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Writer's pictureJohn Brandt

Why newsletters like “The Hustle” don’t work

I’ve noticed a trend happening to some of the newsletters I subscribe to (and some of which I’d say are in my “target market”). 


The trend? 


Creating newsletters that mimic the style of The Hustle’s daily newsletter.


So, let me sit down in my “armchair psychologist” chair, pontificate about why I think this is happening, explain why this style of newsletter doesn’t work, and offer a better alternative. 


Checky:


If’n you’re unfamiliar with The Hustle and their style of newsletter, it’s a typical “newsletter” approach to email. 

Here’s what I mean: 


They offer “quick hits” on relevant articles (many of which are sponsored content). Each article or “newsworthy story” The Hustle adds gets a line or two to get your curiosity spinning and offers a link to check out the full article. 


In The Hustle, as the name implies, they link to techy, hustle culture stuff. And they’ve honed their voice in a quirky, silly yet serious kinda way that many people in the tech and startup world like to fap over. 


But here’s the thing about The Hustle… 


They make their income from sponsored content. While their newsletters get plenty of praise and applause, they aren’t persuasive. At least, not in a way that actually leads their subscribers to a buying decision. 


And it seems that they’re fooling innocent businesses in other industries to follow suit—without fully realizing how the sausage gets made. 


Instead, they see the hustle culture sciolists (h/t to Jim Clair for the word) praise the quirky, humorous tone of The Hustle, and decide to give their “quick hit newsletter” style a try. 


Here’s why I think they’re doing it: 


Since I’ve noticed this trend anecdotally, I don’t know if there’s some big bad guru tempting innocent business owners into sabotaging their email marketing or if it’s the aforementioned praise newsletters like The Hustle get. 


But here’s the thing: 


Praise-worthy advertisements usually stop at the praise. Meaning, someone noticed the “creative juice” it took to create a certain advertisement, they praise it, and then they immediately forget it. 


Good ads—which I’m defining as ads that actually result in a sale, yanno, the thing businesses are actually after with their ads—don’t get praised. They get purchases. 


Much like how a hot take can result in likes on social media and hate comments… You can’t show up to your bank, show them all the praise your ad got, and have them cash in that praise for pennies in your piggy bank. 


But praise-worthy ads and email marketing strategies dupe businesses without a bonafide email marketing strategy. 


The trend that I’m seeing in my inbox is primarily coming from businesses whose email marketing strategy only means when they’re having a certain sale or promotion. Most brands operate their email strategy at this elementary and frankly childish level. Instead of doing the hard work of learning copywriting and persuasion, they can get quick hits to their bottom line by treating their email list (which should be cherished) like a one-night stand. 


But eventually, offering promo after promo backfires:


* Your list starts to expect a discount and won’t even consider buying your products at full price


* Your list becomes more and more unengaged because there’s nothing to gain from your emails outside of getting a discount


* It encourages your worst subscribers to stay subscribed (which might sound nice on paper, but in practice, this nukes your open rates, click rates, and increases the likelihood your emails go to spam)


And many other reasons that I don't have the time to go into detail in this email. 


So, when your email strategy starts and ends with “promo” (which gets no praise, but can result in sales, even if it comes at the expense of the relationship with your list—the single most important thing in email marketing—and the devaluing of your brand), The Hustle’s “unique” approach to email marketing becomes more attractive. 


But, again, their “newsletter style” doesn’t work. At least, not in the sense that actually matters for 95% of businesses. 

For starters, The Hustle makes their chunk of change from adding sponsored content into their newsletters. They aren’t interested in making actual B2C sales—instead, they offer placements in their “widely read newsletter” to businesses. 


Here’s why this is so important: 


In a world that (wrongly) believes short copy is better because people are busy (or mayhap because they are lazy), the quick hits style of The Hustle is the epitome of short copy wins. 


Except it doesn’t. 


For my clients, I routinely write newsletters that are well over 1,000 words. Some have even been more than 2,000 words. 

Why?


Because I don’t care about word count. I care about being as persuasive as possible because that is what leads to the most sales. This is how you make email marketing work without needing to add a discount for every email you write. 


The Hustle’s style of email marketing shows you the exact wrong way to do this. But since they get praised, they trick business owners into following suit. 


I said I’d also mention a better alternative, so here goes: 


If you want to actually persuade your audience into buying something from you that enhances your life, you’re gonna either have to unlearn everything you’ve studied from The Hustle… 


Or you’re gonna need to hit reply and set up a call with your daily-ish email host. 


After confirming that I like you enough to work with you, I’ll audit your email strategy, create a new one based on proven strategies that bring in 30%, 40%, and even as high as 65% of a business’s revenue from email, and if you’re okay with paying my large fees, we’ll send your email revenue to the moooooooon. 


So, unsubscribe from The Hustle, hit reply, and call me on my bluff. 


John

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