newsletters ‘You don’t know where it might lead’
Helen Jane Campbell is a life and business coach for creative people, an author, and previously worked in PR and communications. She started a regular Sunday night LinkedIn blog in spring 2018. By October that year, she had been approached by a publisher about writing
a business book. Campbell says: “I didn’t
believe it was real at first. Things like that don’t just happen, do they?” But, in 2022, her first book,
Founders, Freelancers & Rebels, was published. Now on Substack, her newsletter has a mix of paid and free
subscribers, with an open rate above 50 per cent. Campbell sends a range of
newsletters out monthly: a main free newsletter, For Creative People, which often features a client case study; a paid-for newsletter, 50 Ways To Win Work, focusing on how creative founders and
freelancers can gain new clients; and a free events diary. She says: “For me, the open
rate is much more important than the circulation.” Campbell advises those
starting out not to give up: “To anyone who’s recently started a newsletter, I’d say ‘keep going’. You really don’t know where it might lead.”
on making something that’s un-unopenable for them. “No one ever wishes a newsletter was longer. Make sure it’s
helpful, entertaining and/or interesting – and that it’s all killer, no filler. And be excited about it because if you’re not, no one else will be.” Newsletters need to go out regularly. Cross advises: “Make a launch plan and see each newsletter drop as a mini-launch. Don’t put 95 per cent into content and five per cent into distribution. You’ve got to tell people about it again … and again … and again … Add a call to action for people to subscribe to your social media profiles, posts, email signature, website and your forehead.” Consider creating a lead magnet (or free download).
Matthews, who has 200 subscribers, says: “I launched a lead magnet this year which helped, and I’m working on doing
more workshops and podcasts to get in front of other people’s audiences.” Website and branding designer Berenice Howard-Smith finds her newsletter Gorgeous lets her reflect on what she does, and how to make that useful and accessible for others. She says: “I spend snippets of time on it – I may see something online, or create a product that’s useful, or have a client ask a question. It all goes onto Trello, and I curate the newsletter from there.” She uses social media to reach new subscribers, using content or teasers and sharing a link.
Make it pay You can monetise your newsletter by offering some free content and charging for premium content such as a bonus newsletter, downloadable guides or other resources. Freelance digital and print journalist Adrienne Wyper
produces the weekly Diary Days & Dates newsletter. The free version provides a UK calendar for the next six weeks; the paid version covers the next six months and has extra content, such as awareness days and events. It’s used for planning editorial content and marketing campaigns as well as for education. Wyper, who set up Newsletter Day (November 13) to
celebrate newsletters and their creators, says: “I’ve been sending it since November 2020, although it started as a much smaller list of key dates for the editorial team of
Allaboutyou.com, now closed. “With time on my hands in 2020, I thought I’d reproduce it
in a new format. My work as a freelance writer and sub felt precarious, and I’d lost work due to the pandemic. I’d attended an NUJ talk on alternative income streams and the idea of having some control over what you publish was very appealing.” With just over 1,100 subscribers – mainly for the free version
– it has led to commissions to create bespoke calendars. Wyper advises using Substack to bring in readers: “I saw
great growth when I switched platform due to Substack’s cross-referencing. Tracking subscriber growth, I can see that most have come from within the platform, mainly from recommendations from other newsletter creators.” And you don’t have to be salesy. Matthews aims for her
newsletter to be entertaining, and says the biggest benefit is that when people decide they want to work with her, the initial call is so much easier. People have already got a good sense of who I am, how I write and what I might be like to work with, so they’re pretty much ready to make the decision. And we just end up having a lovely chat.”
Campbell’s top newsletter tips
• Feature your clients. “A lot of newsletters are all ‘me, me, me’,” says Campbell. “Flip this around and use your newsletter to shout about your clients’ successes and stories instead.”
• Be consistent: Keep showing up every month.
• Share details of your newsletter on other platforms.
• Be clear about what you want your newsletter to do for you, and keep coming back to that focus and call to action.
• Write something that you want to read; your passion will shine through.
• Don’t worry too much about it looking really fancy – strong writing will speak for itself. Make it clear and easy to read, perhaps with a couple of eye- catching images.
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BILLIE CHARITY.
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