Transform Your Marketing with These Proven Email Newsletter Formats

One thing I continue to be surprised by when we run the Site Care Consultant Survey is how few people have email newsletters.

You can see from the 2023 survey that most Site Care consultants surveyed do not have an email newsletter.

I’m not sure why they don’t and it may be an added question this year. Aside from your website, the one piece of digital asset you fully own is an email newsletter. You can make an argument that the algorithms can’t wreak havoc on newsletters.

In the world of digital marketing, there are various types of email formats. When I talk about a format, I am talking about the method and the purpose.

So today, we are going to look at a few types of formats that you can use if you choose to run an email newsletter. 

The Curated Newsletter 

The first type of email newsletter is what I call the Curated Newsletter. A curated newsletter is one you send that has a curated group of articles and resources for your audience.

According to Yet Another Mail Merge:

“Curated content email is a type of email marketing in which useful, relevant, and high-quality content from third-party sources is chosen and sent to email followers. Such an email is sent with the intention of informing and entertaining recipients with the information they have not come across.”

I believe curation has lost some steam in the past few years. A librarian has always been known as a curator because he or she knows the best sources for someone who is doing research.

Do you remember libraries? 

You can be an expert for your audience by curating great content that helps your audience get a broader picture of the industry.

Post Status does a great job with this type of newsletter and often it will have a guest curator. Read a recent issue.

The Company Newsletter

The company newsletter is a normal format with companies like MainWP and other SaaS companies. They included news about what is going on with their product and company.

In addition, some companies will list the latest articles on their blog and sometimes do a curation of their own.

Here is an example of a company newsletter from MainWP.

If you aren’t getting the newsletters each Tuesday, let Marc know and he will get you set up!

The Roundup Newsletter 

A roundup newsletter is slightly different than a curated newsletter and you can, in fact, do a hybrid of each. 

A roundup newsletter usually means there is a commentary added to the source you are including. 

Some companies may use a roundup newsletter to showcase their company’s latest articles. Others may use it to showcase industry news with a brief commentary. 

I believe a curated roundup approach is a great format for site care consultants and I know a few who do that.

Examples of a quality roundup newsletter in the WordPress space include The WP Weekly, WP-CONTENT.CO, the Gutenberg Times, and The WP Minute.

It’s important to note, all of these have some level of curation and commentary. Even still, they are roundup emails and most are also published online.

View the Gutenberg Times

The Story-driven Newsletter

Copywriters fancy themselves as storytellers. That’s why you will often see their newsletters written as a narrative. 

My newsletter is written this way most weeks. Jason Resnick, who is a veteran email marketer, writes emails like these. Copywriter Ben Settle is a master at storytelling emails. 

Usually, with a story-driven newsletter, the writer is using one call to action. Settle uses his newsletter to sell a $97 per month written newsletter. 

I once took training from an email copywriter and this was what she taught with the purpose of getting the recipient to take action, often to buy something.

Story-driven newsletters are often written in launch campaigns, auto-responder series, and even welcome sequences. There is more emphasis on taking action versus nurturing. These emails are mini-sales letters and subtly persuasive. 

View one of Ben’s emails online here – Read email.

Wrapping it up

Creating a newsletter can be daunting, but it is one of the best long-play marketing techniques we can use. I know people who are site care consultants who regularly get work from their newsletter list. 

There is no reason that you can’t choose one of the types above and mix it up. Each email can be hybrid or you can switch it up depending on the week or the day you are sending out your newsletter.

If you plan on starting a newsletter for your site care consultancy, take a few minutes to determine your format and write up a few newsletters before launching. You will need to begin getting people on your list as well. A couple of years ago, I offered some thoughts on getting started.

Do you have a newsletter for your business? Let us know in the Discord Group or the MainWP Users Facebook Group.