Newsletter vs Email Marketing

When you’re trying to decide what kind of emails to send to your subscribers it’s so important to understand the difference between email marketing and newsletters.

A newsletter is the kind of email you see with many sections and is mostly or entirely informational.

Email marketing is for sales and is usually very focused on that agenda.

In this post, we’ll cover the differences of a newsletter vs email marketing and how to choose which one is right for your business growth, or if you need them both!

Newsletter vs Email Marketing –
What are they?

What is an Email Newsletter?

The most identifiable part of an email newsletter is that it has many sections.

This type of email content is usually focused on brining you news, curated content and updates from the company or the industry.

I get a great newsletter from WealthSimple that I believe comes out about once a week. It looks like this:

That’s just the first piece. I counted 9 sections that are broken down further into sections. Each with things like money tips, money news, money updates, etc. There’s an ad inside the newsletter but it’s not a sales email. It’s full of content and links to click and read more.

This is a good example of the typical newsletter.

The main purpose of this is good will and relationship building with your subscribers.

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing has the purpose of leading subscribers towards taking an action. Usually this action is to buy something (sales) or sign up for something (free offers, etc).

Email marketing often uses a combination of different types of emails.

You’ll have emails that build the relationship with the subscriber by offering free advice, information or even gifts.

You’ll have emails that very obviously are selling something.

The emails sent via email marketing are usually with a singular focus. And because they can be read quickly they are very often sent more frequently.

In my own email marketing I’m sending emails to my subscribers every single day. I run email “campaigns” of 3-5 days of emails promoting a single offer. My emails always also contain helpful advice or information as well. So I combine the value and the sales email into one. It works quite well!

Here’s an example of a sales email from my friends at Coach Glue:

Newsletter vs Email Marketing: Key Differences

Let’s compare Newsletters vs Email Marketing for their key differences:

• Purpose and Goals
  • Newsletters: Primarily informational, designed to nurture relationships.
  • Email Marketing: Promotional, designed to convert leads or achieve specific business goals.
• Content Type
  • Newsletters: Long-form, often includes articles, company news, or tips.
  • Email Marketing: Short-form, focused on a call to action (CTA) like purchasing, subscribing.
• Frequency
  • Newsletters: Regular intervals (weekly, monthly).
  • Email Marketing: Can be sent based on behavior, events, or campaigns.

Side note: I run back to back campaigns through my email marketing. I’ve done this for over 15 years and it STILL works. This means my subscribers get a daily email from me and they love it! I regularly get thank you replies that say my emails and wonderful and I’m so real. They’re happy to open them regularly!

Benefits of Using Newsletters

Building a Connection with Subscribers

When a newsletter comes into your subscribers inbox that’s adding value to their lives they will be thankful for that.

Over time this will establish trust and build authority for the brand. It will also establish your business as the experts in the area of the newsletter topic.

Continuous Engagement and Exposure

Many companies are not doing the best job of getting into their biggest fans inboxes.

The email inbox is a more dedicated area for attention and engagement. Your subscribers may feel comfortable enough to respond.

You are also going to get more exposure via a newsletter. Rather than hoping your people see your message you know that it will land in their inbox.

Delivering Value

A newsletter is a great opportunity to show all the valuable content you have available.

It also allows you to share your experience and expertise via free, useful information.

Since the email newsletter doesn’t ask for anything in return you may generate a lot of good will with your subscribers, that may be useful when you do have an email campaign to send.

Benefits of Email Marketing

Sales and Conversions

Sending email marketing emails is all about sales.

People mistakenly think that this means you can’t provide value at the same time as selling.

This isn’t true. Your emails don’t have to only give free value to BE valuable. In fact I have often argued that your HIGHEST value you can offer are your paid offers. If they’re not the highest value then you really need to rethink what you’re asking people to pay for.

Emails Can be Very Targeted

With email marketing you can personalize and segment based on your subscribers behavior or purchase history.

A newsletter is going to be much more general considering they cover a lot of information. With an email campaign you are getting very specific with a singular focus.

With this kind of singular focus you can target your campaigns. For example let’s say you have a course on Website Design. You can target your customers of this with a campaign after purchase that teaches them about blogging – highly relevant to what they’re interested in!

Results Can be Measured

One of my favorite parts of email marketing is you can see the open rates, the click rates and the conversion rates (through the shopping cart).

This allows you to see and know what’s working. Then you keep doing what works and fix what isn’t. Creating a situation where you can consistently improve your business and grow your success.

Should You Use a Newsletter vs Email Marketing – Which is Best?

I’m biased here – I’ll tell you this.

I’ve been doing email marketing for 15 years and I believe you get the benefits of a newsletter (connection, content, value) and the benefits of selling via email marketing.

So for me the choice is email marketing every time.

I also believe that people are mostly NOT reading email newsletters like they read emails. A newsletter has so much content that it can be overwhelming, where an email is top to bottom and read in just a few minutes. This is email marketing’s superpower! It means people EXPECT to read the whole thing!

Sometimes the newsletter is also a good choice.

If you are not counting on emails to make the sales for you and you really do want to have a consistent connection with your audience then a weekly email newsletter could be the perfect option for you.

Combining Newsletters and Email Marketing

Ultimately it is entirely possible to use newsletters and email marketing in co-ordination. They can create a synergistic email strategy.

In this situation you would use email newsletters either weekly or monthly and then send email campaigns in between the emails.

There’s a lot of power in automation and segmentation for email marketing. If you are using newsletters as your main method then automated email sequences would work very well with that as well.

Newsletter vs Email Marketing Common Mistakes

The most common mistake I see is people confusing a newsletter with email marketing. If you want to make sales you can’t just send newsletters – you need to send marketing emails.

Another mistake is thinking that you can’t send consistent campaigns. As long as you provide value in ALL your emails, use a conversational tone and make sure to have clear calls to actions then you’re on the path to consistent sales!

Final Thoughts on Newsletter vs Email Marketing

Ok so let’s recap:

A newsletter is an informational email who’s main goal isn’t to make sales. It’s informative, helpful, advice-based and often leads to more content links.

A marketing email is intended for making sales. You can add value by teaching, giving advice and info and writing in a relationship tone.

Choose the method that works best for you!

Learn Successful Email Marketing

If email marketing is the right choice for you then I’ve got an incredible offer for you!

My course, Email for a Living, will teach you all the ins and outs of daily email marketing. While people tend to think newsletters are easier once you get into the flow and habit of one quick and useful email daily you will find it easy!