Welcome to Vol.13 of Email Advice in Your Inbox!

Hey, friend!

As we creep toward the end of the year (yep, only 46 days left in 2023 😱), you're probably tired and looking forward to a little break soon.

We wanted to remind you that you've got this! You're doing an amazing job and we're rooting for you!

Today's Volume is a breakdown of email monetisation, with a few more tips, tools and tricks to help you win at email.

Let's get at it!

 

Here's what you'll learn this week
 

• 5 ways to monetise your newsletter
   

• This week's (free) resources to help you become a better email marketer
   

• The top 3 marketers to follow this week
   

• The fun stuff: It's all about the memes (seriously)
   

• This week's expert discussion you may have missed
  
   

Buckle up for another round of email learning! 🚀

For creators looking to monetise their emails and newsletters, things can be a little daunting.

There’s often the fear that monetising emails and newsletters will scare away the readers you’ve worked so hard to sign up.

That said, with the right monetisation process and strategy, this fear can be easily overcome while improving your personalised customer experience.

There are a ton of resources online around how various businesses have monetised their emails, but we’re going to break down the 5 ways to monetise a newsletter, regardless of your industry.

If you're serious about where to begin with your monetisation, then read on to find out what levers you can pull to get started today 💸
 

Emails that offer a simple set of (relevant) links can boost your website page views, which, in turn, help increase your web rankings, on-site advertising opportunities and subscriber conversions.

Many potential customers will sign up for a newsletter, before engaging with your brand. These can be a great opportunity to entice potential subscribers by offering a taste of the content they’ll receive once they sign up, subscribe, or buy.

Below is a great example of using links to promote traffic back to the website of The Daily Maverick, who use their emails to send only a few sentences to their audience, enticing them to click and read the full article.

This audience then clicks on the article intro to read more on their website, because who wants to read an essay on email right?

Based on the reader’s subscription, they will either have unlimited articles to read or can only access those for unpaid readers (we'll cover this shortly).

The main function and goal here is to drive website traffic because that's how the Daily Maverick's funnel works. They're intent on driving readers to their website where they can convert them to premium, paid members.

The inverse is also true in their other channels driving website visitors whom they look to convert to premium email subscribers.

Both share the intention of creating revenue from their email marketing. A win-win monetisation model, especially for news and entertainment publishers and content creators.

Many email newsletters or update emails are sustained through advertising, which increasingly takes the form of either visual advertising, native advertising, or sponsored content.

Arguably one of the most effective of the above is native advertising. Native adverts (and sometimes, sponsored content too) are designed to look like part of the sender of that email's content, which helps ensure people read, or at least consider looking at this content.

The size and design of this type of content range widely because its main aim is to "mimic” or blend in with other content within the email or newsletter.

The other more common email adverts include banners or even sponsored email themes.

By now, everyone is familiar with banner ads, and though sometimes audiences are disengaged from this form of advertising, you can still create great impact using animated GIFS as banners, or making sure these visual adverts are relevant and appealing.

Here's a great example of an unobtrusive sponsored advert section from the Sahil Bloom Friday 5 Newsletter:
 

Utilise this format for cross-promotion, sponsorship and even advertising or review-style sponsored articles.

The reason this method is so successful is due to the way that the content and sponsored content/ adverts blend in, instead of standing out obtrusively, which interrupts a reader's flow through your email campaign.

It's all good and well if the intention is to interrupt and have a reader take notice, however, this can also derail the consumption of content and needs to be well-planned within your emails.

If you consistently provide quality content and information to your readers, they may be willing to pay for exclusive access.

Promoting a premium site, paid package or premium subscription with exclusive content is one of the best ways to monetise your email list.

This is especially relevant to publishers, but regular businesses with an engaged email database and something to offer can also capitalise on this by sharing exclusive articles, help guides or content that only apply to VIP customers or premium subscribers.

You can think of these for e-commerce too, such as having a VIP list of paid members who get first access to products, premium content or assistance, or even the chance to be featured in other content.

Above is a great example from The Times, encouraging free readers to subscribe to receive exclusive content.

This is referred to as “gated content” and should be used cautiously. It is generally encouraged when you have content that is valuable when you hold an engaged audience and have the resources to facilitate payment for such content, easily.

I have to warrant caution here...

You need to ensure that the content your audience pays for truly has additional value, and is not merely a repetition of what your general audience gets. It's the only way you can keep a paying audience engaged and committed to remaining a paid member.

To explain affiliate marketing as simply as we can, being an affiliate is generally pretty straightforward:

Your company gets paid a commission on any sales you generate for a certain company through their content in your emails, or on your website.
 

Affiliate links are often simple to implement, however, there is a danger in simply signing up with every affiliate you can.

Your ability to select only those affiliates that share your values (just as with selling your advertising space), is crucial to the success of your affiliate marketing. If your content, values, and relevance don’t match the affiliate adverts, your plan can be doomed from the start.

It needs to be a major focus that you aim to work with niche brands that your audience will most likely purchase, as well as those that are established in the industry, which adds social proof to your email campaigns.

We also discussed audience-exchange platforms and using these to grow your email audience. Many of these apply an affiliate model for email list growth too.

There is no shame in asking for support, if it's done in the right way.

That is the reason crowdfunding has boomed in the past few years. Many services like Buy Me a Coffee, BackaBuddy, Patreon, Donorbox, and even PayPal let you set up a “digital tip jar” to earn some coin from your work. These earnings aren’t ever as great as selling advertising or affiliate spots but are a way to earn from loyal readers.

This is encouraged in smaller NPO mails and is often relied on by many non-profit entities, however, if you feel you are adding value to your audience and they have subscribed at no cost, it may be worth asking them to continue supporting the good news you share!

The key here is value and trust. Provided you have built trust with your subscribers and are adding value to their email experience with you, you will have loyal fans parting with their hard-earned money to support your business and email efforts.

Here's an in-email example by South African NPO Girl's & Boy's Town:
 

Lastly, don't forget to test!

There are many more ways you can turn your newsletters into cash, but this needs to be well-planned, tested and executed correctly within your organisation.

Doing this the wrong way can cost you the eyes of the audience you’ve been working hard to build. Always be certain to lead with the value you provide your audience and they'll reciprocate by making you money for your email efforts.

Now, get after that dough 🥯

Email resources of the week

Some cool tools and tips to help you become a better email marketer

Who to follow this week?

Any email expert knows that you never stop learning. The best way to do so? Learn from other experts!

Here are 3 marketing experts to follow this week

Some more (meme-mail) fun to make your day better

We end these emails with something to (hopefully) make you smile 👀

Humour can be a great way to build engagement. And what better to make someone smile than some clever memes?

Memes are becoming a staple for many marketers, and are proving to be a great strategy to build engagement and relationships with audiences.

Matt McGarry from The Newsletter Operator did an insane deep-dive into the world of memes in marketing, and how some brands are successfully using memes as a part of their marketing strategy.

Find out more and make the world a better place by creating some clever memes of your own!

Get the meme knowledge here

These emails are proudly made possible by

Africa's best email service agency and email marketing platform

Before you go! Don't miss this week's discussion

Man, I love talking about email marketing 💌

I know you also share a passion for email, so this is just for you! 

I had the honour of speaking to the team at Netcore Cloud and Emaildojo by Netcore Cloud on their recent webinar titled "The Road to Email Segmentation Mastery: Data to Targeted Campaigns" 🚀

If you're keen to learn how data insights can drive hyper-segmented email communication, we discussed tips, tricks and insights around:
 

• Precision targeting with expert segmentation techniques.
• The art of personalised messaging and boosting brand loyalty.
• Strategies to prevent email fatigue and unsubscribes.
• How to leverage data for effective email campaign strategies.
   

Email is going amazing places in the coming months and years, especially with the introduction of AI and the evolving email landscape.

Grab some advanced email segmentation knowledge just in time to help you plan your strategy for 2024.


Click here to watch our discussion

Before I go! Remember, I help businesses and content creators, just like you, win at email. How? Here are three ways I can help:

Get the guide! We've spent 200+ hours compiling over 250 pages covering everything you need to launch and win at email. Find out more here. 

Get email help! I help businesses improve and grow their email marketing. Book your free email platform audit here.

Get expert service! I've partnered with the best to help take your email to the next level. Find out more here.

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