As your podcast grows, you might start to feel disconnected from your audience. Particularly when it comes to marketing your content, social media posts or pay-per-click ads can seem impersonal and un-engaging.

Fortunately, creating a newsletter can be an effective way to share updates with your podcast audience. You can use this type of email marketing to connect with your subscribers directly, while also driving more traffic to your WordPress website.

In this post, we’ll give you an overview of email marketing and why you should consider starting a newsletter for your podcast. Then we’ll show you how to do it in four simple steps. Let’s get started!

Why You Should Consider Creating a Newsletter for Your Podcast

Email marketing is an advertising technique where you send messages directly to your audience’s inboxes. About 4 billion people have an email address, so many businesses use this type of marketing to generate more sales and leads.

For example, you can use email marketing to direct users to your online store. If you offer podcast-related merchandise, email marketing campaigns can increase revenue, strengthen brand awareness, and improve customer loyalty.

However, your podcast audience likely won’t want to see promotional content all the time. Plus, what if you don’t sell anything directly?

No matter your podcast’s focus or niche, you can also consider creating an email newsletter. Rather than being transactional in nature, these messages are designed to inform and engage subscribers:

A newsletter can benefit your podcast because it:

• Builds a connection with your audience, without pushing them to make purchases
• Strengthens your podcast’s authority
• Directs subscribers to your content
• Creates a feeling of exclusivity

There are no limits to the content you might include in your newsletter. Whether you educate your audience with industry news or simply update them with new podcast episodes, running a newsletter is a great way to start forming a community.

How to Create a Podcast Newsletter (In 4 Easy Steps)

As you can see, email newsletters have many potential benefits. Let’s discuss how to create one for your podcast!

Step 1: Create a Clear Plan

First, you’ll want to decide on a mailing list schedule. If you’re sending both marketing emails and newsletters, it’s important to know ahead of time how often you’ll send each.

Keep in mind that it’s possible to send too many marketing emails. Your listeners probably won’t want to be bombarded with promotional content for your podcast.

On the other hand, it’s important to regularly update your audience. A weekly newsletter is often the perfect balance. However, what’s most important is that you choose a schedule you feel you can meet.

Then, consider creating a reward for people who sign up. Opt-in bonuses such as coupon codes or free gifts can be great incentives for new subscribers. For example, diyMFA offers starter kits to anyone who registers for its newsletter:

Be sure to think through your goals for this marketing campaign as well. It’s much easier to create a blueprint for your newsletter if you know what you want to achieve ahead of time. For example, if you want to direct more traffic to your website, you could mention and link to your latest blog posts in your messages.

Step 2: Collect Email Addresses

Now you’ll need to create a list of your subscribers’ email addresses. For this process, we recommend using the free email plugin MailPoet:

With this tool, you can easily create and send newsletters and welcome emails using pre-built templates. Thanks to the drag-and-drop editor, you can quickly transform any email into a custom newsletter for your podcast. In this article, we only review one plugin/service, but there are dozens of other providers like Mailchimp, ConvertKit and others that can help you get going with your newsletter projcet.

To get started, first download and activate the MailPoet plugin in WordPress. To create a new list, navigate to MailPoet > Lists > Add New.

Give the list a name and add a description. The description is for your personal use, so your subscribers won’t see it:

After saving your list, you’ll want to add a signup form to your website. This way, you can grow your mailing list by generating leads directly from your web traffic.

To do this, go to MailPoet > Forms > Add New. Next, choose a pop-up template. For this example, we’ve used the newsletter template:

Under the Form settings, select your newsletter mailing list. Then you can decide whether your form will show a custom message or redirect to a new page. You can continue to customize the font, background color, and other visual settings as needed:

After you’ve made your changes, click on Save.

Step 3: Design Your Newsletter Template

When you’re ready to create your first newsletter, it’s time to design the template you’ll use for each message. In WordPress, navigate to MailPoet > Emails. Click on Create under the Newsletter option:

This will automatically bring up many available newsletter templates to get you started. Fortunately, with MailPoet, you never have to design a newsletter from scratch:

In the editor, you can easily drag and drop text boxes and images into your chosen template. Then you can adjust the headers, footers, and spacing to create your custom design:

One way to create a unique newsletter is to add your podcast’s logo or a custom newsletter banner. This way, your readers will immediately know that the email is from you.

Step 4: Create Your Newsletter’s Content

Now you can write your newsletter’s content. No matter what information you include, it’s important to maximize readability. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Use short paragraphs
• Feature short subject lines
• Personalize your messages by including first names
• Be concise

Ultimately, you’ll want subscribers to enjoy reading your newsletter. Including all of these elements can make your email more personal, interesting, and engaging.

In each newsletter, you might also include a call to action to direct visitors to your podcast, website, or social media profiles. If you plan to include the same message in each newsletter, you can save it as a part of your template.

MailPoet enables you to preview your email as it will appear on desktop or mobile devices. You can also email the newsletter to yourself and check for any formatting errors before officially sending it:

When you’re finished creating your newsletter, you can either send it immediately, save it as a draft, or schedule it to send later.

Conclusion

Choosing the right marketing strategy for your podcast can be a difficult task. However, designing a weekly newsletter is a smart way to promote new podcast episodes, educate your audience, and form an exclusive community. With the MailPoet plugin, you can easily create custom newsletters using pre-designed templates and a drag-and-drop editor.

To recap, here are the four steps to creating an email newsletter for your podcast:

1. Create a clear plan.
2. Collect email addresses.
3. Design your newsletter template.
4. Create your newsletter content.

Browse our blog to learn more effective marketing strategies for your podcast!