsletter: Launched in 2021, No Excuses is a weekly newsletter that focuses on politics and civic engagement. It has over 500,000 subscribers.
These are just a few examples of popular email newsletters, but there are many more out there covering a wide range of topics. Email newsletters have become an increasingly popular way for people to stay informed about news and events, as they offer a convenient and easily digestible way to consume information.
Moving On To Email Marketing
Before we dive into the details of newsletters, it’s important to understand the larger picture of email marketing. Many marketers view email as separate from their content strategy, instead focusing on other channels like social media, blogs, and podcasts.
However, email is just as integral to your content marketing strategy as any of these other channels.
Your marketing and business goals should be the starting point for your content strategy, and everything should be linked together. Content is not just a “nice to have,” it must be derived from your goals and be part of your larger strategy.
When it comes to email marketing, it’s helpful to think about the five-step activation process. First, people will hear about you through various traffic sources like your show or social media posts. From there, they may opt-in to a free resource, like a lead magnet or form.
This is where you capture their email address.
Next, you’ll redirect them to a “Thank You” page or a one-time offer page, where you can offer a low-cost product or service.
From there, you’ll begin sending them regular newsletters and other types of emails to build trust and guide them through the customer journey.
Now, let’s talk about newsletters. Newsletters can be an effective tool for building relationships with your audience and establishing your authority in your industry. They can be used to provide valuable content, build brand awareness, promote new products or services, and drive traffic to your website.
Other very effective ways to use newsletters to build better customer relationships:
- Personalization: Tailor your newsletters to your subscribers’ interests and preferences, and use their first names to make them feel valued and appreciated.
- Feedback: Encourage feedback and respond to it promptly, showing your customers that you are listening and taking their opinions into account.
- Exclusivity: Offer exclusive deals, promotions, or content to your newsletter subscribers, making them feel like part of a special group.
- Consistency: Be consistent in your newsletter delivery schedule, so your customers know when to expect your communication.
- Engagement: Use your newsletter to encourage engagement with your brand, such as by asking for social media follows or offering incentives for referrals.
- Segmentation: Segment your newsletter subscribers based on demographics or behaviors to send more targeted and relevant content to each group.
By incorporating these strategies, you can use newsletters to build better relationships with your customers and increase brand loyalty.
However, newsletters are just one type of email you should be sending. To ensure you’re making the most of your email marketing strategy, it’s important to consider the different types of emails you should be sending.
Other types of emails you might consider sending include welcome emails, which are sent after someone opts into your email list and can be used to provide a warm introduction to your brand and set expectations for future emails. Abandoned cart emails can be used to remind customers of products they left in their cart and encourage them to complete their purchase. And promotional emails can be used to promote new products, services, or sales.
No matter what type of email you’re sending, it’s important to keep your audience in mind.
Consider the tone of your emails, the type of content you’re providing, and the frequency with which you’re sending emails.
By providing valuable content and building a relationship with your audience, you can create a successful email marketing campaign that drives engagement and sales for your business.
Newsletters can be a powerful tool for building relationships with your audience, but they are just one piece of the email marketing puzzle.
To create a successful email marketing campaign, it’s important to consider the larger picture of your content strategy and the different types of emails you should be sending.
By keeping your audience in mind and providing valuable content, you can create a strong email marketing strategy that drives engagement and, ultimately, sales for your business.
So this is to give them a taste of your paid content. So the moment they encounter your “Thank You” page or a one-time offer, regardless of whether they buy or they don’t, alright then you send them a welcome email, and then you send them a nurture sequence, right? It could be 5 to 7 emails within an email.
That’s the five-step activation process, and this is kind of like the journey that every single person who is coming into contact with your brand would take again.
When you do it in this way, it ensures that you know you’re creating a very good experience for someone and through the content that you’re sending in your email sequence, they also get to know you and your brand better.
They get to know your point of view.
They get to know the perspectives that you share when it comes to the topic of the problem that you’re helping them.
So basically, you are creating a brand ecosystem with your list at the center. So right at the center, you’ve got your email list and regardless of where someone stumbles across your brand or where they come into contact with your brand, all roads lead to your email list. Whether that’s on social media, whether you are guesting for someone else, or whether you appear on someone else’s show, or whether you have your own show, regardless of where you have your brand footprint, all roads should lead to your email list.
Now, one of the biggest email fails, and it’s important to understand what this is so that you’re very clear about whether you are inadvertently making these mistakes due to the type of content that you’re sending. If your email list can’t connect you with your products or services and your email list does not trust you, then you may be sending content, but they still don’t connect you with a particular topic, or they don’t trust you, or they’re just not able to see you with those offers.
Okay, they just can’t make the connect, so this is what I call content expert association.
When there is no content expert association, it is very, very difficult to be able to sell to your email list, making it very difficult for you to build authority and have a trusting relationship such that they want to do business with you. You could be building a list of freebie seekers and not buyers.
This is going to happen when you have a lead magnet that is not specific, that’s not relevant, that has nothing to do with what you want to be known for or has nothing to do with the offers that you have or the services that you’re offering, then you are building a list of freebie seekers again, not buyers.
How can you prevent from this happening?
I have some expert tips to help you grow an email list of buyers, not freebie seekers, using a lead magnet or newsletter (always keep these in mind):
- Offer a Relevant and Valuable Lead Magnet: Create a lead magnet that is relevant to your target audience and offers real value. Make sure it solves a problem or fulfills a need that your audience has, and make it easy to access.
- Create High-Quality Content: Ensure that your lead magnet or newsletter contains high-quality content that is engaging and informative. Provide practical tips, insights, and expert advice that your audience will find valuable.
- Use Social Proof: Display testimonials, social media shares, and other forms of social proof to demonstrate the value of your lead magnet or newsletter. This can help build trust and increase the perceived value of your content.
- Optimize Your Landing Page: Ensure that your landing page is optimized for conversions. Use clear and concise language, strong visuals, and a prominent call-to-action (CTA) to encourage people to sign up.
- Offer Multiple Opt-In Forms: Make it easy for people to sign up for your list by offering multiple opt-in forms throughout your website. Consider using pop-ups, slide-ins, and other types of opt-in forms to maximize your reach.
- Provide Exclusive Offers: Offer exclusive discounts, promotions, or other perks to subscribers of your email list. This can incentivize people to sign up and help you attract more buyers.
- Send Personalized Emails: Use personalized emails to connect with your subscribers and build a relationship with them. Segment your list based on interests or behavior to ensure that your emails are relevant and engaging.
- Consistency is Key: Consistency is key when it comes to email marketing. Stick to a regular schedule and deliver high-quality content consistently to keep your subscribers engaged.
- Measure and Optimize: Use analytics and metrics to measure the performance of your email campaigns and optimize them for better results. Test different subject lines, CTAs, and other elements to see what works best for your audience.
Follow these tips consistently, and you’ll build an email list of engaged and loyal buyers who are interested in what you have to offer.
When it comes to email campaigns, it’s not just about convincing people to buy your offer. It’s about helping them make an informed decision.
Your content needs to raise awareness and show them how your offer can solve their problem.
You can do this by sharing different types of emails, such as why you created the offer, your process, methodology, client stories, and common mistakes to avoid. These emails help to build trust and authority with your audience.
When planning your email content, it’s important to be intentional and link it to your marketing and business goals. Take each quarter and figure out what you’ll be launching or promoting. Then, reverse engineer and determine what type of emails you need to send to prepare your audience for that launch.
If you don’t have any offers yet, you can create authority-building campaigns centered around specific messages to build trust with your audience.
Remember, it’s not just about promoting your own offers. You can also create email campaigns around building an interest list or promoting someone else’s offer through an affiliate campaign. With intentional and informative emails, you’ll engage your audience and get them excited about your offer or message.
