The Newsletter Tactic That Boosts Sales (Without Feeling Sleazy)

For a solopreneur, a newsletter is a great way to move your followers from social media over to a list that you control.

And with a direct line to your audience, you can build deeper trust and rapport, and promote your products or services. But promoting your offerings in your newsletter is a delicate dance.

If you’re too aggressive, you risk turning off your subscribers. And if you're too subtle, you’ll miss out on sales opportunities.

This is the problem we’re tackling today.

Let’s dive in.

The Problem with Traditional Newsletter Promotion

I subscribe to several newsletters to keep a pulse on the solopreneur space. And most of them struggle to find the right balance when it comes to promoting their products in their newsletters.

Some of them bombard their subscribers with constant sales pitches. I can see them coming from a mile away, and I imagine it leads to unsubscribes and decreased engagement.

Or they avoid mentioning their products at all, so they miss out on potential revenue and an opportunity to serve their ideal clients. What a shame.

And there’s another flawed approach - the newsletter writer tries to be somewhere in the middle. They’ll use tactics like:

1. Including a small, generic "P.S." at the end of every newsletter, briefly mentioning their product or service (you’ve seen me do this, and I’ll share how mine is different).
2. Dedicating an entire newsletter to a sales pitch once in a while, which can feel totally awkward and out of place. (I’ve made this mistake)

These approaches will certainly lead to more sales than never mentioning your offerings, but they can feel inauthentic.

My Counterintuitive (but Effective) Approach

So what's my solution?

It's a counterintuitive approach that I've sharpened over the last two years of writing this newsletter. And it’s pretty simple.

1. Focus on Providing Value First

Instead of leading with a sales pitch, just focus on delivering valuable, actionable content that helps your subscribers solve a problem or achieve a goal.

Every single issue of The Saturday Solopreneur aims to solve one problem or challenge that I’ve learned about from my audience. Based on feedback, I’d say most of the time I get it right.

I can tell you this: When the newsletter feedback is largely positive, I make a lot of sales and help a lot of new customers. And when I hear nothing? You guessed it. Sales don’t happen.

Bottom line: Always lead with problem-solving value.

2. Use a Combo Approach to Weave Your Products in Naturally

There’s nothing wrong with tacking on a “P.S.” at the end of your newsletter. I do it every week, but I do it a bit differently.

I use RightMessage to make sure I only show readers the products or services they have not purchased from me yet, because I don’t want to offer a reader something they already bought. This makes a newsletter more personal to you, the reader.

Next, I find ways to incorporate my offerings into my newsletter organically. Meaning, if my products can’t help solve the problem I’m writing about, I won’t cram in a mention just to sell.

I only link to my products when it makes sense in the context of the topic I’m writing about. And this keeps readers from feeling a “hard sell” every week.

3. Use a ‘Recommendation Selling’ Approach

Lastly, I like to use what’s called a “recommendation selling” approach. I got really good at this approach back in my tech days when I built sales teams.

This approach simply means giving people recommended options based on where they are in their journey.

For example, if I write a newsletter issue about growing your following on LinkedIn, it would make a lot of sense to promote my LinkedIn Operating System. But if someone already has a decent following and is trying to build their business, my Creator MBA course would be more helpful to them.

So I might write something like this:

“I hope this advice helps you solve the challenge of growing your LinkedIn audience. If you’re just getting started on LinkedIn or have been publishing content for awhile and struggling, consider my course, The LinkedIn Operating System.

Already have good traction on LinkedIn? Want use that traction to take your business to the next level? Consider my flagship product, The Creator MBA.”

Simple paragraphs like these guide readers make the best choice for them. I use phrases like “consider my product” rather than “buy my product.” See the difference?

I like to keep it soft and helpful.

Remember: You want the right person buying the right product at the right time.

Want to Start Using This Advice?

This is a simple strategy you can incorporate into your own newsletter.

Here's what to do next:

1. Review your last newsletter to identify opportunities to weave in a mention of your offering naturally.
2. Have an example demonstrating how your offering has helped someone? Weave that into the soft pitch.
3. Craft your next newsletter using the principles outlined above, focusing on value, natural product integration, and a soft selling approach.

If you don’t have a newsletter but have decent traction on social media, consider starting one. I cover how to do that in this article.

If you’re just getting started with a newsletter or have started but are struggling to get subscribers, consider The Content Operating System. I’ll teach you how to find great ideas, do research, promote it, gain subscribers, and create lots of short-form content from each newsletter issue you write.

And finally, of you already have a newsletter, and you want to integrate it into your business, consider The Creator MBA. It’s my flagship course that includes 111 lessons, covering everything I know about building a lean, profitable, one-person internet business - using tools like content and newsletters.

Or — if you’re not ready to dive in to a course yet, just get started with today’s advice.

But remember: If you want to effectively promote your products in your newsletters, you’d better prioritize providing value and building trust with your audience.

If you do, you'll create more engaging newsletters and increase the likelihood of your subscribers becoming loyal customers.

That’s all for today.

See you next week.