What if one of today’s hottest marketing moves was a real “blast from the past?”

Two years ago, the idea of an email newsletter sounded downright archaic. After all, didn’t those things die out over a decade ago? Now, however, email newsletters are more popular than ever before.

How did these newsletters become popular again, and why does it matter for your business? Keep reading to learn whether an email newsletter is a good fit for you and your business.

Return of the Email Newsletter

Your biggest question right now might be how and why the email newsletter has become relevant once more. And in many ways, it’s all because of the new platform Substack.

Substack allows anyone (ranging from freelance writers to major corporations) to create an email newsletter on their platform. It is completely free to create and distribute emails to as many followers as you want, so long as you aren’t charging them a monthly fee. As soon as you start charging your readers, Substack gets a 10% cut of your monthly profits.

It sounds simple, but this format attracted many different writers for many different reasons. Some are hoping to use the platform to launch a new writing career. Others are veteran writers who are tired of clashing with editors or who simply miss the joy of writing for alternative weekly newspapers.

While Substack has made newsletters cool again, it is not your only option when it comes to creating and distributing your own content.

Different Newsletter Options

If you long for the potential of major exposure, Substack is a solid option. But there are similar services out there, including Tinyletter and Buttondown. Each service has its own features and drawbacks as well as certain audience niches that may work better for your content.

Of course, nothing says you have to use a major service at all. If you already have a business, you may be regularly engaging in email marketing. In that case, you might be able to craft a weekly newsletter and make that part of your email marketing campaign strategy.

Long story short? You have plenty of options. To help you determine if a newsletter is right for you, we’re going to do a deeper dive into why this format is beneficial to writers and readers alike.

A More Personal Relationship

You may still be wondering what the benefit of a newsletter is to writers and readers. And one of the simplest answers is that it creates a more personal and intimate relationship between the two parties.

A newsletter is very personal for the writer because they handle everything. The writer is responsible for 100% of the content of the newsletter and also has no editors. This gives them the freedom to write about whatever they feel like writing about.

And readers enjoy the feeling of getting raw, real thoughts from writers they enjoy. And even the act of reading a newsletter is very personal: it feels a bit like getting a long letter from someone you really respect each and every week!

If you run a small business, you can rest assured that the loyalty readers feel to their favorite writers will extend to loyalty towards your business. This ultimately translates to better sales.

Slowing Down In a Fast-Paced World

To really understand the appeal of newsletters, all you have to do is compare them to social media.

At first glance, you might think social media is very personal as well. On the platform of your choice, you can cultivate followers and write about everything under the sun.

But on social media, you are competing with countless other people for followers. And your messages can easily get lost amid thousands of others as your followers scroll through their social media feed.

With a newsletter, you get to slow down and write long-form content instead of making everything fit into something as tiny as a tweet. And you’ll quickly discover that your readers enjoy the experience of slowing down and reading something substantial and consequential once again.

Newsletters and Email Marketing

As we said before, nothing keeps you or your business from starting an email newsletter from scratch. But if your business already engages in email marketing, you can simply integrate the newsletter into that marketing in order to reach your existing base of customers.

Believe it or not, a business experiences most of the newsletter benefits that an individual does. For example, those who read your newsletter will stop seeing the business as a faceless entity and start paying attention to the real men and women who make up the company.

And a newsletter is a great place to bring some of your content marketing ideas. Instead of trying to sell consumers products, use the newsletter to provide information that is relevant to their concerns. If you sell furniture, for instance, you can use your newsletter to share interior decorating tips with readers.

Readers will enjoy the fact that your newsletter is more than just an advertisement for products. And the more you provide the kinds of information they need, the more their loyalty to your business will grow.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

Interested in writing a newsletter but you don’t know where to start? Here’s the good news: you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Substack and other platforms give you thousands of free opportunities to check out what other people are writing. This can provide a deep well of inspiration when it comes to things like newsletter content, tone, layout, and style.

That doesn’t mean you can’t take your newsletter in a completely bold new direction. But if you need helping getting started, all the inspiration you need is just a click away!

The Email Newsletter: What’s Next For Your Business?

Now you know why the email newsletter is cool again. But do you know who can completely transform your email marketing?

At Vertical Response, we specialize in email marketing, website design, robust analytics, and more. To see what we can do for your email marketing, check out our pricing plans today!

© 2021 – 2020, Chris Duncan. All rights reserved.