The Value of an Email Community
I started my business in 2014, but I didn't start my first email list until 2021. I'd often thought about doing it, but I had enough work coming in so it was never a priority.
But in 2021, I decided to give it a go. I set up an email platform, created a sign-up form and started promoting my daily email on social media. I had around 20 subscribers when I sent my first email.
It might not sound like many, but that's 20 people who were interested in hearing from me every day. I think that's pretty exciting.
And that's the thing about email marketing - you don't need huge numbers straight away.
After I launched, I continued promoting my emails and my subscriber numbers slowly grew. But, more importantly, my emails started winning me new clients.
People booked consultations and signed up to my mentoring programme after following my emails for a while. And when I launched a new course, I had sign-ups from day one.
Social media was helping me attract subscribers, but my emails allowed me to really connect with them.
Changing my strategy
I wrote those daily emails for over three years, I enjoyed it, and it was an important part of my marketing strategy.
But by the end of 2024, my marketing was in a muddle and I needed to make some changes.
I'd separated my business in two and started a hobby blog. And although I had three different websites, I was trying to promote all three things through the same channels. As a result, my emails were trying to appeal to too many audiences.
I needed to separate the content (and my email list), and I needed to rethink my content marketing strategy.
I started doing a bit of research. Substack seemed to be the publishing platform most people were talking about, but beehiiv and Ghost were also getting great feedback. They all sounded like they'd meet my needs, but I couldn’t decide which one to go for.
Then I had an idea.
I had three websites, three audiences, and there were three platforms I wanted to test, so why not set up email lists on each? And that’s exactly what I did.
At the start of 2025, I launched three new publications. One of them is the publication you are reading now - The Freelance Fairytale.
I'd already seen the value of email through my daily emails, but running my experiment gave me an even greater appreciation for just how important building an email community is. I genuinely believe it's one of the best marketing activities you can do as a freelancer.
Newsletters are not boring company updates
Newsletters have evolved. They are no longer boring emails full of company updates. They are relationship-builders that inform, inspire, educate, entertain, and invite conversations. People sign up to your emails because they want to hear from you. They are interested in what you have to say or in the value you offer.
With so much AI slop filling our feeds, social media is becoming less and less appealing. If you want quality content, you need a way to curate content that is actually valuable to you.
And that's where email subscriptions come in. You can sign up to hear from people you actually want to hear from. You can fill your inbox with stuff that's relevant, useful, or entertaining.
I know people who have a dedicated email account for newsletters or people who have dedicated folders in their inbox for email newsletters. They set aside time to read them instead of scrolling aimlessly on social media. Their inbox is essentially a curated feed of content they care about.
Those people could be your ideal clients. You could be sending them content they actually want to read.
You won't be just another face in their social media feed and you won't be reliant on algorithms putting your content in front of them.
And every time you send an email, they will see your message. They might not open it. They might not read it. But your name will be consistently popping up in their inbox, keeping you front of mind and making sure you are there when they are ready to buy.
So if you've been telling yourself writing regular emails will be too much extra work or that nobody wants to read your mundane company updates, it might be time to rethink your priorities.
And if you have no idea how to get started, you're in luck because I've written an entire book to help you.
How to Build an Email Community
A Guide for Small Business Owners
If you’re a small business owner, you do your own marketing and you don’t have an email list, this book is for you. It’s a short, concise guide that will show you why having an email list is so valuable, how you can build one without huge investments of time or money, and how to turn subscribers into paying clients.
Or if you'd prefer something more hands-on, why not book a 90-minute planning session with me.
