The 35+ Best Marketing Email Newsletters: A Mega List of Examples
Marketing email newsletters seem to be incredibly popular right now.
Not just the usual brand-made ones.
As I’ve gotten more active on LinkedIn and Twitter, I’ve seen a few marketing influencers promoting theirs lately.
Noting all the newsletter promo, I figured why not sample as many as possible to see what’s being done well (and what’s not)?
- Benefits of a Marketing Newsletter
- Marketing Newsletter Best Practices
- Best Marketing Newsletters by Brands/Companies
- Best Marketing Newsletters by Individual Contributors
Benefits of a Marketing Email Newsletter
As I said, I used to only get brand marketing newsletters. But there’s been a huge shift in focus from B2B or B2C to building human-to-human (H2H) connections.
It could be due to increase use of social media platforms creating a stronger interest in one-to-one human connections. That’s compared to corporate-esque (I’m trademarking that word) brand communication that previously dominated marketing and advertising spaces.
But it’s also easier than ever to start a marketing newsletter, thanks to platforms like Substack and Revue.
Here’s a stat that illustrates that trend. Even though people are currently spending more time on social media than ever before, 74 percent of brands are posting less content.
Related Content: Best Practices for a E-Newsletter
Individual social media users now post more content, though, and leverage personal brands to benefit or grow companies and causes, you-name-it.
A key strategy seems to be building an audience on social platforms and then getting those added to your email database by offering educational e-learning courses, downloadable content, or email newsletter subscription.
One of the primary benefits of these, other than potential revenue generation, is that they give you direct ownership of your audience.
Your social media followers or connections aren’t truly yours. They stay on the platform. You engage with them solely through the platform, which can be limiting.
And the risk of building solely through these social channels carries ongoing risk. We’ve all seen examples of influencer accounts getting hacked and wiped. Not to mention situations like the previous TikTok ban that many marketers and influencers worried about in 2020.
So converting social media followers to members of your owned email database is important so you can continue to engage with them on an ongoing basis. On your own terms.
Marketing Email Newsletter Best Practices
Back to the discussion of the best email newsletters.
I’ve reviewed a few of them to figure out best practices for marketing newsletters.
(I also want to take a minute to note that I also have an email newsletter you can subscribe to if you’re interested in information like what you’re reading in this article plus other marketing tips, tricks, trends, and insight from myself and across the web! Sign up for my newsletter.)
Here are some of the top best practices for marketing newsletters:
1. Beautiful design — Crisp, clear, simple, direct-to-the-point. I don’t care if there are a ton of images, but my preference is that the content is broken up into a way that’s easy to digest.
2. Useful content — Provides information that aligns with what was promoted and that makes an impact on my day. Can I learn something valuable from every edition?
3. Not overly salesly — I can’t stand getting email newsletters that are just blatant sales promo over and over. I signed up for your newsletter to get some kind of value or insights, not to have you try to push me to buy XYZ. A newsletter should be nurturing a relationship with me and building trust so that eventually I’ll want whatever is being offered.
4. Consistent in quality and cadence — People like to know what to expect. By being consistent, you build trust with your subscribers. You also help them create habits associated with your content. If you send your marketing newsletter at a certain time every day, every week or every month, it encourages routine behavior in response to this pattern.
Without further ado, in no particular order —
Check out my list of some of the best marketing newsletters to subscribe to if you want to learn about or improve your marketing.
[Quick note: Not sure if you noticed, but I finally launched my own email marketing newsletter! If you’re interested in case studies, news and general thoughts on marketing, CX, social media and tech, sign up here!]
Best Marketing Newsletters by Brands/Groups
HubSpot Marketing Newsletter
Focus: Marketing Trends, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Content Marketing
HubSpot put inbound marketing on the map, and their marketing newsletter delivers a great assortment of content from their blog. They also have newsletters centered around sales, website strategy and customer service, if you have interest in those topics as well.
Backlinko: An SEO Newsletter
Focus: Search Engine Optimization, SEO Trends, Website Strategy, Growth Marketing
If you’re looking to grow your website traffic, Backlinko provides one of the best newsletters you can subscribe to. They’ve established a strong reputation in the SEO community, with lots of useful research, case studies and articles released regularly.
Wordstream
Focus: Performance Marketing, Digital Advertising, Facebook Ad Strategy, Google Ad Strategy, Paid Acquisition Marketing, Growth Marketing
Wordstream served as my go-to resource when I was starting out with digital advertising and performance marketing. They provide excellent tools to help you navigate the world of paid acquisition. I found their benchmark reports and free ad account audit tools to be incredibly useful. Their weekly newsletter is a must if you want to stay on-top of these areas of marketing.
Team CSS-Tricks
Focus: Marketing Design, Email Design, Website Design, UX
Interesting and relevant news and information to keep up with the fast-moving web design and development industry. Created, written by, and maintained by Chris Coyier and team. Chris is co-founder of CodePen, a social development environment for front end designers and developers.
Really Good Emails
Focus: Email Marketing
This newsletter aims to be the best showcase of email design and resources on the web. We’re providing transparency into product email and customer email cycles that are not available anywhere else.
Marketoonist
Focus: Marketing Trends, Humor
The newsletter by Tom Fishburne, the Founder and CEO of Marketoonist, a cartoon studio focused on content marketing, thought leadership, and culture change
Fix My Churn
Focus: Email Marketing, Marketing Design
Written by a team of customer communication specialists, this is touted as “your guide to email marketing that works (and a whole lot that doesn’t). See weekly dissections of real campaigns showing up in inboxes everywhere.”
Codecademy
Focus: Marketing Design, Web Design, Accessibility in Marketing and Design
Just launched a brand new newsletter that provides a variety of content around learning new web skills.
Morning Brew
Focus: Marketing News, Marketing Trends, Business News
Described as “The daily email newsletter covering the latest news from Wall St. to Silicon Valley.” Has built a really strong social media presence using a witty, casual tone. They also offer more focused newsletter editions, including the Marketing Brew and Emerging Tech Brew. And check out the newest release: Sidekick, which curates recommendations about entertainment, hacks and more from around the web.
The Hustle
Focus: Marketing News, Business News, Marketing Trends
Another newsletter that has built a strong brand over the years. This one is great if you want a quick update, as it advertise “business and tech in 5 minutes or less.”
CXL Institute
Focus: Digital Marketing, UX, Marketing Trends
This email newsletter delivers “emails once or twice a week covering topics from digital analytics to UX research to content marketing.” It’s getting included because of a recommendation from my network.
The Growth Newsletter by Demand Curve
Focus: Marketing Trends, Growth Marketing, Digital Marketing
This newsletter shares insights about how to successfully use different growth strategies. It bases the content on input directly from Y Combinator company founders, so you definitely want to put this on your radar if you are looking for growth or acquisition strategy advice.
Best Marketing Newsletters by Individuals
Total Annarchy by Ann Handley
Focus: Content Marketing, Email Marketing, Marketing Newsletter Best Practices, Copywriting
Ann Handley is a powerful name in the copywriting world. For reference, she’s the bestselling author of Everybody Writes and Content Rules. This newsletter is delivered every 2 weeks and includes “new writing tips, useful marketing ideas, fresh thoughts, and some high-spirited shenanigans.” It’s one of my favorites!
The Menu
Focus: Marketing Strategy, Brand Strategy, Content Marketing, Growth Marketing
Written by SparkToro Marketing Architect Amanda Natividad, this marketing newsletter provides incredible insights that you can apply for better, faster growth. I also love that Amanda, a trained chef-turned-marketer, includes a delicious recipe at the end of each issue.
Emails Done Right
Focus: Email Marketing, Marketing Design, Email Design
If you want tips to help you nail email marketing, this newsletter would be the place to start. It’s created by Samar Owais, an email conversion strategist and copywriter for SaaS and ecommerce companies and entrepreneurs.
Let’s Start Up
Focus: Business Trends, Entrepreneurship, Marketing Trends
Created by startup founder Janine Sickmeyer, this newsletter celebrates founders, entrepreneurs, and builders in the startup ecosystem. It’s great for teaching you about building a company with a focus on startups and early-stage companies.
Nik Sharma’s DTC Newsletter
Focus: DTC Trends, DTC Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Growth Marketing, Performance Marketing, Digital Ads
I wasn’t quite sure where to put this one because it’s a newsletter by Nik Sharma in collaboration with others on his team. I enjoy reading it every Sunday, as it’s one of the more robust newsletters you can find about growth and ecommerce. Nik & team include tips on cool marketing tools to help improve your DTC business, so it’s a must-read for any ecommerce marketer or founder.
#SEOFomo
Focus: Search Engine Optimization, SEO Strategy
Get actionable tips, advice and information from one of the preeminent search engine optimization (SEO) experts, Aleyda Solis. Subscribing to this SEO newsletter ensures you stay on top of the SEO trends you need to know to maintain a competitive web presence.
Human <> Behavior
Focus: Marketing Pyschology, Content Marketing
A newsletter covering marketing psychology and consumer behavior, this one comes from Adrienne Kohl, a B2B SaaS content marketing expert. The material helps you create a more effective content strategy.
Timeless & Timely
Focus: Marketing Strategy, Business Trends
Claims to “help you make sense of today with lessons from the past. Inspiration from history, literature, philosophy, poetry and art that speak to our current challenges. One essay, three links from the current business climate, three interesting stories, a recommended book and podcast, and plenty of epigrams.” Created by Scott Monty, previously a Fortune 10 executive, who is a strategy, communications and leadership advisor.
Lenny’s Newsletter
Focus: Product Marketing, Product Design, Entrepreneurship, Career Development
This newsletter gathers advice on product, marketing, leadership and much more, courtesy of writer, angel investor and former startup founder Lenny Rachitsky.
Start again today
Focus: Marketing Trends, Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing
A collection of thoughts, links, and insight from Haley Bryant. Topics range from general motivation, personal development, to social media. Haley Bryant is COO of Animals, a content and SEO strategy agency.
Harry Dry’s Marketing Examples
Focus: Marketing Trends, Content Marketing, Copywriting, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Case Studies
A collection of some great marketing and branding case studies along with clear, actionable commentary on why something worked (or failed). Great to follow if you want go beyond theoretical discussion and see practical application of marketing strategy.
Sid’s Sunday Snapshots
Focus: Business Strategy, Copywriting
Analyzing the best biographies, shareholder letters, academic papers, business news, and online writing. Sidhartha Jha is a recent Northwestern graduate where he studied Operations Research.
Mastering the Attention Economy Newsletter
Focus: Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy
With a focus on marketing, branding and communications strategy, newsletter author Ari Lewis advises on how to get in front of your audience.
Visualize Value
Focus: Design, Marketing Design, Business Strategy, Mental Models
Presents a number of interesting concepts with simple graphic designs. Stated purpose of this newsletter is “Helping ambitious people master their mental health and build independent income.” The creator, Jack Butcher, is behind Visualize Value and also has a pretty significant Twitter presence with over 32K followers.
Monday Musings
Focus: Copywriting, Mental Models
David Perell’s bio is listed as “I write, host a podcast, and run a writing school called Write of Passage.” Monday Musings is a collection of the “coolest things” he learns every week. His other newsletter, Friday Finds, is a links-only newsletter where he shares ideas he’s interested in.
3-2-1
Focus: Copywriting, Mental Models
The newsletter of James Clear, author of the New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits, which has sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.
Benedict’s Newsletter
Focus: Business Trends, Technology Trends, Digital Media, Marketing Strategy
Benedict Evans spent 20 years analysing mobile, digital media and technology, and worked in equity research, strategy, consulting and venture capital. Now an independent analyst, he sends an email newsletter each Sunday about what’s happening in technology that actually matters, and what it means and gives them context and analysis.
Laura Gale
Focus: Content Marketing
Laura helped dozens of entrepreneurs write their business memoirs that are their legacy and contribution to the world of business and entrepreneurship. She’s also host of the Business of Writing podcast and offers a free eBook, Content That Converts.
The Marketing Memo
Focus: Marketing Strategy, Content Marketing
Targets both marketers and founders with content to help sharpen and improve your marketing skills. Matthew Gattozzi, founder of the Gattozzi Collective agency, publishes this one.
Zero to Marketing
Focus: Marketing Strategy
Weekly case studies arrive every week to provide insight on what works and what doesn’t from various campaigns, websites and more. The mind behind the work belongs to Andrea Bosoni.
Mark Evans Consulting
Focus: Marketing Strategy, LinkedIn Marketing
An active figure on LinkedIn and principal of a marketing consulting firm, Mark offers a newsletter “featuring hand-picked content about marketing and sales, as things that are just interesting.”
Podcast Notes
Focus: Podcast Marketing, Marketing Strategy
Advertised as “the best ideas from the world’s best podcasts in minutes,” this newsletter provides a quick snapshot of takeaways. I enjoy being able to digest the content pretty quickly, while still feeling like I gained something from reading.
The B2B Bite
Focus: B2B Marketing, Marketing Strategy
How can B2B marketing beat its reputation of being boring and stuffy? Learn more about that from this newsletter sent out by Jason Bradwell, a “‘T-shaped’ marketer” and B2B strategist.
Kevan Lee’s Newsletter
Focus: Marketing Strategy, Growth Marketing
A great newsletter created by the VP of Marketing at Buffer, a brand I admire for its exceptional approach to content marketing. He offers his personal thoughts and insights on all things marketing and branding.
Late Checkout – A Substack by Greg Isenberg
Focus: Growth Marketing, Community Strategy
This one primarily zeroes in on Internet communities and growth strategy. Former startup founder and Head of Product Strategy at WeWork Greg Isenberg runs this Substack newsletter.
Complexity Condensed
Focus: Mental Models, Business Strategy
This isn’t necessarily focused on marketing alone, but this newsletter covers a variety of topics that can help get the creative juices flowing to your brain. Plus it’s generally 500 words or less, and I love a newsletter that I can read quickly.
#PopChat Newsletter
Focus: Brand Marketing, Personal Branding
Get information and fun content around how marketing relates to your favorite pop culture trends. It’s sprinkled with nostalgia by UF marketing professor and Twitter #PopChat founder Brianne Fleming.
The Marketing Mind Meld
Focus: Marketing Psychology, Product Design, Marketing Strategy
If you’re a fan of the intersection of marketing, psychology, and science, you need to subscribe. This newsletter always delivers an opportunity to learn, from rising growth marketer Kushaan Shah.
Related Content: Tips to Get the Best Results from Your Brand Newsletter
I’ll be continuing to update this list with the best marketing newsletters I subscribe to that I think are worth a look.
If you have an email marketing newsletter you’d like me to add, send me a message on LinkedIn or tweet me!
You can also sign up for my newsletter and get more tips, suggestions, and more each week.
