Whether you’re a knowledge worker with a point of view you want to share with the world, a high-profile executive who wants to build a platform, or a business owner interested in cultivating new revenue streams, you may have considered launching an email newsletter at one time or another.
And perhaps with good reason.
As social media saturation and the impact of artificial intelligence on search results grow, reaching your core audience becomes trickier. According to HubSpot’s 2024 “The State of Marketing” report, one in three marketers reports using email as a communication vehicle and 87% plan to maintain or increase their investment in 2024. A survey by software company Storydoc found that 90% of respondents subscribed to at least one newsletter and 38% subscribed to between four and 10. With many tools and platforms available to launch email newsletters, it’s relatively easy and inexpensive to get started.
But should you? It’s probably not surprising that Linda Lebrun, head of partnerships for finance and investing content at newsletter platform Substack, thinks so. When asked “who should start a newsletter?” she replies that good candidates may fall into three categories. “[T]hey have a desire to communicate with the audience. They may have a desire to monetize what they are doing,” she says. “And another thing is they may feel like they want to start a community.”
For several successful newsletter publishers, the benefits have been powerful, ranging from reinforcing their positions as thought leaders and credible experts to landing new business opportunities. Here are some of the reasons they devote the time and resources necessary to grow their email newsletters:
Building audience relationships
Sandra Beckwith is a book marketing consultant with a thriving Facebook community called the Build Book Buzz Book Marketing Group. She initially launched her email newsletter, which has grown to more than 10,000 subscribers, to promote her online courses. Over time, she realized that her newsletter was a valuable tool to build relationships with the people who needed her expertise—while also gaining valuable content insight directly from her readers.
“I get responses to my email. When I send my newsletter, people respond back to me, and I get to know them better, and we get these little conversations going,” she says. “We talk about what’s easiest for them, what’s hardest for them, where they need help, what kind of information I can help them with. But [my newsletter] really helped me get to know my target audience better in a way that is almost magical.”
To maintain control of your audience
While social media may be a popular way to build a following, it’s not without risks. Kris Bordessa started Attainable Sustainable in 2011 to encourage people to live more sustainably and self-reliantly. That blog has grown into a robust e-commerce site and an award-winning book entitled Attainable Sustainable: The Lost Art of Self-Reliant Living. Her Attainable Sustainable Facebook page now has an impressive 500,000 followers. But she also values her email list, which includes 15,000 people—a list she culls regularly, eliminating subscribers who do not regularly open her newsletter. She knows that she has more control over the content she can deliver to subscribers.
“Even with a half-a-million people on my Facebook page, just a small smidgen of people are seeing anything that I post. Facebook owns that,” she says.
Algorithms can also affect reach. Teresa Mears runs roughly 20 newsletters to help drive traffic to her network of On the Cheap websites, which promote deals and discounts in various locations. Each site is individually operated. The South Florida–focused newsletter she runs has more than 30,000 subscribers.
As a result, Mears says she promotes her newsletters “every way we can. Particularly as Google has changed its algorithm, the newsletters have become an even more important source of subscribers.” Her network uses pop-ups that encourage website visitors to subscribe. “Every once in a while I put up a Facebook post that says. ‘Facebook doesn’t show you everything. If you want to see everything, be sure to subscribe to our news,’” she says.
To establish your expertise
A newsletter offers another way to deliver customized content to your audiences. Bordessa has different lists based on reader interests, like gardening or food preservation. She also offers free content in specific subject areas in exchange for subscribing.
While Bordessa has well-established expertise in the areas about which she writes, you don’t have to be “the biggest expert” in a particular area to launch a newsletter, Lebrun says. “What [Substack has] found is that when people figure out the intersection, what they have some expertise in, what they feel, they can sustain writing about for a long time, they can go out and share with the world,” she says. “It’s not that you have to be the foremost world expert. You just need to be two steps ahead of your audience, and then they will come along with you.”
To support your revenue plan
Newsletters can help drive revenue in a number of ways, ranging from boosting website traffic to selling products, classes, or services. In some cases, email newsletters are popular or specialized enough that people will pay to subscribe. Lebrun says that some Substack newsletter writers put some content behind paywalls. And some larger newsletters have lucrative business models that include subscriptions and other methods of monetization.
Beckwith says the trust she builds with her newsletter is among the most important reasons to publish one, which is why she is careful about building her list and the content she offers. “If I was just always putting product-related content to people who’ve never heard of me, that’s a waste of my time and theirs because they’re not going to buy from me because they don’t know, like, and trust me,” she says.
Are there downsides? Possibly.
Mears, who uses her newsletter to promote new deals and drive traffic to her site, says building an email list and loyal subscriber base requires marketing; just as you promote your business, you’ll need to promote your newsletter. Lebrun says Substack data finds that consistency is important. “Being consistent with publishing at least once a week helps you create a habit with the reader,” she says. So, the newsletter will take time and resources.
Beckwith advises would-be email newsletter publishers to evaluate the many platforms and publishing tools available to them to determine which is best for their needs. They should also ensure that they abide by the rules governing email newsletters, such as disclosing affiliate links.
However, even with those demands, Mears says starting a newsletter “might be the most important thing you can do” to promote your business and its offerings.
