The Story Behind the “Content Corner” Email Newsletter
A few years ago, I launched an email newsletter.
There were two things happening at the time. First, my employer was acquired by a private equity firm. There were rumblings about layoffs. I thought there would be value in building an audience and sharing my thoughts.
Second, I was running the Bay Area Content Marketing Meetup (and still do!). My main vehicle for communicating with members was through the Meetup platform.
While I could compose a message and have it emailed to the entire group, the platform didn’t expose members’ email addresses. By building my own list and my own email newsletter, I could separately email them about upcoming Meetups, while sharing other things, too.
I created a free Mailchimp account and called the newsletter “Content Corner.” I selected a simple email template and created a low-budget logo. Both are still in use today.
Note: View past issues and subscribe here: https://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=016564b34de5c9577c2ab2f47&id=363cda5b86
I want subscribers to focus on the content and less on the surrounding design. It’s been so much fun! I have a modest following (e.g., less than 1,000 subscribers), but I feel like I’m making an impact. And that makes me feel good.
Here’s what the newsletter looks like:
Let’s further explore my personal newsletter journey.
Email Newsletters Are The New Blogging
I’ve managed a few personal blogs over the years. All told, I think I’ve published close to 1,000 blog posts.
I used my personal blogs as a vehicle for sharing my thoughts and point of view. Sometimes I’ll publish on Medium, sometimes to my LinkedIn profile. I’ll publish a new post, share it on Twitter and see what happens.
The post gets a modest amount of views. Maybe a few tweets. You put content out in the world and it may (or may NOT) be seen. Halfway into my newsletter journey, I thought:
“For something I used to blog about, why not share it exclusively in the newsletter?”
I have an opening section in my newsletter. It used to be a few short paragraphs, but then I started to put long-form content in there, sometimes as long as a blog post.
I tend to see a ~40–50 percent open rate on my newsletter. So compared to a blog post, I can guarantee that a certain number of people read what I’m writing! I don’t re-publish this content elsewhere (besides the newsletter archive), so to readers, it might feel personal and exclusive.
Newsletters Earn Trust
“Content Corner” comes out every other Friday, so on alternating weeks, I’m “on the hook” to put it together. I love this forced consistency. It ensures that I’m regularly writing and putting stuff out in the world.
By establishing a rhythm and beat, and by delivering useful content, I’m earning the trust of my readers.
It’s helping people know me better, understand how I think and see how I write. As a marketing consultant, this is helpful. In fact, I’m pretty sure the email newsletter helped a current client decide she wanted to hire me.
This earned trust can carry over to client projects. Coincidentally (e.g., not connected to my newsletter), a few clients decided they want to launch their own email newsletter.
By managing my own for two years — and learning from it — I can confidently suggest concepts, approaches, tactics, etc. In fact, some of my clients are subscribers, so they see it in action every other week.
A nice way to earn trust is to promote others’ work before you promote your own. So I try not to link to my own stuff too often.
Less Is More
I have a bunch of sections of the newsletter.
One section is called “Around the Corner” and features curated content. This was the main feature I had in mind when launching the newsletter. I think I overdid it in the early days, sharing 5–7+ articles in “Around the Corner.” I’d write a few sentences about the article, then share the link.
Putting myself in the shoes of a reader, I was probably creating a “paradox of choice.” They see 6 articles that I recommended. Which one to read? Oh heck, forget this, let me check the rest of my inbox.
These days, I have only one or two curated articles in “Around the Corner.” But, I’ll write a few paragraphs about each one. While many think of curation as one step (e.g., selection), I think of it as two steps.
First is the selection, second is sharing your unique perspective on why you selected it. I like to share things such as:
- Why I found the article useful
- A few quotes that were particularly interesting
- What impact it made on me
- What I might do differently after reading it
Measuring Impact
The typical email marketing metrics are open rate, click rate and unsubscribe rate. I look at all those metrics but prefer certain things that can’t be easily measured.
How do I know when a particular issue struck a chord?
REPLIES.
It’s so easy to skim an email and delete. Skim, delete. Skim, delete. So, if someone took the time to reply and share their feedback, that’s gold. Sometimes I’ll get a one-line reply and that’s great. Other times, I’ll get more detailed replies or questions.
Others will share content that relates to a point I covered. I love replies! And I respond to every one of them. The other thing is tweets. Sometimes readers will go to Twitter and share their love of the newsletter. I love that.
The Joy Of Newsletters
It’s been a joy managing “Content Corner.” It does take some effort. I spend about two hours for each issue, which, in the grand scheme of things, is nothing. It’s worth it.
If you can commit to a consistent schedule (e.g., perhaps monthly to start with) and have perspectives to share, I’d highly recommend starting your own newsletter.
Feel free to reach out if you have questions.
