What should you put in a newsletter?

It’s one thing to hear that a newsletter is a great way to stay in touch with your audience. Or to hear the frequently-cited email marketing statistics about how you can get back $40 for every dollar you spend.

But when you sit down to create newsletter content, what should you include?

How can you keep readers engaged with email newsletters? How do you come up with new content ideas? How do you make a good newsletter that speaks to your target audience—but also helps promote your product or service?

There are a lot of different reasons you might consider sending a newsletter.

• Email newsletters can be part of your email marketing program
• A company newsletter can be used for marketing or recruiting
• An employee newsletter can improve internal communication
• A blog newsletter can share your latest blog posts
• A product newsletter can include information about product updates

And so on.

But whether you’re using your newsletter for marketing or anything else—you need to come up with newsletter ideas.

If you find yourself wondering “what should be in a newsletter,” wonder no more! This post will give you 27 newsletter ideas. It’s got fun ideas, ideas for events, ideas for social media and blogging, and more.

Here are 27 newsletter ideas that will help you keep readers engaged.

1. How-to guides
2. Blog posts
3. Top 10 lists for [topic]
4. Roundup newsletter
5. Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
6. Interviews with an expert
7. Ask me anything
8. Cool, unexpected ways to use your product
9. Tweet of the week
10. Behind the scenes content
11. Slice of life stories
12. Holiday newsletter
13. Event invitations
14. Event recaps
15. Pictures of an event you went to
16. Upcoming trade shows, panels, charity drives
17. Industry news
18. Hot take on the news
19. Press coverage or guest posts
20. New product announcements
21. Job postings
22. Social media contests and giveaways
23. Limited-time coupon codes
24. Referral rewards program
25. A thank you email (letter from the CEO)
26. A poll or survey
27. Customer stories and reviews

How to share valuable newsletter content

The first type of newsletter idea is also the most important—add value.

Your newsletter is a way for you to stay in touch with your audience. In fact, it’s one of the best ways—the one-on-one communication made possible by email marketing is hard to get on social media and other places.

The best way to stay in touch? Free resources that help your readers solve their problems.

1. How-to guides

Most newsletters exist because their readers have problems that need solving. That’s why someone signs up for a newsletter in the first place. Step-by-step, in-depth guides are incredibly valuable resources—and a great thing to send in your newsletter.

2. Blog posts

Share your latest blog post! When a blog post is published, email is one of the best ways to promote it.

After all, your email list is a group of people that’s already interested in what you have to say!

That’s a screenshot of content marketer Andy Crestodina’s Google Analytics, which he shared in this talk. You can see the initial traffic bump that email promotion gives blog posts.

3. Top 10 lists for [topic]

What are the 10 best pieces of content on a specific topic that matters to your audience? Top 10 lists are valuable because they’re fun to read (“ooh, which one’s the best?”) and because they’re easy to reference later.

4. Roundup newsletter

Have you published a lot of content recently? Have your tweets been on fire? Do you have a lot of different updates to share? Or maybe there’s an exciting piece of news in your industry—that a lot of people have covered?

If you have a lot of information to include in a newsletter—but no one piece is enough to have its own newsletter—consider doing a roundup.

5. Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

You probably get a lot of the same questions over and over. Or your support team does. Or customer service. Or sales.

The point is—it’s not that hard to get a list of frequently asked questions. You can look in your email inbox, talk to other teams, or take a look at live chat logs.

Then answer those questions in a newsletter.

What’s great about this newsletter idea is that it can help save you time in other places.

6. Interviews with an expert

Expert interviews are great pieces of content. Especially if you have a “household name” expert (or at least someone well known to your subscribers), share an interview in an email!

7. Ask me anything

One of the easiest ways to get newsletter content is to let your subscribers ask you anything.

An Ask Me Anything (or AMA) done over email is simple—you put out a call for questions, then invite people to respond.

Then you…answer them. In an email. An email newsletter.

Hiten Shah did a version of this when he opened himself up to free coaching calls. The results show how popular this approach to newsletter ideas can be.

He got lots of sign-ups and interest

8. Cool, unexpected ways to use your product

Sometimes, people come up with really cool ways to use the products or tools that you give them.

Whether you came up with a cool, counterintuitive way to use something—or you heard of one from a customer—sharing these tips with your broader newsletter list is great content.

We did this ourselves when we put together a blog post on 8 creative uses for our CRM (other than sales).

Fun newsletter content ideas

Not every newsletter needs to be “useful.” Sometimes it’s enough to be fun.

The world can be serious! People don’t want to be serious all the time—and putting a fun foot forward can help your brand.

9. Tweet of the week

How are people on Twitter so funny?

It’s kind of amazing the stuff you can find on Twitter. There are people at the top of every industry sharing nuggets of wisdom…and people sharing ridiculous, hilarious stories.

Either one can make for a great newsletter.

10. Behind-the-scenes

Have you done something cool recently? Gone to an event, or done a cool launch or project at your business?

Show behind the scenes!

People love a peek behind the curtain.

11. Slice-of-life stories

Just like people love behind the scenes, people love “slice-of-life” stories.

You have a life outside your business. And that life is full of material—can you connect something that happened in your life to a principal that you believe in at your business?

12. Holiday newsletter

The holidays are here!

Which holiday? Who knows! Holidays in general are a great opportunity to share some fun, holiday-themed content (and maybe even a promotion).

Event newsletter ideas

In event marketing, the event itself is only half the game. The other half is all the other marketing you can get out of attending an event.

That can mean social media posts (especially Instagram). It might mean interviews or speaker quotes.

And it can mean newsletter content.

13. Event invitations

First up—if you’re running an event, invite the people on your newsletter!

These are the people who have specifically signed up to hear from you. Promoting your event to them is one of the best ways to promote your event, period.

14. Event recaps

What if you aren’t running the event? Putting together an event recap is an awesome way to increase your reach.

The people on your list can see what the event was like. And if you publish an event recap fast enough (so that you’re first, or one of the few) you can get some extra attention from the influencers at the event.

15. Pictures of an event you went to

A full event recap might not be your highest priority for an event. It takes time and effort to pump out recaps quickly—but you can always share the pictures!

16. Upcoming trade shows, panels, charity drives

Some events aren’t yours to invite people to. But other events are open to the public or otherwise affordable. Promote away!

If you’re going to an event, announce it to your list in a newsletter! You might even be able to meet up with some of your subscribers in person.
Exciting news about your industry or business
Who says you need to be the one to come up with the content that goes in a newsletter?

The world creates content every day just by happening. It’s the news! Sharing news from around your industry or within your company is a fast way to get good newsletter ideas.

17. Industry news

Did something big happen in your industry? Something small-but-interesting? Go ahead and share it in a newsletter!

It doesn’t matter that you didn’t create this content. For your subscribers, knowing what news you’re paying attention to has its own value.

18. Hot take on the news

Even better than just sharing the news—share your perspective on it.

People follow you because they want to hear what you have to say. So go ahead and comment on the most recent news in your industry.

19. Press coverage or guest posts

Have you been in the news at all? That could mean a team member going on a TV show, or just having a blog post of your appear on another blog. Either way, tell your subscribers!

20. New product announcements

Do you have a new product or service? Don’t forget to tell your subscribers! People who have signed up to hear from you (or even better, bought from you before) are the most likely to buy from you again.

21. Job postings

Are you hiring? Don’t forget to tell your newsletter list!

The people on your newsletter are already familiar with your business and voice. If the right person is on your list, it could make your recruiting process much easier.

Share a promotion

If you have a limited time promotion, your newsletter is one of the fastest ways to spread the word. Here are a few newsletter ideas related to giveaways and promotions.

22. Social media contests and giveaways

Social media contests are a common list building tactic. Give people on your list a chance to win a prize by posting about you on social media (and grant additional entries for each friend they get to sign up). Boom. Bigger newsletter list!

23. Limited-time coupon codes

Flash sale! It’s possible to go too far with scarcity marketing, but offering short-term discounts definitely can increase the number of sales you get in the short term.

24. Referral rewards program

You existing customers are your best advocates! Offer a bonus or discount in exchange for having them refer new customers.

Content about or related to your customers

Every so often, it’s worth talking directly to your customers about the fact that they’re on your email list. Here are a few newsletter ideas related to that.

25. A thank you email (letter from the CEO)

Thank your audience! You subscribers are important to your business, and it’s important to say thank you. A lot of companies make this type of newsletter a letter from the CEO—which is a great way to show how accessible you are as a business.

26. A poll or survey

Your newsletter subscribers are a great source of information. Great marketing comes from audience research, and occasionally surveying your email list is a great idea.

27. Customer stories and reviews

Do you have customers who are absolutely crushing it? Share their story.

People want to hear about other people who are doing well. Customer stories are some of the most convincing pieces of content you can produce. Create great case studies and share them in your newsletter.

Conclusion: Newsletter ideas don’t need to be fancy

Your newsletter ideas don’t need to be elaborate or time-intensive.

Remember that people who sign up for your newsletter want to hear from you. These ideas will help you give them what they want.