No one can possibly sort through let alone digest all of the information that comes our way each day. But it is the Information Age and we need to keep up with the latest news and developments. That’s why we subscribe to blogs and newsletters or in the first place, right?
So if we need all that information yet we don’t have time for all of that information, what is the answer? The answer is, the curated email newsletter—a newsletter not of original content, but of content you deem worthy of putting in front subscribers.
For the recipient, the curated newsletter can be a blessing, saving them from sorting through all kinds of emails and searches to find up-to-date information. Plus a well-curated newsletter will include information they might not have come across on our own! It’s like news you can use in a nutshell. Curated newsletters can keep us informed and save us time, all at the same time. What’s not to like about that?
As for the curator of such an email newsletter, what’s not to like about pulling together content rather than creating it? Again and again, studies show that B2B businesses struggle with content creation.
With a curated newsletter, on the other hand, you’re seeking out content that’s shareworthy, which can certainly be a lot more efficient than creating content from scratch. Not only is that a huge time saver for your team, but think about the brand impression you make when you go to that kind of trouble for your audience (assuming your curating only the best stuff). That’s the kind of goodwill marketing any brand can benefit from, but especially in the B2B world where people are so challenged to keep up with news.
There are obvious benefits of a curated newsletter but, truth is, I’ve always been a huge fan. One of my all-time favorites is Hacker Newsletter, which we’ve featured before. Simply read the testimonials to see how much people appreciate the time saved by it. Another favorite, which is not tech or marketing related, is Next Draft. Where else can you find an article on turkey bowling alongside an article on the Supreme Court’s pending hearing on free speech online?
Is your business producing a curated email newsletter? If so, let me know in the comments section. I want to check it out and perhaps feature it. And if you have any suggestions for others on how to get started with this kind of newsletter approach, post those comments too.
About the Author: Scott Hardigree is Founder of Email Industries (the folks behind Indiemark, BlackBox, FormSwell and Email Critic). Connect him everywhere, here.
The Email Marketing Chronicles 
The curated newsletter is a hard sell though, I’ve found. You’re sending out an email to your customers, that has content that is applicable to them and they will no doubt be engaged, but the outbound links aren’t to your own site? That’s what’s so hard to sell about them. A lot of higher ups still look at email as a promo vehicle for yourself and should shout all about you. But they’re forgetting that, with email you’re going into someone’s inbox, and you should be delivering something they want.
You’re right Jaina, it takes a brave organization to pay goodwill forward. Some of the greatest opportunities I see for the curated newsletter is with companies that are very much community-driven (offerings like Litmus come to mind) and those that curate as a standalone service (e.g. Hacker Newsletter) or those that understand the benefits of demonstrating their niche intimacy (like SaaS Club from eFounders). Thanks, as always!
Yep, I agree with you both, Jaina & Scott – a balance between providing valuable content that (hopefully) doesn’t direct your customers to your competitors!
One that I look forward to reading (though they’re currently missing a trick by not linking directly through to more content and encouraging sharing of individual stories that reference them – though they’re working on it, I hear) is William Montgomery’s weekly “10 things you didn’t know last week” email – which whilst offering collated facts/information still furthers their own promotion effectively, too.
As a bonus, have a random fact from last week’s email 😉
“4. If you owned Apple and sold it, you could purchase the entire stock market of Russia, and still have enough change to buy every Russian an iPhone 6 Plus. The value of Russian equities has slumped $234 billion to $531 billion this year, while Apple gained $147 billion to $652 billion. Bloomberg”
You can view a copy here > http://askten.co.uk/newsletter