{"id":586,"date":"2024-11-25T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/25\/b2b-newsletter-marketing-how-it-differs-from-email-promotions-what-brands-can-learn-from-independent-producers\/"},"modified":"2024-11-25T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T12:00:00","slug":"b2b-newsletter-marketing-how-it-differs-from-email-promotions-what-brands-can-learn-from-independent-producers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/25\/b2b-newsletter-marketing-how-it-differs-from-email-promotions-what-brands-can-learn-from-independent-producers\/","title":{"rendered":"B2B Newsletter Marketing: How It Differs From Email Promotions & What Brands Can Learn from Independent Producers"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re like me, you only open a small fraction of the (dozens? hundreds?) email newsletters you’ve subscribed to. So I set out to find what those really <\/em>good newsletters, the ones you open on the regular, have in common.<\/p>\n

Email newsletters have been floating around in the zeitgeist for some time now, especially as more writers have left online publishers to make it on their own.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

I talked to a half dozen experts in the field, including both technical and content specialists, to tease out the difference between B2B newsletter marketing and other types of emails, guide you through best practices, and uncover some takeaways from indie newsletters that you can apply to your own brand.<\/p>\n

Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is B2B Newsletter Marketing<\/a>
\n Why Start a B2B Newsletter<\/a>
\n How to Create a B2B Newsletter People Want to Read<\/a>
\n B2B Newsletter Marketing Best Practices<\/a>
\n B2B Newsletter Statistics<\/a>
\n B2B Newsletter Trends<\/a> <\/p>\n

What is B2B Newsletter Marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

B2B newsletters can be broadly defined.<\/p>\n

One business might send bi-weekly how-to guides and best practices in its industry; another might send weekly interviews with master marketers (that was a shameless plug for a newsletter I sometimes write for<\/a>).<\/p>\n

What\u2019s most important to understand is how B2B newsletters differ from traditional email marketing<\/a>. If your inbox is even half as full as mine is, you\u2019ve got a steady stream of emails about sales, new product alerts, and reminders to purchase that new gadget you put in an online shopping cart and promptly abandoned.<\/p>\n

Those traditional marketing emails are important to your overall marketing strategy, but today we\u2019re talking about an entirely different beast.<\/p>\n

I spoke to Lia Haberman<\/a>, who founded and writes the successful ICYMI newsletter<\/a> and teaches social media marketing and influencer marketing at UCLA. She says that \u201cthe difference between email marketing and [B2B] newsletters is really a difference between performance marketing and content marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She explains that the primary goal of performance marketing, like email marketing, is to drive conversions. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to generate leads, to increase sales. There\u2019s a point to the email that extends beyond the email itself.\u201d These emails might be tied to a particular campaign or initiative.<\/p>\n\n

Newsletters, like content marketing, \u201cfocus on providing value within the email itself. The subscriber doesn\u2019t need to click out to get the value of whatever the newsletter is promising.\u201d<\/p>\n

This may sound counterintuitive, but a regular newsletter cadence establishes your brand as an authority in its field.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re giving your potential customers real value that serves their purposes instead of yours, congrats, you\u2019re well on your way to building trust.<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

Why Start a B2B Newsletter<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The real question, as I learned researching this article, is perhaps, \u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t<\/em> you start a B2B newsletter?\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting a newsletter can deliver a great return on investment and build and nurture your target audience \u2014 but not if you go into it with unrealistic expectations or limited resources.<\/p>\n

Newsletters require consistency and dedication \u2014 not just to create regular content, but to ensure deliverability, something that may require advanced technical knowledge.<\/p>\n

Newsletters are a long game, so if you need immediate marketing results, look elsewhere. And if you can\u2019t or don\u2019t want to commit to a long-term relationship (we\u2019ve all been there) with your audience, newsletters aren\u2019t going to be a great fit.<\/p>\n

Enough of the negativity. Here\u2019s six benefits to starting a newsletter:<\/p>\n

1. Build trust with your audience.<\/h3>\n

A regular drumbeat of newsletters builds long-term relationships and creates an opted-in audience \u2014 the people who are enthusiastic to hear from you.<\/p>\n

2. Establish thought leadership.<\/h3>\n

Take HubSpot\u2019s Masters in Marketing newsletter<\/a> as an example. Every week, we interview a marketer who is breaking new ground and innovating in the field.<\/p>\n

It reinforces HubSpot as a source for thought leadership and high-quality marketing expertise that you can\u2019t get anywhere else.<\/p>\n

3. Take advantage of the monetization potential.<\/h3>\n

Contrary to popular belief, making money from your newsletter doesn\u2019t necessarily require tens of thousands of subscribers.<\/p>\n

Ferrari \u2014 admittedly a brand whose fans have a little more money to burn than the average bear \u2014 has just 5k subscribers to its Ferrari Market Newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The paid subscription options range from $10\/month to $90\/year (presumably this is chump change if you drive a Ferrari). The yearly revenue attributed to just the newsletter is reportedly between $2<\/a> and $4<\/a> million.<\/p>\n

4. Leverage high-impact sponsorship opportunities.<\/h3>\n

If you have a dedicated niche audience that has value to other brands, you can sell space in your newsletter.<\/p>\n

Evaluate your brand and your audience to make sure that the sponsorships reinforce the trust you\u2019re building \u2014 if you run a cat-sitting company, sell sponsorship space<\/a> to the maker of your cats\u2019 favorite treats, not to a meal delivery service.<\/p>\n

5. Use audience segmentation to give readers what\u2019s most valuable to them<\/em>.<\/h3>\n

Audience segmentation is arguably more valuable than adding new subscribers, Alexis Grant<\/a> tells me \u2014 though she cautions that segmentation and adding subscribers aren\u2019t mutually exclusive, and that \u201cit\u2019s easy for a list to get stale if you don\u2019t add new people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Grant runs the newsletter They Got Acquired<\/a>, and she uses audience segmentation tools like RightMessage<\/a> to \u201cserve people exactly what they want.\u201d When you sign up for They Got Acquired\u2019s newsletter, there\u2019s an optional survey to identify niche demographics like founders looking to sell within the year.<\/p>\n

One of Grant\u2019s goals is to get more users on her platform, called They Got Acquired Data<\/a>, which provides data and insights that can be used to identify comps, grow buyer lists, and strengthen your negotiations.<\/p>\n

That platform will likely be more valuable to a founder looking to sell within the year than somebody looking to sell within five years, and Grant can tailor her content accordingly.<\/p>\n

6. Establish a direct line to decision-makers.<\/h3>\n

A niche audience can be targeted-networking gold.<\/p>\n

Take Al Iverson<\/a>\u2019s Spam Resource newsletter<\/a>, which focuses on email marketing and deliverability. Iverson told me that he only has around 1,300 subscribers \u2014 but they were the perfect 1,300 people to reach out to during a recent job search.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cMy newsletter gave me a direct line to over a thousand connections in my industry,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was instrumental in finding my next career opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

How to Create a B2B Newsletter People Want to Read<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Content Strategy<\/h3>\n

I spoke with several experts and heard the same thing over and over again: Write good newsletters that serve your audience \u2014 not your brand. (If you want more examples, I compiled a list of 23 of my fav marketing newsletters<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Haberman suggests hiring writers with a journalistic or creative background in order to write the kind of personable newsletter that people will be excited to open.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarketers can be great writers,\u201d she says, \u201cbut the mindset of a marketer and the mindset of a writer are two different things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marketers will naturally come from the \u201cperspective of advocating for the best interests of the company.\u201d Writers will ask themselves, \u201cWhat does the audience want to hear from me?\u201d versus \u201cWhat is the message that I have to deliver?\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Former HubSpotter and founder of Newsletter Examples<\/a> Brad Wolverton<\/a> echoes Haberman\u2019s recommendations. \u201cThink like a journalist,\u201d he suggests. \u201cYour job is to share the most useful information.\u201d<\/p>\n

The information in your newsletter should be curated, of high value to your audience, and should strike a balance between branded and external content.<\/p>\n

Lessons for Brands<\/h4>\n

Invest in creativity.<\/strong> That requires more than just hiring creative people to write content \u2014 it requires giving them trust and freedom, too. That can be a hard pill for brands to swallow, but consumers don\u2019t want an email from a well-oiled marketing department. They want voice, creativity, and a sense of the face(s) behind the newsletter. <\/p>\n

Resist the urge to be self-serving. <\/strong>It\u2019s tempting to use newsletters to drive website engagement and nothing more. Think about what your audience wants, and find the right balance of branded and external content. It will build your credibility, trustworthiness, and authenticity. <\/p>\n

Technical Strategies<\/h3>\n

Most email marketing platforms<\/a> include some level of technical support, but I wanted to know what you should keep in mind as you\u2019re shopping around for the right platform and getting started with a newsletter.<\/p>\n

So I talked to Kaylee Jenzen<\/a>, a technical marketing manager here at HubSpot who has worked on The Hustle<\/a> and other HubSpot newsletters.<\/p>\n

Jenzen suggests that you consider:<\/p>\n

Deliverability optimization. <\/strong>This includes making sure that your emails aren\u2019t so long that they get clipped by certain email providers, managing DNS records and unsubscribes, and inbox placement strategies (i.e., how to make sure you don\u2019t land in the promotions tab of subscribers\u2019 Gmail inboxes. <\/p>\n

Shared or dedicated IP addresses.<\/strong> Jenzen says that this comes down to a strategy decision. If you\u2019re running a small newsletter or don\u2019t send regular emails, you\u2019ll benefit from a shared IP address and \u201cthe additional outflow of emails from other senders.\u201d But \u201cit\u2019s a double-edged sword,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you have a bad sender who\u2019s sending out spammy or even malicious emails, it can affect your ability to place within an inbox.\u201d <\/p>\n

Image and formatting best practices. <\/strong>It\u2019s a common misconception, Jenzen says, that a large file size for an image will necessarily hamper your deliverability. But there are things to be aware of; for instance, sometimes the alt-text for an image can find its way into the plain-text version of an email. <\/p>\n

Independent newsletter operators have a wealth of AI personalization tools<\/a> available to them. (All the major email platforms I\u2019ve used, including HubSpot\u2019s<\/a>, include AI personalization tools.)<\/p>\n

Lessons for Brands<\/h4>\n

Don\u2019t cut corners on technology. <\/strong>As Jenzen told me, \u201cYou get what you pay for.\u201d Not every newsletter needs the Cadillac of email marketing platforms, but if you try to save some money by using a platform that doesn’t serve your technical needs, you can risk seriously damaging your brand. <\/p>\n

Use AI. <\/strong>Personalization is a great way to lean into AI. Let artificial intelligence use data to provide a personalized experience \u2014 your readers aren\u2019t a monolith, and AI lets you treat them like the individual people they are. Use real people to give the personality and contextual information that AI can\u2019t. <\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

B2B Newsletter Marketing Best Practices<\/h2>\n

B2B newsletters, like anything else in marketing, is a growing and evolving field. Use this three-pronged list of best practices as a guide, whether you\u2019re starting a newsletter from scratch or revamping an existing one.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also included a few examples of newsletters I think do a particularly good job with content strategy and audience engagement. (Technical optimization is a bit harder to judge, since it all takes place under the hood.)<\/p>\n

Content Strategy<\/h3>\n

The content strategy for newsletter marketing should fit comfortably within your overall marketing strategy, but to recap a few guidelines from the experts I spoke with, prioritize:<\/p>\n

A values-first approach that serves your readers
\n Balanced promotional content
\n Consistent voice and format
\n Provide creator-driven content <\/p>\n

In original HubSpot research from September 2024, we asked 500+ newsletter operators about their most commonly used content strategies:<\/p>\n

Your personal opinions, tips, or hot takes on your industry or topic of interest (28%<\/strong>)
\n Expert advice or tips (quoting someone you didn’t interview other than yourself) (16%<\/strong>)
\n News or trends (14%<\/strong>)
\n Expert advice or tips (quoting someone you did interview other than yourself) (12%<\/strong>)
\n Data, research, experiments, or studies that you’ve gathered or run (11%<\/strong>)
\n Data, research, experiments, or studies cited from third-party or outside brands (11%<\/strong>)
\n User-generated content with quotes, tips, comments, text, or other elements sourced from your subscribers or audiences (8%<\/strong>) <\/p>\n

We also asked what type of content drives the most engagement.<\/p>\n

Our findings are consistent with the expert advice in this article: Readers want emails from real people with real opinions.<\/p>\n

By every metric, content based on your personal opinions and perspectives and original data and research drive the highest engagement.<\/p>\n\n

Get inspired: <\/strong>Check out The Publish Press<\/a>, a thrice-weekly send with the latest news for creators, and WTF is SEO?<\/a>, which shares advice and interviews on SEO for news and publishers.<\/p>\n

How to: <\/strong>We\u2019ve got a detailed step-by-step guide on how to create an email newsletter<\/a> and tips for creating great content<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Audience Engagement<\/h3>\n

Audience engagement might be measured in different ways depending on your priorities (for instance, one of my colleagues wrote about how The Hustle prioritizes click-through rate over open rates<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Trust-building tactics, like centering the readers\u2019 wants and needs
\n Personalization techniques
\n Segmentation strategies
\n Response management <\/p>\n

Get inspired: <\/strong>Check out FINGERS<\/a>, a newsletter about drinking in America, which is highly lauded for its engagement; and of course The Hustle<\/a>, which I would read every day even if I didn’t work here.<\/p>\n

How to: <\/strong>We\u2019ve compiled 22 of the best newsletter tools for engaging subscribers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Technical Optimization<\/h3>\n

Technical optimization often requires deeper technical know-how.<\/p>\n

Since it\u2019s likely that your email marketing platform of choice will provide some technical support, I haven\u2019t gone into detail here \u2014 but here are a few things to keep in mind and ask questions about as you get your newsletter off the ground:<\/p>\n

CRM integration<\/a> and automation setup <\/p>\n

Deliverability optimization<\/a> and monitoring
\n IP management (shared vs. dedicated) <\/p>\n

How to: <\/strong>We\u2019ve got a free downloadable guide with email marketing best practices<\/a> and a planning template.<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

B2B Newsletter Statistics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In HubSpot\u2019s recent survey of 500+ newsletter operators, we gathered some statistics that can inform your B2B newsletter decisions.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that these are independent newsletter operators and content creators, not brands, so your mileage may vary.<\/p>\n

Key B2B Newsletter Findings<\/h3>\n

Most newsletter operators aren\u2019t making a living out of it.<\/h4>\n

Just 5.45% of respondents earn more than $3k a month from their newsletter, and 38.4% make between $0 and $100 each month.<\/p>\n\n

Running a newsletter is a lot of work.<\/h4>\n

Like, a lot <\/em>of work: An incredible 73.46% respondents said that running a profitable newsletter can easily become a full-time job.<\/p>\n

Be sure you do the calculus in your marketing strategy so you don\u2019t put more resources into a newsletter than you can reasonably get out of it.<\/p>\n

Paid subscriptions are the top source of newsletter revenue.<\/h4>\n

We asked respondents to identify the top three money-making tactics, and 26% said paid subscribers, 20% said freemium, and 13% said that ads and sponsorships were their top revenue source.<\/p>\n\n

Stay on top of current trends.<\/h4>\n

Nearly 62% of respondents said that newsletters that don\u2019t integrate video, audio, or interactive elements will fall behind in less than three years.<\/p>\n

Readers want to hear from people \u2014 not brands. If you\u2019re writing on behalf of a brand, keep Haberman\u2019s advice in mind about hiring creative writers or getting into a reader-focused mindset.<\/p>\n

Narrow your target audience.<\/h4>\n

Your newsletter can\u2019t be all things to all people, and you\u2019ll be better positioned if you embrace that.<\/p>\n

Over 51% of respondents said that the broader your target audience, the lower your ROI. Look for a niche that only you can fill, and you\u2019ll be able to get more value out of fewer subscribers.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

B2B Newsletter Trends<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s what experts see as growing trends in B2B newsletters:<\/p>\n

Creator-led content.<\/strong> Lia Haberman says she understands that businesses might be hesitant to hand over the reins to a brand newsletter to a single content creator. She quotes Washington Post <\/span>TikTok guy Dave Jorgenson<\/a>, who has spoken about creating a WaPo Cinematic Universe in which he introduces new \u201ccharacters\u201d \u2014 i.e., other content creators \u2014 so that the creative burden doesn\u2019t rest solely on him. Apply that principle to newsletters by introducing readers to multiple writers. <\/p>\n

Focus on personalization.<\/strong> Personalization doesn\u2019t just mean adding first names to the subject line (although that is a valid tactic!). As Grant demonstrates, AI segmentation tools can bring real, measurable value to your brand by giving readers content tailored to them. <\/p>\n

Emphasis on trust-building. <\/strong>This is admittedly a tough one, because marketers\u2019 natural inclination is to promote the brand. But writing for your readers, rather than your brand, sets you up for long-term marketing wins. <\/p>\n

Value-driven monetization.<\/strong> There\u2019s plenty of opportunities to monetize your newsletter, but proceed with caution. Is it providing real value to your readers? If the answer is \u201cno,\u201d you risk alienating them. <\/p>\n

I also asked experts what emerging practices they\u2019re seeing in the field. Keep an eye on:<\/p>\n

Integrating newsletters with other marketing channels.
\n Using advanced segmentation techniques, especially as AI is becoming better at this.
\n Incorporating multimedia content. <\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

B2B Newsletter Marketing for Brands<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Independent newsletter operators and writers currently have an edge in the B2B newsletter marketing game, as readers are clearly prioritizing personality- and creator-driven content.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t mean that there’s not room for your brand to jump on the B2B newsletter marketing bandwagon, though \u2014 it just means that there’s lots of opportunity to pave your own way and adapting these lessons to your own creative marketing strategies.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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