I love love love a good newsletter; they a powerful tool for any small business wanting to connect with their people in a very real, personal way.
Every Monday morning I send out a ‘5 reasons to be cheerful’ newsletter and not only love putting it together, but also appreciate the feedback it generates and the opportunity it gives me to not only share what I hope is valuable content for my readers, but also tell them about new workshops and other things I have to offer.
Here are five reasons why I think you need one too!
- Because email newsletters drive sales.
- They let you connect with your customers in a very direct way.
- They drive traffic to your website.
- Because this is your bricks and mortar.
- Because they provide you with a regular opportunity to check in, stay in front of your customers, provide relevant and trustworthy content and remind them what you have to sell that day.
In no particular order…here are the newsletters I always stop and read (or save for later) when they pop up in my inbox. They cover mixed bag of subject matters – food, fashion, business and writing advice but I appreciate and enjoy each and every one of them. And, I think they are all great examples of newsletter writing and creation done really really well…
If you’d like to start a newsletter but aren’t sure how, please send me an email ([email protected]) and I can help you get it off the ground and out into the world.
The newsletters I always stop and read
Ann Handley’s fortnightly newsletter is always a goldmine of useful information for marketers, copywriters and anyone interested in how to write better.
Really Good Emails– This website is a goldmine of inspiration and resources. Subscribe to their newsletter to get egs of really good emails sent to your inbox every week. The blog is awesome too.
The Daily Good – a daily (duh) newsletter with top use of white space, great header, consistent format (one thing to read, listen to, person to follow etc).
Head Ovary Heels– A fortnightly round-up of cool links, things to do, listen to and people to discover.
Pome – another one via Tinyletter, a poem every day at the same time. No images, nothing fancy. I love it.
Go To Skin Care– These guys always nail everything they do, from a super consistent tone of voice to branding and a great quality product to back it up. Their newsletter is an example in using white space well, in chatty friendly tone of voice and being sales-y in a way that feels like they’re just giving out really good advice and solutions rather than pushing products on us.
The London Review of Looks – Whenever this one pops into my inbox I either make the time or save it for when I have time to really savour create Ana Kinsella’s wonderful words. I love her as a writer, I love the simplicity of this Tinyletter newsletter and if you like good writing and farshon too, you might as well.
Hiut Denim Co– A UK based denim company that sends out a weekly ‘Do one thing well’ newsletter (they pride themselves on how they really do just one thing well – ie make jeans). I always find so many great links ideas and inspo in here, there my or may not be a note about a new product or a favourite style restocked but this is generally community building and branding at its finest.
The Back Room – a weekly newsletter by Forbes-based Cherie Quade sharing her latest workshops, yoga class schedule and links and recommendations for good things to read, do and think about.
Life & Thyme ‘Weekend Edition’ – A food and lifestyle website’s weekly round up of the best stories and recipes from their site. Well designed, always interesting.
Swiss Miss– great articles, clips and links.
Nicole Gulotta’s weekly newsletter – Nicole writes one of my favourite blogs Eat this Poem and has a book out of the same name. She also presides over an online community of writers called the Wild Words Collective and every wednesday sends out an encouraging email full of notes from her writing desks, links to articles and resources for writers and always a few good things to cook and do in and around the kitchen.
The Lunch Read – A diverse collection of links and articles delivered every Wednesday (they even allocate a time frame to each one so you know what to expect…)
Man Repeller– Edgy women’s lifestyle website, I feel a bit cool when I read their daily newsletter and also find it points me towards lots of great music, articles and ideas.
The Odgers & McClelland newsletter – created by Megan Trousdale (one half of this beautiful online and virtual store), this newsletter is an example of how to do it right, compelling and useful content, well written and put together and a great, gentle advertisement for all the good things they curate and sell.
Sara Tasker’s monthly hashtag newsletter – Sara Tasker of Me and Orla and the fabulous podcast Hasthag Authentic sends her mailing list (among other good things) a monthly round up of her current favourite hashtags for Instagram. I always stop and read this one and always take away a few new lovely hashtags to follow and use. Super valuable content delivered in a reliable, friendly way, backed up with Sara’s expertise.
Naomi Bulger’s monthly mail art newsletter – Naomi is my creative crush, every month she sends out a value-rich newsletter featuring mail art templates you can download, personalise and send out, plus tips for slow living, resources and links.
Dislaimers!
Just a few disclaimers about the list above; many of my favourite blogs send me an email whenever they post new content – I do the same and love receiving them, but haven’t included these here because I wanted to focus on emails that are specifically written as newsletter content.
One more thing to note about this list – it’s a snapshot in time, a collection of my personal favourites at the moment. Others will come and go depending on what I fancy reading about in that moment, so for those interested, I’ll update and change it as new goodies come to mind.
And of course, I’m sure I’ve missed lots of great newsletters so please share your favourites in the comments below.