Good Newsletters Require Effort
Just ask Phil Adams, who wrote this article about getting started for Mailjet. It’s fairly candid about how much effort it takes to build a successful newsletter. Plus, he provides some lists (towards the end) of content ideas for different types of newsletters.
My only qualm is his advice that you or your team likely has plenty of content worth sharing just sitting around.
“So, when it comes to brainstorming your next newsletter, the email content should be there, ready to go. Leaving you more time to focus on creating eye-catching subject lines and sculpting beautiful newsletter designs.”
Hmmm.... not really. Unless the newsletter audience you hope to attract is crazy interested in what’s going on at your company. I’d adjust this bit to encourage newsletter creators to seek out topics their audience actually cares about and to strategize content they can’t find elsewhere. This could easily be confused for “Just share what’s important to you and people will read it.” And we all know that’s not always true.
Discovered via Really Good Emails.
Ann Handley Shares Lessons From Her “Best-Performing” Newsletters
In her recent Valentine’s issue of Total Annarchy, Ann Handley shared some excellent advice for newsletter creators, including an analysis of nominees for the “best” of her newsletters in categories including:
Plus, she asks, “What lessons can we learn from these?” and shares some findings:
What can you learn from your “best” newsletter issues?
P.S. I personally contributed to her OWBR on this issue and let her know how much I loved it... to which she responded, “I literally thought of you with the rhyme ‘newsletter’ & ‘knew better.’” ...so I’m feeling incredibly special this week.
Real question: is there ever a time you should fail on purpose? Robert Rose makes a compelling case for the value of deliberate mistakes in this CMI article. He explains these intentional mistakes might make sense when:
As a newsletter creator, it’s possible that maybe your deliberate mistake becomes an outlying avenue for success. My takeaway?
“If you only fail when we’re trying not to, you may just miss out on proof you should trust your initial instincts.”
Discovered via Smart Brief on Social Business.
Have you found your niche? Nicolas Cole writes about 7 ways to “niche down” on his Twitter feed.
Discovered via Marketer Crew.
One Newsletter Creator’s Success Story
In 2021, Ellen Donnelly set a goal of reaching 1,000 email subscribers for her newsletter The Ask. She’s sharing the strategies, tools, and tactics she used to make it happen here.
Discovered via For the Interested.
Is your welcome email setting the expectations it should? This App Sumo article by Ernest breaks down the components of a good welcome email and offers examples.
Discovered via Really Good Emails.
Inspiration For Your Newsletter Landing Page
Looking for some inspiration? Newsletter Pages features a library of inspirational landing pages. Check it out.
Insider Tips For Faster Newsletter Growth
Sparkloop has broken down newsletter trends, paid growth tips, and free growth tips in How to Grow Your Newsletter Faster in 2022.
You’ll want to find what works best for you and your newsletter, but these caught my attention:
Read on for more here.
Discovered via Ghost Newsletter.
A One-Stop-Shop For All Things Newsletters
Speaking of inspiration, Email Resources is your next go-to place for newsletter information, resources, community, strategy, and more.
Discovered via Really Good Emails.
2022 Email Benchmarks From Sparkpost
Sparkpost’s 2022 report offers email benchmarks and industry trends. Check out the summary by Koertni Adams or the full report here.
Note: If you’re not familiar with Sparkpost, it’s one of the world’s largest email sending services, used by companies like MailChimp and (cough, cough) Curated.
