Why email newsletters work

👉 three simple and counterintuitive rules for finding the marketing that works best for *you*

There are plenty of different and effective ways of marketing your business (despite certain "experts" telling you theirs is the only way).

The good news is that you can choose which to use.

The bad news is that choosing isn't easy.

Some marketing may work for others but not for you. And vice versa. So picking the right marketing rather than just the flavour of the day can be a huge challenge.

But over the years (and a lot of mis-steps) I've found three simple and somewhat counterintuitive rules that can help you pick the best methods for you.

Rule #1 - do marketing you enjoy (or at least don't hate).

Marketing only works if you do it, and do it consistently. 

If you hate making cold calls or making videos or doing presentations then no matter how effective those methods may be, you won't do them consistently enough to get results.

Rule #2 - do marketing that's quick and easy (for you)

This goes against the whole hustle-culture idea that you have to work 18-hour days and devote your life to your business to get meaningful results.

I've not found that to be true.

And in particular, the reality is that most of us don't do marketing full-time. We have clients to work with. Content to create. People to manage. So the marketing we do has to be simple and intuitive.

I've found this with software for example. If I'm a regular user it can be pretty complicated but I'll learn the shortcuts and the best ways to use it.

But if I only use it once a week it has to be simple and intuitive, otherwise I'll just get stuck and give up.

It's the same with marketing. I used to use Google Ads and then Facebook Ads a lot. I don't now. So when I log in it's just a confusing mess for me. There's no way I can figure out how to do anything meaningful in the limited time I have available.

On the other hand, posting on Linkedin or writing an email is pretty quick and easy. I can do it without having to re-learn it each time. So I can focus my limited time on the message and the marketing, not on the mechanics of doing it.

Rule #3 - do marketing that whispers rather than shouts

We all know the reality that the vast majority of our customers aren't ready to buy when we first start interacting with them.

Marketing that shouts - aggressive, pushy tactics like cold calls or straight pitches in emails, ads and social posts - may get you a small number of buyers who happen to be ready right now. But it pushes away the much larger number of potential customers who are your long-term future.

And frankly, shouty marketing isn't something that most of us enjoy doing or find easy (see rules 1 & 2).

Marketing that whispers is marketing that adds value, is interesting, and has a gentle sales message.

It's marketing your potential customers will keep paying attention to. It's marketing that will build credibility and trust over time. It's marketing that will be there when they're ready to buy.

A podcast or youtube show does this. An email newsletter does this the best.

The marketing you select using these 3 rules probably isn't going to be the latest silver bullet. Or anything cool. But it will work - for you. And that's the important part.

- Ian