Blog updated 21st Aug 2025
Hello and how are you today?
If you’ve ever felt unsure about starting an email list, you’re not alone. Most small business owners I speak to worry about what to write, or whether anyone will even read it. The good news is, once you understand the basics, it’s much simpler (and more powerful) than it first seems. In today's blog, I'm going to be sharing with you Email Newsletter Strategies including:-
- Why you should have an email list?
- How do you get people to sign up?
Why should you have an email list?
So first of all, why should you collect your ideal customers' names and email addresses? After all, isn't email a little bit outdated? When you have things like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp that allow you to connect as quickly as text.
Not at all, email marketing is still an amazing way to connect with your potential and actual customers and along with your website, is 1 of the top marketing solutions that actually belongs to you.
But I'm on Facebook...
Now you may use social media platforms as a way of connecting with your customers, and it is a great idea to have a Facebook business page, or a Facebook group or an Instagram account, etc, etc, to grow your likes and followers. They allow you to get your services and products in front of your customers. But unfortunately, your page and groups don't belong to you; they belong to the social media platforms themselves. You are just renting the space there.
And whilst you are being "good" and adhering to the latest social media rules, it's a great place to show up regularly. However, when you do something that doesn't follow their rules, they can shut down your page, group or account without prior warning - and bang in a moment, all the Likes and Follows you have worked so hard to build up have disappeared!
And quite often, despite appealing to their better natures, the social media chiefs say no, and you are left to start again, from scratch!
I have seen it myself with colleagues and clients, and the effect can be devastating! Imagine months or even years of hard work, all gone in a moment and nothing you can do about it!
Good News
But the good news is that if you have the names and email addresses of the people in your groups, pages and accounts, you can simply email them, share the disaster that has happened and invite them to like/follow your new account and hey presto! You're back in business! Collecting email addresses allows you to do that!
How do you get people to sign up?
So how do you get people to sign up to your email newsletter? You do it using a piece of software called an Email Marketing platform.
There are lots of different platforms available, such as Mailerlite, Mailchimp, AWeber, and ActiveCampaign.
Personally, my favourite right now is Mailerlite because it’s simple and beginner-friendly. If you’d like to see a clear comparison between Mailerlite and Mailchimp, you might enjoy my blog: Mailerlite vs Mailchimp Pros Cons Cost For Your Small Business
Using this platform you can create email collection forms that you place on your website or add a link to your Facebook Business page/Instagram Bio, which allows you to take people's names and email addresses and store them securely, so you can write a newsletter to them whenever you want.
Introducing Lead Magnets
These days, when inboxes are overflowing, people are more cautious about giving away their email addresses. That’s why offering something useful in return, known as a lead magnet, can make all the difference.
A lead magnet is simply a free resource that solves one small problem for your ideal client. It could be a checklist, a short guide, a video, or even a discount code. The important thing is that it feels valuable and gives them a quick win.
If you’d like more inspiration (with lots of examples you can adapt for your own business), I’m in the middle of writing a full guide called : Lead Magnets Made Simple: How to Attract the Right Clients to Your Business
This freebie or Lead Magnet needs to:-
- Solve a real problem that your reader has
- Promises 1 quick win - something they can get results with in 10 mins
- Be specific, you are solving just 1 problem, not a whole bunch of things
- Demonstrate you as an expert
- It shouldn't include your physical time (outside that of creating it), this needs to be available 24/7 and I'm sure you don't want to be chatting to people at 2am in the morning!
How often should I send my newsletter?
Ok, so you've got your freebie setup and people have given you their email addresses, so what now? How often should I email them?
The frequency of your newsletter depends a lot, I think, on how much time you can commit to doing it on a regular basis. It is better to do it regularly on a monthly basis than to say you are going to share weekly emails only to forget 3 weeks out of 4.
A lot of marketing is about showing up with the same message on a consistent basis. So if you can only commit to 1 hour per month to create your newsletter, that's ok. Commit to it and get it in the diary so your readers know that every 1st Thursday of the month, they can expect an email from you.
Email Tips - what to include
When you are writing your newsletter, think about including the following things in your email newsletters
- Share your story. Share from your heart. Don’t be afraid to get a little bit vulnerable about you personally and business-wise. People love to know the person behind the business, especially with a small business, they like to know who they are dealing with, so share a little bit about what’s happening in your world. People buy stories, not products or services, so share your story, your achievements, your challenges, and your readers will love you for it.
- Write in your own voice – write in the way you have decided your “Brand” talks. For me, I have decided to write as me, as personally I have tried other variations and it just doesn’t work for me. If you use particular phrases in real life, when you are talking to someone face-to-face, then don’t be afraid to use those in your written marketing too. Your ideal clients will read your newsletter and imagine you talking to them, so do it in words that they would expect you to use.
- Make sure your newsletter is easy to read – if you use a platform such as Mailerlite, which is a drag and drop builder, you can see exactly how it's, going to look when your subscriber receives it in their inbox. My newsletters start with my logo at the top, which if clicked, takes you to my website. Then my newsletter headline plus sub headline if required, so my reader can decide straight away whether they want to spend time reading it. Sometimes, I include an image that corresponds to the newsletter content, followed by the body of the newsletter. And lastly, my footer containing my contact details. These are all colour-branded to match my business colours, so at a glance, it looks consistent
- Include a CTA – a Call To Action in every newsletter. Once they have read the newsletter, what do you want them to do next? Read your blog, book an appointment, ring you, go to your shop, sign up to your Facebook group. So many different CTA’s available, but make sure you have 1 in each newsletter.
What do you share with people on your newsletter ?
Now you've got to start writing your newsletters, but what do you share? Here's some ideas...
- Customer/Client of the month
- Product of the month
- Service of the month
- A favourite quote or poem and why it resonates with you.
- A recipe – and when you made it or plan to
- A joke and why it made you laugh
- Your own achievements – share your great reviews, your accomplishments and build your expert status
- Competition or Giveaway – Offer a service or product you have and ask your audience to nominate someone they feel is worthy of it, share it on your social media, website and of course your newsletter
- Simple DIY instructions on how to do or make ***
- Announcements – business or personal
- Upcoming Events
Want the full list of ideas? Grab my free printable here
Just sign up below and I'll send it over to you. See what I did there! I showed you how to collect an email!
So there you go, my take on why you need to collect those emails, how to get the names and addresses of your ideal clients and what to share with them.
If tech isn’t your thing and you’d like some friendly help to get started, I offer a setup service and step-by-step training. Just get in touch, and we can find the option that feels right for you.
Until next time, love & hugs
Sarah x
