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Hello and welcome to this weeks edition of MarTech toolkit.

Today I’ll be looking at the broad trend of “newsletters” and whether every brand should be investing in one for 2024.

But first, a word from our sponsor.

In 2023, newsletters came roaring to life as Substack helped professionalize a whole new sub-class of “list-based” media and Beehiiv is rapidly moving the ball forward with features and tools:

Sure enough, brands have started acquiring or launching their own newsletter-based audiences.

These are a few examples in the wild I’ve seen:

• Hubspot acquires The Hustle: This was a few years back now, but marked the starting gun for these types of plays to “acquire audience”. Very few subscribers may ultimately purchase a Hubspot product, but even a small percentage of conversions is a win.

• Naked Nutrition Launches Naked Newsletter: I stumbled on The Naked Newsletter over on Sparkloop, where they were running paid sub campaigns. Notice the positioning isn’t “get discounts on our products”, but is a general health & wellness newsletter.

• Motion Launches Thumbstop: The sponsor of this very newsletter is a productivity and inbox AI tool (see my edition on this field) that is paying for us to feature their newsletter above.

Should Every Brand Have a Newsletter?

But is this just the next hot thing, or should you ALSO be adding a newsletter to your marketing mix?

I do think there’s a lot of hype. Going on a spending binge to acquire subscribers without first having a core message or way to qualify these subs, isn’t wise.

As I’ve seen with Wisdom Group’s experience, a newsletter-first thesis isn’t as easy as it sounds.

But this quote from Scott Oldford sticks with me:

The emphasis here is mine and points to the key subtext. Owned media can be incredibly valuable for businesses “outside of media” that are already established.

Most newsletters allow replies or comments. This is a great way to test out concepts and better understand your “audience”.

Furthermore, A newsletter is just an email list with a new spin. You may already HAVE a customer list or lowkey opt-in somewhere generating potential eyeballs.

And finally, a LIST with data is one of the most powerful and durable long term growth levers available. It’s the one “platform” that is least susceptible to algo and gate keepers (like paid, Google organic, Facebook, etc…).

So my answer is YES, a newsletter (or LIST) is one of the best playbooks for almost any business model.

Which Newsletter Platforms to Get Started With

If you want to integrate newsletter marketing into your stack for 2024, there’s actually only a few truly good options.

There are LOTS of email marketing systems that you can make a barebones newsletter with, but be prepared to spend most of your time technically manipulating design elements vs actually creating content.

So here’s where I’d recommend starting (some of these are affiliate links):

• Beehiiv: The best overall platform with the easiest to use content management system, automations, payments, built-in referral networks, and a robust ad & monetization component. Also FREE up to 1,000 subs or maximum $99/month for robust fully featured stack.

• ConvertKit: ConvertKit has the best features of a traditional email marketing stack, with some new dedicated benefits for newsletter-first teams. A bit less user friendly than Beehiiv, but has a unique “Commerce” feature to easily host and sell digital products (downloads, courses, ebooks). More advanced automations than Beehiiv. The main downside is that it’s much more expensive.

• Substack: If you don’t care about automations at all, Substack is a great free newsletter builder with the best organic distribution of any of the platforms. It’s easy to get discovered on Substack as it’s starting to function as it’s own search engine. Downside is that it’s singularly focused on newsletters and not very adaptable to other models. A good place to start if your budget is $0.

• Ghost: Ghost is a good WordPress-like CMS that has evolved into a newsletter centered platform. Ghost is a great option if you want the benefits of having a blog AND a newsletter, without any major tradeoffs on either side.

• MailerLite: I love MailerLite for it’s simple, affordable (free to start), feature-set that can be a great starting point for a newsletter. Specifically, they have great opt-in and integration features for other popular platforms like WordPress, Shopify, etc… making it a good gateway into list building as a precursor to a newsletter.

Bottom Line: Starting a newsletter or “doing something” with your email list is a great foundational growth activity for 2024!

That’s it for this week, don’t forget to check out our sponsor & support this newsletter:

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