15 Incredible Tips to Inspire Fabulous Newsletter Ideas

Today, I'm excited to share some of the best tips for generating fabulous newsletter ideas. 

Recently, I reached out to experts in the field, and they generously shared their top strategies for creating engaging newsletter content.

Ready to jump-start your newsletter campaign? 

Let's dive right in!

1. Respond to Your Customer Questions

Brittany Berger, the Head of Content & PR of Mention.com reiterates that Newsletters are the perfect place to speak to your audience more directly. 

If your customers ask questions or respond to a newsletter topic, make room to answer them in the next one. 

This is both a great source of newsletter topics and a way to make your customers feel heard.

2. Create a Plan that’ll Make Sense to Your Audience 

Jon Dykstra of Fat Stacks Blog told me that a successful newsletter depends on your audience and niche.  

Jon operates several email newsletters and they're all very different.  For instance, Fat Stacks his Fat Stacks newsletter provides quite a bit of information and updates for new blog posts and he uses it to communicate discounts for his courses.  

It's a very personal newsletter all of which is written by him.  Jon only sends out emails when he has something worthwhile to say.  Some weeks it's several newsletters and other weeks nothing.

And then there are his larger B2C website newsletters.  These are more "corporate" in nature and they go out every 2 to 3 days. 

Jon has a massive and growing sequence that sends readers back to popular blog posts.  

Once in a while, he'll promote a really good product deal but for the most part, its purpose is to alert readers to his best content.

Finally, there's the B2B email newsletter which is a combo of the Fat Stacks newsletter and my B2C newsletter.  

It has an extensive automated sequence, but he occasionally sends out broadcasts alerting readers to new posts and product deals.

The key takeaway is you must plan and structure an email newsletter in a way that makes sense to your audience and has an overarching purpose for publishing the newsletter.

3. Resend Your Email to Unopeners

Dave Schneider of Ninja Outreach says: 

The one that's made the biggest difference is resending our email to unopeners after a 3-day delay with a new subject line. See the case study here 

4. Under Your Audience Before Creating a Newsletter

According to Nicky Pasquier of Virtuoso Assistant, She says: 

I think my tip, as with any content, is to ensure it’s relevant and useful to your target audience.  

If you really understand who your followers are you should be able to put yourself in their shoes and then select the right kind of content for a newsletter.  

Keep the content varied, so include a mixture of short videos, articles, funny gifs, and offers to keep people reading and coming back for more the next time.  

Last but not least, encourage shares and sign-ups with CTAs.

5. Find a Balance That Represents the Type of Brand You Want To Build

Chris Guthrie founder of Up Fuel reiterates that, if you're not using your email list to sell something right now then you're missing out on a lot of revenue and opportunity to provide value to your audience. 

If you're only sending emails to sell then you're going to kill your audience. The key is to find a balance that represents the type of brand you want to build.

6. Lean into Your Strengths

Let’s hear what Ty Magnin the marketing director of App Cues has to say: 

I get this question a lot because people really like the Appcues newsletter—and people don't often like newsletters. 

I have two tips. 

One is to make it authentic to your company and brand. We have a 'Ted's terrible joke of the week' section in which one of our sales persons offers an original joke.

It’s a fun way to differentiate ourselves and give what is usually a humanless medium a bit more life. 

The other tip is to lean into your strengths. We spend most of the space in our newsletter pushing our own content because we invest a lot in that content and have a solid readership. 

We spend less space on curated posts because we haven't invested as heavily in that the way companies like Mattermark has.

7. Create a Snippet of your latest blog post

According to Tiffany Griffin the owner of Beautiful Dawn Designs, She says: 

Every week she sends her newsletter subscribers a snippet of her latest blog post, and then she provides a link for them to head over to her website to read the rest of the post. 

Most of her subscribers find out about her new blog posts through her newsletter, and they prefer to stay updated this way. 

So, by using this method, Tiffany doesn't have to worry about coming up with new content for her newsletter each week, She’s still providing value to her subscribers, and She’s also driving traffic to her website!

8. Provide Value and Always Follow up to the Original Offer

I asked Rob Cubbon about tips for creating fabulous newsletter ideas here’s what he told me:

• Email regularly. I don't care if you have a list of 50 or 500,000, you must email them most weeks and never leave it longer than a fortnight. 

• Email value. Make sure you include valuable, relevant information and resources to your list, and don't bombard them with offers. 

• Make the offers time-bound. When asking the list to buy something, make sure it's an offer that is time-bound, ie. They have to buy in the next few days before the price goes up.

• Repeat the offer. Always follow up on the original offer to those who haven't bought yet and remind them that they will miss the chance if they don't buy now. (Usually more buy the second time.)

9. Create a Self-Contained Stories

According to Matt Banner the founder of On Blast Blog, He says: 

The best newsletters are self-contained stories. People don't want dry and boring content, they want a glimpse into the insight they know and expect from you and your blog. 

When you sit down to write your newsletter, offer them stories about how inspiration struck for one of your recent posts, or perhaps a tale about how your blog came to be.

Let your newsletter be the place where you share exclusive insights and stories that make your subscribers feel like they are VIP members of your blogging community.

 10. Create an RSS-Fueled Newsletter

Maddy Osman the owner of The Blog Smith reiterates that one of the most obvious newsletter ideas for a blogger is to just create an RSS-fueled newsletter (Mailchimp is very easy to set up with this functionality) that gets sent out every time you publish a new content. 

If, however, you're publishing new content multiple times each week, this can quickly get annoying for your subscribers and is not encouraged. 

Alternatively, you might opt to design a newsletter that features your latest post, with links to 3-5 of your other most recent posts (in case the main topic is not interesting to the receiver), sent as a digest to your subscribers at the end of the week. 

To make the newsletter a little more personal, add some copy to compliment and explain the blog post topic. 

Consider adding an affiliate link if there's a particular product or service you're promoting. 

But most importantly, each email newsletter sent should have just one clear goal. Including too many calls to action confuses people to the point of inaction. Plan your email sends accordingly!

11. Steal Ideas from Your Competitors 

I asked Edward Dennis the Digital Marketing Specialist of Coredna about coming up with effective newsletter ideas and here’s what he told me: 

Well, to be honest, I don't brainstorm. 

I "steal". 

Remember the Pablo Picasso quote, "Good artists copy, great artists steal". 

Yeah, that's what I do. 

I subscribe to a bunch of newsletters in my niche AND go to Really Good Emails and Good Email Copy. 

And I just combine the template and the email copy that I like (with slight modifications in the copy, of course).

12. Think about What Your Audience Needs and is Searching for

Laura Pennington the founder of Legal SEO Writer takes a more direct approach. Here’s what she had to say:

• Think about what your audience needs and is searching for. What are the mistakes you made in your journey? Where were the places you almost threw in the towel due to frustration? What were the mental blocks you had to overcome in order to succeed? These are really important for anyone who is thinking about putting together an email newsletter.

• Always share your personal stories, if you have them. It's so much more meaningful when you can share a personal story, especially if it's a failure. I found that speaking out about things that I would have previously held back on- like being fired from my job and how I went from that experience to immediately growing a six-figure freelancing business- connected with my audience the best. When I told my truth, I had more replies from people on my list than ever before. What I previously saw as an embarrassing moment ended up really inspiring people. Always be a real person with your email newsletter.

13. Have a Reader-Driven Purpose to Your Newsletter 

According to Ivana S. Taylor the founder of DIY Marketers, says a newsletter shouldn't be something you do because you HAVE to do it.  

A newsletter, like any other piece of marketing content, has to serve a strategic purpose.  Here are a few ideas that you might consider in creating your newsletter.

• Be sure that your brand message is an integral part of your newsletter.  

• Have a reader-driven purpose for your newsletter.  What problems do your customers have, what questions can you answer that help them solve their problems?

• Give yourself permission to be creative, and bring joy and fun into your newsletter.  

• Share personal pictures and stories, your customers want to get to know you. They aren't just buying your stuff, they are buying a relationship with you. 

14. Share Personal Stories with Your Subscribers

For instance, consider how Jenn Herman of Jenns Trends describes her experience:

For me personally, my newsletters are almost always to promote a blog post. But I like to give my subscribers an added insight into my life and business so I always share a story or experience with them that I don't share anywhere else. 

I hope that it makes them feel like they're getting a little something extra by signing up to get my emails.

15. Show Your Personality

Here’s what Krystal Abbott founder of Daily Femme says about newsletter ideas:

The best advice I can give when sending newsletters is to ensure you show your personality. This is your chance for your readers to get to know you. 

You should see your newsletters as the start of a conversation and expect that people will respond. You aren’t blasting information - you’re trying to have a chat.

Conclusion

That's it:

I hope the newsletter ideas will help you build an effective newsletter campaign. 

If you have any feedback or questions feel free to share your thoughts below.