You've been told that newsletters can help to find clients, but that's only true if the right people read and find value in your newsletter. If you're in business doing 1:1 work with clients, you likely don't have time to write long essays every week, and you probably aren't interested in growing a newsletter for the sake of becoming known or gaining followers. You don't want to write a newsletter that's generic, awkward, or pushy. Instead, you simply want to work with more clients. This book is designed to help you do just that.
You'll learn a step-by-step process to help you design, write, and send a newsletter that feels like you and that your readers enjoy receiving. You won’t be working from a stilted template, and you won’t be spending hours trying to sound like someone you’re not. Instead, you'll learn how to regularly write and send newsletters that matter to you, your business, and your readers.
You've been told that newsletters can help to find clients, but that's only true if the right people read and find value in your newsletter. If you're in business doing 1:1 work with clients, you likely don't have time to write long essays every week, and you probably aren't interested in growing a newsletter for the sake of becoming known or gaining followers. You don't want to write a newsletter that's generic, awkward, or pushy. Instead, you simply want to work with more clients. This book is designed to help you do just that.
You'll learn a step-by-step process to help you design, write, and send a newsletter that feels like you and that your readers enjoy receiving. You won’t be working from a stilted template, and you won’t be spending hours trying to sound like someone you’re not. Instead, you'll learn how to regularly write and send newsletters that matter to you, your business, and your readers.
When I teach a class or workshop on how to write email newsletters to bring in more 1:1 clients, I ask participants what’s hard about writing a newsletter.
These are always the top answers:
I don’t want to send out junk that no one cares about.
I don’t know what to write about.
I don’t like feeling overly promotional.
These fears make sense. No one wants to write a newsletter that’s generic, awkward, and/or pushy.
Here’s the main reason so many newsletters are forgettable or unreadable: The newsletter writer is approaching the newsletter as transactional rather than relational.
If you think of your newsletter readers as a group of nameless, faceless people in a crowd (“they”) and spend your time wondering how to get them to do something (read your newsletter, click on a link, become a client…), it’s no wonder you don’t enjoy writing.
If you think about your newsletter as a weekly flyer advertising your business or if you envision yourself as a puppeteer trying to pull strings to make readers take specific actions, that is indeed awkward and uncomfortable.
The types of newsletters that bring in more 1:1 clients don’t require you to do either of these things. In fact, if you do them, your newsletter may not bring in many clients at all.
You may naturally be wondering how this method works, since your goal is to bring in more 1:1 clients. If you’re not pushing people to sign up to work with you each time you contact them, how will you grow your business?
Heavy-handed or frequent selling does work in some situations. It’s not always the wrong choice. However, when you’re asking clients to invest their time, money, and trust in your 1:1 services, it’s personal. Working closely with a client is different from buying a pair of shoes. People don’t like to feel pushed into 1:1 work, and in fact, pushing often serves to drive potential clients away.
Particularly if the 1:1 work you offer is healing or requires emotional safety of any sort, people aren’t (usually) going to buy from a stranger on the internet. They need to know you and feel confident in your work first. Also, they need to remember that you exist when they’re ready to work with someone like you.
Rather than encouraging readers to buy immediately, we’re building a relationship and offering potential clients the opportunity to get to know us before they decide to sign on the dotted line. Your newsletter doesn’t need to include false bravado or weird marketing-speak. You don’t need to be pushy or beg/strongly encourage people to sign up for your services.
Instead, you’ll focus on sending useful or meaningful messages, which gives you a chance to share your own personality, perspective, and training with your readers. As you do this, your readers will get a feel for whether your work is a good fit for them.
In this book, rather than thinking of your newsletter as one-directional, meant only to serve you and your business, we’ll set out with the intention to create a newsletter that serves you and your business but also serves your readers and your community.
To be effective, your newsletter will weave together your own interests, as well as those of your business and your readers.
You: If your newsletter doesn’t sound or feel like you, it’s hard for potential clients to know you’re a good fit. Without a sense of who you are, there’s not much incentive for a reader to choose you over anyone else doing similar work.
Reader: If you write a newsletter that’s full of professional details and personality but isn’t helpful or valuable to your readers, they won’t keep reading it. If it comes across as self-absorbed or isn’t relevant, they also won’t keep reading it.
Your business: If your newsletter is full of helpful tidbits, your personality is shining through, but you hardly ever invite readers to work with you, share why they’d want to, or describe what’s special about your work, people may not realize that you offer 1:1 services. You’ll have great relationships with readers, but few clients are likely to sign up to work with you.
In this book, we’ll go over exactly how to craft a newsletter that addresses each of these while feeling fun – or at least not painful – to write. You’ll learn how to write newsletters that matter to you, to your business, and to your readers. Handouts, resources, and links mentioned in this book can be found on the resources page: https://www.writebetterletters.com/resources.
We’ll be working through the Newsletter Framework Worksheet from the resources page over the first several chapters of the book.
Before we begin, know that the most important things about your newsletter are that:
You send it regularly.
It feels like you.
It’s useful or supportive for the reader.
If your gut tells you to do something that’s not in this book or you’ve been doing something that’s the opposite of what I recommend, please trust yourself. Nothing here is written in stone. This is meant to be a loose guide and a set of recommendations for those who like a bit of direction.
I can’t wait to see what you create.
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Newsletter Tip: Which newsletter provider should I use?
The major email service providers (ESP) on the market are all very similar (MailerLite, Kit/ConvertKit, Mailchimp, etc.). Most have free plans until you reach one or two thousand subscribers, which may take quite a while.
It’s easy to switch from one to another if you have a relatively simple list. Therefore, pick one that feels accessible to you, start there, and know that you can change your mind later.
I use MailerLite and find that it meets my needs quite well. It’s intuitive and offers lots of bells and whistles for the money. However, if you’re already using a different ESP, such as Flodesk or Mailchimp, and it’s working well for you, then keep using it! There is absolutely no need to switch unless something about your current ESP isn’t working.
If you’re on an extreme budget and have more than one thousand subscribers, I’d recommend going with SendFox, which is basic but very affordable. For those interested in privacy, I’d recommend Buttondown.
The only services that I would not recommend for our purposes are Substack and its compatriots, which are designed for monetizing your newsletter. Substack is compelling because it’s free to use, no matter how many subscribers you have (they do take a percentage if you start selling paid newsletters). However, it is very specifically designed for people who want to monetize the newsletter itself as opposed to the newsletter being part of marketing another service. This may not matter in the beginning or if you maintain a simple mailing list, but if you want to use Substack for anything related to marketing other than the most basic newsletter, you will run into substantial limitations.
If you find that you’re spending hours or even days comparing ESPs and waffling about which one to go with, you are likely procrastinating on doing more difficult work. Pick one. They’re essentially interchangeable.
The one thing you cannot do is skip the ESP altogether and send your newsletter through Gmail or similar using the BCC field. This is illegal. To comply with the law, people need a way to unsubscribe automatically, and you need to be able to prove that subscribers opted in and agreed to receive your newsletter. This is specifically what ESPs are designed to do. Don’t reinvent the wheel, don’t irritate people, and don’t start an illegal newsletter.
Do you think there’s not much to learn when starting a newsletter? Think again!
Or are you procrastinating because you are not sure how to keep your clientele engaged or you struggle with scheduling your newsletter in a timely fashion?
Write Better Newsletters helps small business owners start successful newsletters. The book covers the ins and outs, ranging from simple logistics (such as scheduling your newsletter) to more in-depth factors (such as identifying your readers--hint: it’s not everyone). There are even legalities to be aware of, which Freeman presents in a simple manner, gently navigating the overwhelm that many feel when the word “legal” makes an appearance. In addition to technical advice, she helps writers get out of their heads about writing—which is extremely useful considering how often our minds are the greatest obstacle we face. Freeman provides exceptionally clear guidance, yet encourages readers to follow their gut and make their newsletters their own. There is nothing final about her advice, leaving room for alteration and growth. Every chapter ends with a list of reminders (parsing the content to the main takeaways) and action steps. Her tasks walk readers through the entire process of creating a newsletter,
But the magic of Freeman book is the sense of ethics she brings to the topic. Yes, the book is for business newsletters, but Freeman steers clear of any gimmicky strategies, opting for authenticity. She encourages readers to consider the way they engage with their potential clients before focusing on their numbers.
It is difficult to write towards a specific business in a book, but Freeman achieves the role of mentor, giving readers the tools to parse through and write their own unique letter. She presents questions and tools that guide readers to developing and clarifying their personal goals and ethos.
This is a book I strongly recommend to be kept on the bookshelf (physical or digital) to be referenced multiple times. Freeman is generous with her resources, providing the reader with links and four appendices. These appendices prove invaluable as they contain topic ideas, exercises, resources, and legal information.
While I found this book to be an excellent resource, it’s important to note that it is primarily written for people creating newsletters for their businesses. This is a method for engaging with, retaining, and gaining clients, not publishing your work.
Who this book is for:
Small business owners who want not only to build their 1:1 clientele but to connect authentically.