Email newsletter best practices for solopreneurs
Our time is a valuable commodity, especially when we own all aspects of our business. As a result, we have to be clear on the why’s behind our activities, including our marketing tactics.
For solopreneurs, newsletters can serve as a focused, ongoing conversation in your most authentic voice. It’s a vehicle for storytelling and building trust and connection, and it can be one of your most creative outlets.
That being said, it’s important to be clear on what it is and what it isn’t, so you can be intentional about your when’s, who’s, what’s, and how’s. But as with everything, let’s first get clear on your why.
The email newsletter
I think there’s often some ambiguity and confusion around email.
Take a look through your inbox – especially your promotions tab – and you’ll find an endless number of emails focused on selling you something. They’re generally timely and often focus readers on one dedicated call to action, so we’ll refer to those as “dedicated emails.” Think: Bottom of the marketing funnel.
A newsletter is instead a high-level conversation intended to nurture clients and leads already in your network. The goal is thought leadership. Think: Top of the marketing funnel.
What a newsletter is
A newsletter is an ongoing brand conversation telling an authentic story about your business. It has a structure you utilize consistently — daily, weekly, or monthly — and it’s predictable.
As opposed to a dedicated email, it generally features multiple calls to action, and with each story, it commonly links to a source where readers can get more information, including your website.
A newsletter may reach all of your subscribers — for example, current and prospective clients — and your goal is to deliver thought leadership content that’s valuable to them so you’re staying top-of-mind.
What a newsletter isn’t
Again, a newsletter doesn’t generally have one call to action, and as a result, it’s not considered a lead driver or sales vehicle.
That being said, including your offers with your other valuable content can make it feel more authentic and less salesy (for both you and them). But when you need to market something, don’t be afraid to send that dedicated and more focused ask.
The Why: Does an email newsletter align with my goals?
You’re likely managing a lot of different channels – or thinking about where to put your time – so here are a few questions to ask yourself:
How would a newsletter align with my larger marketing goals?
How do I want to use email to reach and engage my audience?
Who would be part of my newsletter list, and do I have mechanisms to build the list over time?
How feasible is it to stay consistent with my newsletter, and how often do I want to send it?
Who is my audience, and what value do I uniquely provide them? What would they find most helpful?
Don’t know all of the answers yet? That’s ok. Stay tuned.
The What: The format
There isn’t one right way to approach the newsletter format. You can be as creative as you like – it’s your voice, and you want it to look and sound like your brand.
With the emergence of Substack, you may currently be seeing a lot of newsletters in your inbox that are largely narratives. Even a LinkedIn newsletter may tend to look more like a blog post.
But one of the most common formats is generally content divided into short sections (2-4 sentences), with a compelling section header and a short call to action, which will lead your readers to information on your website or somewhere else.
To decide on your format, go back to your goals, as well as what’s authentic and manageable for you. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
What kind of content or resources am I already developing for clients to show value?
Does this content or other original content (blogs, downloadable resources) live online?
Are there offers and promotions I want to feature?
What’s my brand tone and voice, and how can I make it personal?
Here are a few commonly used sections:
An introductory message
Links to featured blog posts
Links to relevant news stories
Featured tips and best practices
List of upcoming events
Client features
Testimonials or case studies
Inspirational quotes
Both customer relationship management systems (HubSpot, MailChimp, ConvertKit) and content management systems (aka website platforms) generally offer sample newsletter templates for you to use. The platform you choose largely depends on your needs, the features they offer, and the right price point.
The When: Your newsletter frequency
There are two components to frequency: how often you send it and when you send it.
First, consistency is key to engagement. Newsletters sent each week tend to get more engagement than monthly or quarterly newsletters, but the content needs to be valuable, and the schedule needs to feel attainable. Also, it needs to factor into other email messages you’re sending so it’s not overwhelming your audience.
If you’re choosing a monthly or quarterly frequency, you have a little more flexibility on the day you send it, but keeping the consistency will keep you on schedule.
Second, you can find a plethora of data on the best times to send an email – and then you’re likely to find contradictory information. In general, the middle of the week (Tues-Thurs) and during business hours is generally considered optimal for emails. But you may find that your favorite newsletters come into your inbox on Fridays or after 4pm when other email traffic starts to slow down.
Consider: what works best for your audience and/or your industry?
The How: Email newsletter best practices
Make your content skimmable – This is an overall content and SEO best practice, but the most engaging content makes reading easy. There’s a lot of skimming in emails, and newsletters with short sections and compelling headlines can make it easy to view and find the content most valuable to your reader. If you’re instead doing a longer narrative, break it up with section headers.
Add imagery or videos (when relevant) for engagement – Imagery is another great way to break up content, especially if it’s long. Consider static images, animated JPGs, short videos, etc. But again, make sure it’s on brand with what feels appropriate to you and your content.
Incentivize reading to the end – A former employer used inspirational quotes at the bottom of their newsletters, and testing showed people would scroll to the end just for a daily dose of inspiration. Similarly, other publications would use reader-submitted photos. It might be more fitting for you to feature a client story or testimonial.
Mix thought leadership and promotional content – If you’re just listing opportunities for someone to buy into your services, you’re burning out your list. By mixing your promotions with other valuable resources – tips, best practices, blog posts, etc. – it can make it feel more authentic and less salesy.
But don’t leave out your promotions – I see a lot of women solopreneurs who shy away from marketing or promoting their work out of fear. Newsletters are a great way of showing your value and allowing people to take action. Just don’t rule out other marketing channels, including the dedicated emails.
Allow your newsletter schedule to support your content accountability – If you’re overwhelmed thinking about your newsletter as another piece of content to write, think of the newsletter as one of your best vehicles for getting your content out. A consistent newsletter schedule can also help you create a routine for the other pieces of content you want to produce each month.
The Who: Building your subscriber list
As you’re doing business, you’re naturally building up a list of people engaged in your work, and it’s those individuals you want to build a conversation with, so they keep you in mind when they need your help.
Here are a few easy ways to help you build your list:
Offer easy ways to subscribe on your website. This might include a sign-up feature on your site, an email opt-in on your contact forms, or a pop-up that asks website visitors to subscribe. You can also add a link to your newsletter on any social media bios.
Incorporate an email or marketing opt-in into forms. Similarly, if you’re doing events, add an option to subscribe to your emails when people submit their online or in-person information. You can also add an opt-in ask on lead-generating forms when people download your resources.
Add qualified leads after you’ve had a conversation. If you’re having conversations with potential clients, don’t forget to add them into your list. They may not be ready to buy from you now, but they may be in the future.
Ask “forwards” to subscribe. There may be cases where someone’s forwarded your newsletter to others who might benefit from it. As a result, it might be helpful to include a message at the bottom: “Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Subscribe now.” Link it to a page where they can sign up.
Weighing a LinkedIn newsletter? Consider repurposing. If LinkedIn is one of your top channels because it’s the right audience for you, using their newsletter can open up your content to a broader audience and SEO. There are benefits, however, to keeping your own newsletter, including the fact that you own it, you’re building your email list, and you get better analytics on your email sends. But if you’re deciding what the best option is for you, there are several resources to help you decide.
As you get more engaged in email marketing, it’s important to know that there are CAN-SPAM laws in place to protect businesses from spamming email recipients. There are quick ways to build your list, like buying a list, but subscribing people who haven’t heard of you before both drives down engagement and opens up the opportunity you’ll be marked as a spammer.
But I know you, and you want to be more intentional with how you’re heard and seen…
Need support creating a consistent cadence of valuable content? We’ve got you! Let’s connect.
