Email is the one marketing tactic that most businesses sleep on. Why? Because it's not sexy, but oh does it work.
It’s no secret that I love email. Heck, I’ve built two email businesses and even sold one of them a few years back.
Email has been growing ever since it was invented way back in 1971.
All the while, individual email engagement is still rising.
Then there are email-only businesses like The Hustle (sold for ~$25m), Morning Brew (acquired for $75m), The Milk Road and others that, as you can see, are worth millions of dollars – and all they do is write and send newsletters.
What’s also amazing about email is it’s by far the simplest marketing strategy you can employ. Yet so many businesses do the absolute minimum amount of effort and then say it doesn’t work. 🙄
That’s why I started a weekly newsletter for Growth Experts. Firstly, you’ll get to follow along and see how it improves and grows, and secondly, I want you to take email seriously for your business, too.
Your future self will thank you.
There are 3 things I needed to get the Growth Experts newsletter started. A list to email, software to send the email and content to write about.
It’s not fun sending out a newsletter to a list of 10 people. The easiest way to build an email list is to use your own contacts, clients, friends and anyone you know that wouldn’t mind receiving an email from you.
So that’s what I did. I went through my Gmail address book, my client list and LinkedIn connections and just added anyone who passed the rule of “wouldn’t mind me emailing them“. That quickly built the Growth Experts list to over 100 people.
There are too many options out there when it comes to email newsletter software.
But when you’re starting out, the tool matters way less than you actually sending out a newsletter on a regular basis.
The current Growth Experts newsletter is built and sent using ConvertKit. But here is a list of other options that are just as good. The key is not to overanalyse this decision. Pick one and start.
Not to brag, but this is one of the things we do for our clients. Write and send their newsletters. The first few newsletters are usually the easiest as you have a few ideas, there are products and services you’d like to promote, things happening in your business that you can talk about and generally there is a lot of excitement.
That excitement quickly wanes, the regular newsletters become semi-regular, and then it becomes a once-a-year newsletter to wish all your clients happy holidays. Not a good look.
You have to find topics that, most importantly, you’re interested in. Yes, you’re writing for an audience, but you need the inspiration and want it to be as fun as possible so that you’ll keep going.
That’s what I’m doing with the Growth Experts newsletter. I find topics I’m interested in sharing and then it makes writing the newsletter something I look forward to, not something I’m dreading.
Lastly, I’ll leave you with this secret. To stand out in a sea of boring newsletters and emails, send a weekly newsletter. It’s been a game changer for Growth Experts because we’re talking to our audience (our ideal customer!) more regularly and so conversations start more regularly. Yes it’s tough, but from a return on investment of time, it’s by far the most profitable marketing we do.
I asked the team for some newsletters they read regularly, and we’ve created this list. Enjoy!
We’d love you to share it with your friends, colleagues or your marketing team.
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Of 2 million podcasts, only 1% make it past 20 episodes. The secret to joining the top tier is simply persistence. In marketing, outlasting your competition can be more effective than having the biggest budget or most creative idea.
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