The 5 Marketing Newsletters You Shouldn’t Ignore

I used to emphatically hate newsletters.

Who needs more email spam, right? At least, that’s what I used to believe when I would come across the idea of subscribing to another marketing newsletter. As it turns out, this was merely half true.

A lot of newsletters are indeed low quality, spammy attempts to make money or build an audience. But then, there are a few that are not.

Finding the needles in the haystack is not necessarily quick or easy. Nevertheless, it is worth it. In the pursuit of great inspiration, actionable insight and interesting information, here are the newsletters we’ve come to find are most helpful in one way or another — indeed worthy of a subscription.

1. Indie Letters

This is one newsletter that runs the gamit of marketing value. It contains interesting articles, media and insights that are uniquely crafted and especially helpful to an indie business owner or entrepreneur who needs to know what is going on in their world.

Indie Letters goes out around twice a week — that may be overkill for some, while not enough for others. Either way, they are always filled with entertaining and interesting tidbits which makes it a must-read and staple for most marketers.

To check out Indie Letters, click here.

2. Marketing Examples

Marketing Examples is one of the most underrated newsletters on the internet, period. It’s one of the only newsletters we consistently look forward to. On a bi-monthly basis, Harry does a fantastic job of providing unique content that engages and inspires.

Whether it’s a unique branding lesson or interesting case study, the content is almost always actionable and motivational to say the least, especially for a copywriter or ad creative who needs new perspectives and ideas on how to execute better campaigns. Frankly, we’re surprised he doesn’t charge for it.

To check out Marketing Examples, click here.

3. The Hustle

The Hustle is one of most well-known marketing newsletters out there, and with good reason. They deliver quality on a consistent, daily basis. Beyond the generic tech news most provides, The Hustle also does detailed breakdowns of intriguing and peculiar business models. They analyze how a certain business model works, what seems to be trending, who are the emerging players in the space, as well as how a change in the market could affect you.

One day the topic at hand could be about vending machines — another day about flavored peanut butter. The Hustle doesn’t just highlight an industry and move on, they go all in with original research and historical context you may have missed, and most importantly, are transparent with the real numbers and economics most marketers and business owners want to leave out.

To check out The Hustle, click here.

4. Marketing on Monday

If you work in marketing, a list of helpful resources to start the week off right is always appreciated. As the name suggests, every Monday you will receive the latest issue i.e. a careful curation of the 10 best links on the marketing web for the past week — 5 articles + 5 apps. No long, drawn out introductions and editorialization. No opinions and speculation. Just the quality content you’ve signed up for.

Over 400 sources and RSS feeds are analyzed in order to find the most interesting articles, and over 100 apps are reviewed for inclusion. In case you are wondering how I know all of this, it’s because I happen to be the curator! With all bias aside, however, it is the newsletter I always wished to have as a consumer and am confident it provides a great deal of value for its readers — whether you operate in SEO, PPC, CRO or anything in between.

To check out Marketing on Monday, click here.

5. Trends.vc

Trends is one of the less-touted newsletters out there, but happens to be one of the best. Dru genuinely lives up to his newsletters’ claim of “50+ hours of market research in 5-minute reports”. These jam-packed, informative emails explore a new trend each week, diving into their approach and evolution.

Whether the topic is profit sharing, mini-marketplaces or subscription DTC, Trends always has content that will have you consuming it from top to bottom. Each newsletter covers the initial problem, along with the solutions that have been created to solve it and where there still lies an opportunity for an agile player to enter the market if they so desire. If you are interesting in rising markets and inspirational ideas, this is the one for you.

To check out Trends.vc, click here.

Final Thought

While there are obviously more than 5 great newsletters out there, the concept of ‘newsletter fatigue’ is real and self-evident. After a while, they all begin to blur from a passive interest into a constant chore — something to continually tick off your never ending list of things to do. The aforementioned examples, however, are a great start and should keep you informed, educated and entertained for a long time to come!