10 Engaging Newsletter Ideas for Freelancers and Solopreneurs

Social media is getting saturated by the day, and it can be hard for freelancers and solopreneurs to stand out.

At some point, you may have toyed with the idea of starting a newsletter to ‘own’ your audience and build relationships with them away from the cutthroat competition.

The problem lies in finding newsletter ideas that work. That’s where we step in.

In this blog post, we show you how to validate ideas quickly, and we also have 10 of the best newsletter ideas for freelancers your audience will love.

Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

Getting the Basics Right: How to Test and Validate Newsletter Ideas?

Here are a few strategies you can use to check if there’s enough interest in the topics you’re considering writing about.

1. Leverage social media groups for feedback

Build a landing page around your newsletter idea and share it in relevant social media groups.

Put in a signup form, and you’ll be able to judge its potential from the number of subscriptions it gets. A/B test different variations of the basic idea every other week and measure the performance.

Remember, the idea must be valuable enough for people to consider subscribing. Engage with people in those groups and ask them what they found interesting about your idea and what they might want to see more of.

2. Run paid ads

You can also leverage social media paid ads to drive traffic to your landing page. Monitor metrics like click-through rates and conversion rates to assess if your idea might work. Add a feedback form to understand what made people engage with your content.

If you have an existing email list, use various targeting options to appeal to different customer personas. You can refine your idea and create variations based on the response.

3. Start a blog and then transition to a newsletter

With a blog, you can write on multiple topics and use newsletters to promote your posts. An easy way to manage your campaigns is to use our free plan to build an email list and schedule emails.

To make navigation easy, categorize your posts by topic. Use analytics data to track traffic and identify the best-performing idea.

4. Get feedback and ideas from other freelancers you know

If you’re just getting started, make a list of 10 freelancers and entrepreneurs you know well and send them a link to your newsletter. They’ll give you plenty of feedback on what worked for them and what didn’t. It does not need to be elaborate; just introduce your idea, explain the key points, and close.

As an added benefit, this outreach could lead to exciting future partnership opportunities where you cross-promote each other’s products via affiliate links and exclusive offers.

5. Take inspiration from other newsletters in your niche

If the newsletters you already subscribe to are fairly popular, you already know there’s enough demand for them. However, you need numbers to back up your assessment.

Analyze their content, design, and frequency, as well as the engagement they receive on average.

What to Include in a Newsletter to Stand Out

Now that we’ve discussed developing newsletter ideas, let’s talk about the content. Here’s a step-by-step plan for writing newsletters that align with marketing goals and customer expectations.

1. Newsletter subject line ideas

Let’s start with some subject line ideas. An effective subject line entices readers to open and read your newsletter. You want to communicate urgency and nudge your readers to click. There are many ways to do this.

For example, you could include numbers and timeframes — Offer ends at 11 PM EST or highlight a specific need — Catch up on your ZZs with our custom mattresses.

A good rule of thumb: short subject lines work better. You can always use EngageBay’s A/B testing tool to analyze open rates and tweak subject lines.

Dos and don’ts when writing newsletter subject lines

Do check for spam trigger words
Don’t use excessive symbols or punctuation in the subject line
Capitalization matters. Don’t use all caps in your subject lines
Don’t use subject lines that aren’t directly related to the content

2. Newsletter structure ideas

Giving your newsletter proper structure helps readers navigate and grasp the message. Logically arrange all its sections. Use headings and sub-headings to highlight key points.

Try the 3-2-1 framework, which organizes a newsletter into three main pieces of content, two supporting pieces of content, and one call-to-action. This structure is concise and interesting and compels the user to take action.

Think there’s room for improvement? You can certainly customize this framework to suit your content marketing goals and audience preferences.

For example, you can include one featured story and three news story snippets, followed by a two-minute product promotion video.

3. Newsletter format ideas

Plain text emails do have their place.

However, if you plan to include elements like images, GIFs, CTA buttons, and signup forms, HTML is the best bet. It allows you to use custom fonts and placements and provides consistent display quality across clients and devices.

Make sure you format the images to load quickly and avoid horizontal scrolling on smaller screens. You don’t have to know HTML to create functional, aesthetically pleasing email newsletters though. Email marketing tools like EngageBay come with customizable email templates you can use to create amazing emails within seconds.

4. Newsletter layout ideas

When it comes to layout, a single column generally works better as it loads faster and can provide a better reader experience.

However, you should A/B test various layouts to determine which works best, especially for mobile. To improve readability and enhance the visual appeal, provide plenty of whitespace with clear and logical headings.

Also, use colors that provide a good contrast between text and background. This will make your freelance newsletter look clean and organized.

5. Newsletter content ideas

Don’t just stick to behind-the-scenes stories and product updates. The possibilities are endless when it comes to newsletter content ideas. Leverage customer reviews and social media posts and create insightful photo stories around them.

These may encourage other customers and potential clients to share their problems.

Quizzes, trivia, and humor can all be great ways to end a newsletter, as can DIY videos, movie recommendations, and event invites. Not all of these newsletter content ideas will work for everyone. To find the most engaging ideas, run a poll on the pages of your newsletter and/or social media.

We’ll discuss more content ideas in the next section.

6. Newsletter design ideas

An appealing header can encourage readers to engage with your newsletter. It’s often the first thing readers see upon opening an email. Consistent branding — colors, logos, taglines, fonts, images, and graphics — plays a key role in engaging readers and keeping spam checkers at bay.

Most brands prefer minimalist layouts with high-contrast fonts for easy readability.

You can use large CTA buttons and/or lines to demarcate individual sections. Interactive GIFs and animations are a great way to draw attention to sponsored posts and email sign-up forms.

Finally, A/B test each element to ensure it’s responsive across devices. Send your email to a seed list to check for rendering and grammatical errors.

10 Must-Try Newsletter Ideas for Freelancers and Solopreneurs

Every so often, you’re going to run out of things to talk about in your email newsletter. When that happens, you can use some of these newsletter ideas to find your groove again:

1. Testimonial-based newsletter

As a freelancer, you probably already have a testimonials page on your website, and it might be bringing in traffic, too.

Why not create one for your newsletter and let customers do the talking for you? Testimonials can have a powerful impact on conversion and repeat purchases.

Why?

They are seen as more authentic and trustworthy. Provide some background so readers can better understand the problem referenced in the testimonial and how your product solved it.

Think of it like a mini case study covering your success stories.

While building up to the CTA, highlight the features the client found most useful and then deliver the offer.

2. Story-based email newsletter

Stories have a pull factor that facts alone can’t match.

They can be a great way to build a personal bond and encourage people to engage with your newsletter. Some examples could be employee profiles, updates from the founder, community outreach events, etc.

You can turn everyday events into riveting stories with a little imagination. The key is to use compelling images, quotes, and statistics to make long feature stories more engaging.

3. QnA email newsletter

You probably already have an FAQ page to address product-related queries.

However, your team might still get those same questions off and on from customers — if not via email, then on social media, at least.

If you can answer one FAQ a week via your email newsletter, it’s likely to help countless other customers who may have the same question.

As a bonus, you might have higher engagement.

4. Quick pitch email newsletter

Picture this: Your offer expires in 6 hours, and you want to make one last pitch to convert those still on the fence.

A quick pitch email can get the job done.

Rather than answering individual objections one-on-one, create a special edition newsletter to answer the last-minute objections, doubts, and apprehensions as your product launch campaign enters its final leg.

You can later repurpose it into a downloadable lead magnet and create a landing page.

5. Educational email newsletter

You may have encountered dozens of blogs and articles of the ‘7 Deadly Sins’ and ‘Debunking Myths’ type. These try to address not just surface objections but the underlying (and often inaccurate) beliefs that influence a customer’s decision-making process.

A newsletter can be a great medium for this type of educational content, too.

You can dedicate a section of your newsletter to providing credible facts and figures to challenge unrealistic beliefs. Filter your emails and social media comments to find the most frequent objections.

You can then use testimonials and reviews to debunk them.

6. Behind-the-scenes newsletter

Think of this as a way of connecting with your ‘inner circle’ or loyal customer base.

Sharing behind-the-scenes updates, product roadmaps, celebrating promotions or updates from conferences, etc., can keep them informed and engaged. You can create two or more versions – a full-length version for your best customers and a shorter version for the regular ones.

That way, you’ll be able to get more engagement out of the same piece of content.

7. Movie-themed newsletter

You probably use metaphors in your emails all the time. For a change, try movie references in your subject lines and introductions. Your audience should relate to these references immediately.

With some creativity, you can churn out an entire newsletter based on movie-related themes.

Research movie quotes that sync well with your messaging or create stories featuring movie characters or avatars. Make sure to check for copyright issues!

8. Holiday-themed newsletter

Monthly holiday-themed or awareness-based email newsletters are another evergreen option. Each month of the year has many national and international awareness days and ‘health days’ you can leverage for an endless supply of topics.

For example: Mental Health Day (October 10) and National Insurance Awareness Day (June 28). Another variation is the ‘this day in history’ theme, highlighting important historical events that occurred on the same day in years past. Want more newsletter ideas?

We recently did a whole series of posts on monthly email newsletter campaigns. Here’s one of them.

9. Interview-based newsletter

Interview-based podcasts featuring credentialed experts sharing insights into real-world problems are popular today. If you already have a podcast, you can spin off interesting episodes into informative newsletters with added context for specific points discussed in them.

Alternatively, you can summarize the key points from pre-recorded interviews and present them as a newsletter. Include a link to your newsletter in your podcast notes and vice versa to cross-promote both.

You can do an interview-based newsletter series from time to time for variety.

10. Blog newsletter

You can also use a newsletter to promote a blog if you have one.

This can be a great way to boost those open rates and click-through rates. Write a quick background story to promote topics you plan to post and invite comments and feedback from your audience. Based on the comments, you may be able to add more value to a topic and identify new ideas.

Conclusion

An engaging email newsletter can help you build a community of loyal fans over time.

That said, manually working on your newsletter is not a good idea. The process is a lot easier with email marketing tools like EngageBay, which lets you validate new ideas, design the perfect newsletter, personalize, and automate your campaigns. You can also choose from dozens of pre-built email templates for various occasions.