2 builders who never spoke to each other
Put the product where the issue already leads
Giving a whole issue over to a pitch reads as awkward, and leaving your products out entirely leaves money on the table, so the mention goes in the place the writing was already heading. Recommending two options mapped to where the reader is, and hiding what they already own, keeps the pitch relevant to each person.
The method
- 01
Never give a whole issue over to a sales pitch, and equally never leave your products out of the newsletter altogether: the first reads as awkward and the second leaves revenue on the table.
- 02
Mention a product in the body only when it genuinely solves the problem that issue is about, and leave it out entirely when it does not.
- 03
Audit your most recent issue for the one place a product mention would have fitted naturally, and add a short example of that product working for someone.
- 04
Close with two recommended options rather than one pitch, mapped to where the reader currently is, so the beginner and the experienced reader are each sent somewhere different.
- 05
Keep the standing footer pitch but make it conditional, showing each reader only the products they have not already bought.
What it returned
Welsh reports making the dedicated-pitch-issue mistake himself, and sees other solopreneur newsletters failing at both extremes.
After an issue on growing a LinkedIn following, Welsh points newcomers and strugglers to The LinkedIn Operating System and readers who already have traction to his flagship Creator MBA.
Welsh runs this through RightMessage on every weekly issue.
Ugmonk's monthly roundup of things its founder is enjoying, mostly links, bracketed by its own products
Sources
- The Newsletter Tactic That Boosts Sales (Without Feeling Sleazy)Justin Welsh · justinwelsh.me · The Problem with Traditional Newsletter Promotion · 2024-04-20
- How to grow an audience through curating contentNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Ugmonk · 2018-12-03
- How I use email for marketingNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Email courses (auto-responders) · 2013-06-28
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
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