How to Monetize Your Email Newsletters with Quality Content
If your business has an email newsletter, no doubt you use it to bring in leads, position you as an authority in your field, and ultimately bring in sales. Those are long-term goals — and there’s nothing like informative, problem-solving newsletter content to accomplish those goals.
But what if there were a way to monetize your email newsletters from the outset?
The good news is — there is. Let’s call it a side gig for your business.
Even as you build authority and a loyal leadership through customer-focused content, you can place targeted ads for products that interest your subscribers within your newsletter. When your subscribers click on one of those ads and buy the advertiser’s product, your company gets paid.
It’s easy, takes little time, and can provide you with extra income as you grow your readership — and your standing within your industry. Just ask us. We’ll help you get started.
That being said, if you don’t have loyal readers, you won’t have much to monetize. Read on to learn how you can create the kind of quality, problem-solving content your readers will read, use, and recommend to their friends and colleagues.
Quality Newsletter Content Is the Key to Monetization Success
Digital marketing giant HubSpot points out that emails, on average, produce a stunning 3,800% ROI. That’s not all. Millennials — today’s most-coveted demographic — overwhelmingly prefer communications from businesses to come from emails.
But to get to that number, your content must be worth reading. Specifically, it needs to help your target customers solve those problems that keep them up at night.
And when your content is that valuable, you can almost guarantee it’s going to not only enjoy a successful open rate but also it will increase your readers’ engagement. As they recommend your newsletter to their friends and colleagues through online shares and word-of-mouth, you’ll see your number of subscribers rise as well.
Vary Your Content to Reach a Wider Array of Subscribers
Since people have varied learning preferences, it pays to vary your content. Your newsletter content should include editorials, blog posts, videos, success stories, testimonials, industry news, general news, feature stories, educational articles, interviews, various product reviews, statistics, infographics, and case studies.
In fact, when you vary your content even within a single post, it helps maintain your subscribers’ attention, as online marketing guru Neil Patel points out. Whether it’s attractive images, infographics, or embedded videos, visual aids help drive your point home.
That’s no wonder. With 65 percent of the world’s population being visual learners, it’s a no-brainer to include visuals to break up large sections of text. According to Patel, presentations that contain visual aids are 43 percent more persuasive than text-only ones.
Start with a Catchy Subject Line
For your subscribers to get to that visually punctuated content, though, they need to open the door. As the virtual gatekeeper to your newsletter, your subject line must entice readers to come inside. If you nail the subject line, subscribers will be 35 percent more likely to open it, says HubSpot’s Anum Hussain.
Provide Useful Subject Matter That Helps Readers Solve Problems
Use keyword research and analytics to delve into your subscribers’ demographics, online behavior, and preferences. Learn what keeps your target customers up at night. Then create content that will solve those challenges and give them a good night’s sleep.
Use a Clean, Easily Navigable, and Brand-Forward Design
Clean design with lots of space between text, visuals, and other elements is a must for newsletter success. Make sure that the design — down to the very colors — reflects your brand. Make it easy for your subscribers to find what they want for a user experience (UX) like no other in your field.
Treat Your Readers with Respect
Never talk down to your readers. Write as if you’re their best friend or a trusted colleague. Personalize it so that your readers will think that you have written the content just for them.
With all these ingredients, your email newsletter will be easier to monetize. Let’s look at the type of ads that work best to monetize your newsletters: native ads.
Use Native Ads to Monetize Your Newsletters
When it comes to the ads you tuck into your newsletter, keep your reader in mind. When it comes to ads, less is more. People don’t want a flood of ads to clutter up their experience.
Done well, native ads blend into the theme of your newsletter. Native ads look like links to related content — and even though they are ads, they are related content too.
You could, of course, research your audience to come up with ads that link to products that meet their needs. If you create content that you target to those needs, a quality newsletter monetization platform can choose ads that don’t compete with your products and services, but rather complement them.
With today’s AI-powered monetization platforms, you don’t have to lift a finger to find the exact ads that will resonate with your subscribers. Sophisticated data analysis looks at your content, industry, and subscriber base to create ads that your subscribers will love.
Leading-edge monetization platforms will usually include a dashboard on which you can look at your ads’ performance. Look at the numbers. Create more newsletters and ads like your top performers and tweak your underperforming ones with better content, more personalization, and more effective ad placements.
One more thing. Ad blockers don’t usually work as well on emails. Even if your subscribers have ad blockers, some ads will usually get through.
Since with a quality email monetization platform, you’ll get only native ads, those ads that do show will look like they’re your own content. They’re tailored to your subscribers’ needs so your subscribers will have a seamless experience as they consume your content and find those advertisers’ products that they’ll love.
Use Your Newsletter to Build and Nurture Customer Relationships
While your subscribers will appreciate the subtle advertising that native ads provide, keep foremost in your mind your main purpose: to build and nurture relationships with your customers. Keep your content informative, helpful, and well-researched, and you’ll soon have not only extra income from your ads but also a steady stream of paying customers as well.
Finally, Take the Plunge and Monetize
Once you have created enough content for a few newsletters, it’s time to publish and monetize. When you’re ready to start monetizing, we can help.
