Being a better marketer or influencer is about more than just sending emails, getting leads, and making sales. You'll get better results when you take a closer look at what other marketers are doing. That's how you can learn how to tell great stories, create remarkable user experiences, and never stop mastering new marketing skills - or at least get some marketing inspiration you can use.
But as anyone who's ever tried to build up their marketing chops can tell you, it isn't easy.
Sometimes you need a useful list to help you on your way.
So here are 33 of the best email newsletters to subscribe to if you want to fast-track your path to being a better marketer. And the newsletters on this list don't just cover marketing! You'll see examples from across industries and niches that will expand your knowledge as a person so you can take that knowledge and create bigger, better, and brighter marketing campaigns.
Why Subscribe to Email Newsletters?
There are tons of reasons to subscribe to email newsletters. For starters, email newsletters are a great way to get up-to-date information about your industry. You'll hear from thought leaders in your niche who share the knowledge you need to perform better. Plus, in newsletters, you'll find tools, trends, and tips you can use in your own business or life.
No matter what the topic, email newsletters give you insight into what other marketers are doing and what consumers are expecting. When you can internalize and apply this information you'll find that it's a much faster approach than conducting your own research. This is particularly beneficial for influencer marketing, and particularly to popular influencers who may have clients in several different industries.
Best Email Newsletters to Subscribe to
The email newsletters on this list are spread across industries and offer something for everyone. If you're an influencer or marketer, you'll find tons of inspiration you can use for your own email marketing campaigns. We've included both free and paid email newsletters to subscribe to on this list, and we're sure you won't be disappointed!
1. Influencer Marketing Hub (free)
Yours truly’s bi-weekly newsletter covers the most important and trending topics and insights from the influencer marketing and overall digital marketing industry. You’ll also get access to inspiring case studies and guides.
The newsletter is highly customizable which means you can look forward to a wide range of content delivered to your inbox every second Thursday. It’s bullet point and emoji-heavy making it engaging and easier to digest than that high-in-fiber breakfast you promised your body you would enjoy. If there’s a topic that you would like to explore further, just click on one of the many links for easy reference.
2. Total Annarchy from Ann Handley (free)
Ann Handley is a brilliant marketer and her biweekly email newsletter reflects that. She covers industry updates, trends, events, media recommendations, writing tips, and personal stories in her newsletter. The email newsletter is a great example to follow because Handley makes a real effort to connect with her subscribers and doesn’t just throw out dry information.
3. Vox Sentences (free)
Vox Sentences is essentially a daily news briefing, covering major news stories and breaking them into easy-to-consume bullet points. Content ranges from top news stories to fun stories from Vox and elsewhere around the internet. While the newsletter is bullet-point heavy, you can always click through to get more in-depth.
4. Stratechery (paid)
Cost: $15/month or $150/year.
Stratechery from Ben Thompson is one of the email newsletters to subscribe to if you’re interested in business, technology, and media analysis. The newsletter is delivered three times each week and covers everything from venture capital to the Big Four to the future of business and media. It’s considered one of the most trusted sources for tech industry insiders.
5. Letters from an American (freemium)
Cost: Free newsletter. Access to discussions costs $5/month.
Letters from an American is a daily email newsletter that examines today’s news through the lens of American history. It’s created by Heather Cox Richardson who has a Ph.D. from Harvard and is a professor at Boston College who has researched politics and American history for decades.
If you want a daily roundup of the day’s political news broken down by someone who not only understands it but can explain it, this is worth a subscribe. Letters from an American also offers a paid discussion forum on Substack for $5/month.
6. REI (free)
REI is a recreational sports outfitter with an email newsletter that is primarily designed to promote their products. It’s made its way onto this list of email newsletters to subscribe to because of the way REI promotes products. They’re pretty brilliant at it, interspersing product promotion with good, useful content. If you run an eCommerce business, take note!
7. The Daily Carnage (free)
The Daily Carnage is a curated list of marketing content delivered to your inbox every day for free. You’ll get marketing content across channels and categories, including podcasts, blogs and articles, videos, polls and surveys, and images. If you want to explore a topic more thoroughly just click-through.
8. NextDraft (free)
Every day, Dave Pell delivers a curated list of the ten most interesting stories he found on the internet. Pell’s copywriting is what makes this one of the best newsletters to subscribe to—he’s witty, funny, and punny. If you’re looking for inspiration to improve your copywriting, pay attention to NextDraft.
9. Sinocism (paid)
Cost: $15/month or $168/year. Discounts are available for groups and students.
Sinocism is the authority on Chinese news and how it impacts the rest of the world. This paid email newsletter is delivered four times each week and is trusted by diplomats, policymakers, investors, executives, journalists, and academics. If you’re interested in learning more about what goes into creating a successful paid email newsletter and how to write to a specific audience, this newsletter is worth a look.
10. Morning Brew (free)
Morning Brew is a daily email newsletter that covers the latest in business, financial, and tech news. In addition to Morning Brew, they also offer Emerging Tech Brew, Retail Brew, Marketing Brew, and Sidekick newsletters. This newsletter is geared towards Millennial readers and has an engaging, sometimes snarky, friendly tone. Morning Brew was purchased by Business Insider in October 2020, so we’ll have to see what that means for the newsletters.
11. Austin Kleon (free)
Austin Kleon sends out an email about 10 things he found interesting and worth sharing. This weekly email has a beautifully simple email template that’s heavy on text. What makes this email newsletter worth it is Kleon’s friendly tone. His writing is informal and makes you feel like you’re hearing from a friend. This is harder than it sounds for email marketing and it’s worth signing up for interesting news and a better understanding of how to write to your one reader.
12. Smart Insights (free)
If you’re a marketing professional, Smart Insights is an email newsletter you’re going to want to subscribe to. In this weekly email newsletter, you’ll get information about marketing best practices, hot topics, new research, and the facts and statistics to back them up.
13. NPR's Life Kit (free)
NPR’s Life Kit is a free weekly newsletter that includes a broad range of topics like education, journalism, art, parenting, personal finance, health, and more. This is an excellent email newsletter to subscribe to if you’re looking for interesting topics to talk about or share on social media.
14. The Weekly Dish (paid)
Cost: $5/month or $50/year.
This weekly political email newsletter is brought to you by former New York Magazine columnist Andrew Sullivan. It takes on topics like race, religion, gender, sexuality, and class.
15. HubSpot's Marketing Blog (free)
HubSpot is a marketing powerhouse. In this marketing-focused email newsletter, you’ll get access to hot industry topics like how to use a variety of marketing channels, how to create better content, and more.
16. The Hustle (free)
The Hustle is a daily email newsletter that focuses on teaching readers to make smart business decisions. It has an entertaining tone and is just as full of puns as it is extremely valuable information.
17. Buffer's Social Media Newsletter (free)
Buffer’s Social Media Newsletter packs a punch. It’s a weekly newsletter that includes all the latest social media news across social media platforms, as well as detailing tools and trends.
18. Heated (paid)
Cost: $8/month
Heated is brought to you by Emily Atkin, a former staff writer at The New Republic. This email newsletter comes out four times each week and includes all the news you need to know about the climate change crisis.
19. InVision (free)
InVision’s weekly email newsletter includes a digest of their best blog content for the week as well as a great mix of other content. It’s easy-to-read and mobile-friendly, even though it does include GIFs and images. Their CTAs are brilliant and offer email marketers some inspiration for their own emails.
20. Hurry Slowly (free)
Hurry Slowly is a twice-monthly email newsletter from writer Jocelyn K. Glei that includes actionable ideas on how to be more creative and resilient. And, it’s also a podcast!
21. Welcome to Hell World (paid)
Cost: $6.65/month
Creator of Welcome to Hell World, Luke O’Neil, is a Boston-based writer and reporter who provides stream-of-conscious reporting on the various reasons people have to be angry at any given moment. He includes original interviews, guest posts, exhibits, and tweets in his content. Newsletters are sent out multiple times each week.
22. Moz Top 10 (free)
If you’re in marketing, you’ve heard of Moz. In this biweekly newsletter, Moz shares SEO and digital marketing insights through sharing 10 articles in every newsletter that dive into each topic.
23. Discourse Blog (paid)
Cost: $8/month or $85/year.
Discourse Blog is a leftist politics and culture blog and newsletter started by the former staff of Splinter. They write about political movements, the inept Democratic establishment, the conservative death cult, labor and worker rights, and the cultural moments that shape the national conversation.
24. MarketingProfs (free)
In this email newsletter from the team at MarketingProfs, you’ll get tons of marketing news, tips, and tricks delivered to your inbox daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly—all depending on how you want to receive it.
25. Granted (free)
Granted is an email newsletter from Wharton professor and author Adam Grant. Each month, Grant shares a roundup of the best business content from around the internet.
26. Popular Information (paid)
Cost: $6/month
Popular Information is another political commentary blog. It’s published four days each week and provides a way to learn about politics that steers clear of conspiracy theories.
27. Non-Obvious Insights (free)
Non-Obvious Insights is similar to Below the Fold but with a focus on marketing content. This weekly newsletter highlights interesting and important marketing content that hasn’t gotten much traction.
28. TheSkimm (free)
TheSkimm is a daily email newsletter that helps subscribers stay on top of everything that’s going on in the world, one short paragraph at a time.
29. Medium (free)
Medium is a content marketing platform that launched in 2012 and has become quite popular with the blogging community. Each day, Medium sends out an email newsletter that offers a roundup of the best content posted on Medium based on your interests.
30. NYTimes Morning Briefing (free)
Cost: $1/week
The NYTimes Morning Briefing summarizes the top news stories each day and includes a list of features that are worth the time investment to read. The goal: keeping you up-to-date on what’s going on in the world around you.
31. Litmus (free)
If you’re an email marketer, Litmus is one of the best email newsletters to subscribe to. Every week you’ll get tips and tricks that will help you improve your email marketing.
32. General Assembly (free)
General Assembly provides exclusive content from experts in business, technology, and design that you won’t find anywhere else.
33. SaaS Weekly (free)
Software as a Service (SaaS) is huge. If this is your industry, this is the email newsletter you need. You’ll get tons of information about marketing growth, business, and products, as well as excellent tips.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are email newsletters?
Email newsletters are regular updates sent via email to a list of subscribers. They typically contain curated content, news, tips, and insights related to specific topics or industries, aimed at keeping readers informed and engaged.
How can subscribing to newsletters improve my marketing skills?
Subscribing to newsletters allows you to access valuable insights, industry trends, and expert advice. This continuous learning can enhance your knowledge, inspire new ideas, and help you stay updated on best practices in marketing.
Are email newsletters free to subscribe to?
Most email newsletters are free, although some may offer premium content or exclusive access for a fee. It’s common for marketers to provide free newsletters to build their audience and establish authority in their field.
How often do newsletters typically get sent?
The frequency of newsletters varies widely. Some are sent daily, while others may be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. The frequency often depends on the content type and the audience's preferences.
What types of content can I expect in marketing newsletters?
Marketing newsletters may include articles, case studies, industry news, tips and tricks, how-to guides, interviews with experts, and curated resources. The content is designed to provide value and actionable insights to readers.
