How to Start an Email Newsletter in 2021
The trends of the early 2000s are back in style again — and that includes email. After over a decade of intense focus on social media, the email newsletter is getting its time to shine. But these aren't the spammy "send-to-100-friends-or-suffer-the-consequences" chain emails that clogged your inbox of years past. Today's email newsletters are engaging, interesting, and feel like reading a letter from a friend.
And a great revenue stream for small business owners.
Why Start an Email Newsletter?
When you think of making money through emails, what comes to mind? Coupons and discounts? Holiday marketing campaigns? Drip funnels to sell a course or webinar?
These are all absolutely valid ways to drive revenue with the help of email, but they don't fit every business model. While an eCommerce store can send deals and discounts until the end of time, a service provider might feel that their email options are limited to general business updates or maybe announcing a course.
Launching an email newsletter gives these business owners a new way to communicate with their subscribers and still have an avenue for monetization.
That said, email newsletters are for everyone! Whether you are a blogger with a topic you're passionate about, or a marketer sharing stories and resources related to products you sell, a newsletter can fit into your email marketing strategy.
How to Send an Email Newsletter
Despite the rise of platforms like Substack and Revue, you don't need a particular newsletter service to get started. In fact, there are actually benefits to not using an email newsletter tool. Sending an email through Substack isn't necessarily easier than using another service, and you don't have as much control over your data and monetization.
If you've been using a drag-and-drop editor like Squarespace mail, Campaign Monitor, or Mailchimp to send out email campaigns, you're already on the right track to launch an email newsletter.
(Still sending your emails through Gmail? Here's why you should switch before launching a newsletter.)
1. Decide what your email newsletter will be about.
Having a consistent theme to your email newsletters will turn them into something people look forward to receiving in their inboxes. If writing a long letter every few weeks feels overwhelming, try doing more frequent "roundup" emails where you provide a short commentary on some of your favorite resources and long reads about a particular topic.
2. Establish a publication schedule.
Consistency is key when it comes to snagging new subscribers for your newsletter. They're signing up with the intent of receiving regular content from you — so you have to deliver it. There's no magic number of newsletters you must send, though. It's all up to what you feel comfortable with.
Your email newsletter can live alongside other campaigns and transactional emails, too, with the help of email list segmentation.
3. Build your signup forms and subscriber lists.
If you already use an email marketing service for your business, create a newsletter-specific signup form and segment to keep your newsletter followers separate from customers, clients, or any other group you'll be targeting differently.
4. Decide where your newsletter content will live.
You can send your content strictly through email, post copies on your website like a blog (great for SEO purposes!), or decide on a mix of both.
5. Decide on a monetization model.
You don't need special newsletter tools to make money from your messages, either! By sharing content through your own website and email service, you can garner financial support in more than one way:
Allow readers to tip you with a service like Buy Me a Coffee
Sell branded merchandise (you can even do print-on-demand: no inventory!)
Set up paid subscriptions with Squarespace Member Areas, WordPress membership plugins, or a service like MemberSpace
Offer paid sponsors the opportunity to get a call-out or featured section in an upcoming issue of your newsletter.
6. Write and send it!
One of the great things about email newsletters is that they don't have to be ultra-stylized HTML messages with carefully worded call-to-action (CTA) and image-laden email templates. While it never hurts to have a nice newsletter template and a catchy subject line, you can treat a newsletter more like a conversation than a marketing tool. Any major email marketing service will provide you with data on click-throughs, open rates, and deliverability, so you can assess the impact your newsletter has beyond the number of subscribers.
If you're thinking, "okay, yes, this is all well and good but I don't have my current email situation figured out yet and don't have time to deal with it," we can help! Shawley Marketing offers email strategy services to help you get your messaging off the ground, as well as complete email (and social media!) management services starting at $1,000 per month.
Curious how this could work for you? Book a call with Kayla and learn more about how our services make email simple and easy for your business!
