Everybody knows how a newsletter works. Almost nobody starts one.
"I started a bi-weekly email newsletter six years ago, and all the great things in my life have come from it." - Andrew Yeung
The story goes the same way every time. The story has three steps.
- You start a newsletter.
- You send your newsletter every week.
- Good clients show up.
Most people never get past step one. Most people never send the first newsletter.
You are not lazy. You are getting bad advice. The advice says to post on LinkedIn every day. The advice says to get on TikTok. The advice says to make short videos and long videos and podcasts. The advice says to be on every platform every day.
We call that advice the content treadmill. The content treadmill takes the hours you could spend writing one newsletter. The content treadmill takes those hours away from the people who already gave you their email address.
Here is what the content treadmill costs you right now, not next year.
Most business owners have an email list sitting somewhere. If you have an email list, your email list is forgetting you. Every week you do not send a newsletter, your email list forgets you a little more. Your email list forgets your company name. Your email list forgets what you sell. Some people on your email list will forget that they signed up at all.
Your email list cost you money and time to build. You may have paid for ads. You may have run events. You may have given away a free guide. You may have spent years meeting people. Your email list is sitting there right now. Your email list is not making you any money.
Why starting a newsletter is so hard
You are not lazy. Your real work comes first every week. Three reasons stop most people from ever sending a newsletter, and Moat Newsletters handles all three reasons for you.
Reason one: the setup comes before the writing.
Before you write one word of your newsletter, you have to pick an email tool. You have to pick a name for your newsletter. You have to pick the topics for your newsletter. You have to pick how long each newsletter should be. You make four decisions about your newsletter before you write a single word. So your newsletter turns into another project for later.
We make those four decisions for you. We pick your topics, set up your emails, and write your first issue.
Reason two: sending your newsletter every week is hard.
A lot of people start a newsletter, send two or three issues, and then stop sending the newsletter. A busy week shows up, so the newsletter waits until next week. The next week is busy too, so the newsletter waits again. Nothing is wrong with you. When your newsletter is not on a schedule and your newsletter is not somebody's job, the urgent work wins and your newsletter does not go out.
Meanwhile the popular advice says to post on every platform every day. Posting on every platform every day is more work than one newsletter a week. The social platforms keep that audience. You keep your email list.
We put your newsletter on a schedule and we take the job. Your newsletter goes out every week whether you are busy or not.
Reason three: most newsletters do not bring in clients.
Writing a newsletter people enjoy is easy. Sending a few links and a short note is easy. Writing a newsletter that gets you sales calls is a different job. Most writing advice teaches you how to make your newsletter interesting, and an interesting newsletter does not book a sales call on its own. Your newsletter can be well written and still bring you zero clients.
We write your newsletter to get you sales calls. Every issue of your newsletter asks your readers to book a call with you.
Before Moat Newsletters and after Moat Newsletters
- "Start a newsletter" has been sitting on your to-do list, and you have not written the first newsletter yet.
- Your email list does not hear from you on a schedule. Some people on your email list do not remember signing up.
- You post on social media. A few days later, almost nobody sees that post again, and you write a new post.
- On a sales call, you explain who you are and what you do from the start.
- You do good work, and a lot of the people who could hire you have never heard of you.
- Your newsletter goes out every 1 to 2 weeks. Moat Newsletters writes your newsletter and sends your newsletter.
- Some sales calls start with a person saying, "I read your newsletter."
- Your email list hears from you on a schedule. A person who is not ready to buy today still knows your name months from now.
- New clients come from people who already know you and read your newsletter.
- You do not have to post on every platform every day. You write to your own email list, and you own your own email list.
Three years from now, you get to say: "Moat Newsletters has written my newsletter every 1 to 2 weeks for three years. A lot of my clients read my newsletter before they booked a sales call."
Moat Newsletters writes and sends your newsletter for you
Moat Newsletters runs your newsletter for you. You talk for a few minutes. Moat Newsletters does all of the writing. Your newsletter goes out on the schedule you pick. Moat Newsletters runs your newsletter in two steps.
Step 1: Moat Newsletters runs one onboarding call with you. The onboarding call is 60 to 90 minutes long.
Moat Newsletters does four jobs on the onboarding call.
- Moat Newsletters asks you who your newsletter is for, and Moat Newsletters writes your answer down. Moat Newsletters also asks you what you want your newsletter to do for your business.
- Moat Newsletters records how you talk and what you say, so your newsletter sounds like you.
- Moat Newsletters sets up your email list. If you already have an email list, Moat Newsletters cleans up your email list. If you do not have an email list, Moat Newsletters builds your email list for you.
- Moat Newsletters sets up your email tool. If you do not have an email tool yet, Moat Newsletters picks an email tool and sets up your email tool for you.
Moat Newsletters also picks a send schedule with you on the onboarding call. Moat Newsletters then sends your newsletter on that schedule.
The onboarding call is the only setup call. Moat Newsletters does not ask you to join another setup call.
Step 2: Moat Newsletters runs your newsletter every week after the onboarding call.
- Moat Newsletters picks the topics for your newsletter.
- You talk for a few minutes. You can talk on a short call, or you can record a short video and send the video to Moat Newsletters.
- Moat Newsletters writes the full newsletter from what you said.
- Moat Newsletters formats your newsletter and sends your newsletter on your schedule.
- Moat Newsletters reads three numbers on your newsletter. The three numbers are opens, clicks, and replies. Moat Newsletters uses those three numbers to decide what to change in your newsletter.
Your newsletter takes 30 to 45 minutes of your time per month.
You spend 30 to 45 minutes per month on your newsletter, and the 30 to 45 minutes start after the onboarding call is finished. The 60 to 90 minute onboarding call is not counted in the 30 to 45 minutes.
Here is what you do not do:
- You do not write the first draft of your newsletter.
- You do not pick the subject line for your newsletter.
- You do not log into the email tool to send your newsletter.
You talk for a few minutes, and Moat Newsletters writes your newsletter.
You bring the knowledge. Moat Newsletters does the work.
You share what you know about your business and your customers. Moat Newsletters does the rest of the work. Moat Newsletters picks the topics for your newsletter, writes your newsletter, keeps your newsletter on schedule, and sends every issue of your newsletter.
Do the math on one client
What is one client worth to you? Add up every dollar one client pays you, from the first invoice to the last invoice. Write that number down.
Now put your number next to the monthly cost of a weekly newsletter. Your newsletter does not have to bring you a hundred clients. Your newsletter does not have to reach a huge audience. If one client is worth more to you than a year of newsletters, then one extra client a year covers the cost of a year of newsletters.
Your newsletter does not have to find new people either. You may have leads who asked about price and then went quiet. A weekly newsletter puts your name in front of those quiet leads every week. Those quiet leads already know your business. Closing one more of the leads you already have is worth the number you wrote down.
A reader who gets your newsletter every week already knows your name. That reader already knows what your business does. A person who has never heard of your business does not know your name, and that person does not know what your business does. A sales call with a reader takes less explaining than a sales call with a person who has never heard of your business.
A weekly newsletter costs a set amount every month. The monthly cost of your newsletter is set before the first newsletter goes out. Put that monthly cost next to the number you wrote down for one client. You can do the math on your own newsletter before you ever talk to Moat Newsletters. Moat Newsletters writes and sends your weekly newsletter for you.
Questions people ask before they start a newsletter
"Will a newsletter even work for my business?"
A lot of business owners think a newsletter is only for media companies. A newsletter is not only for media companies. A newsletter is one email you send every week to people who asked to hear from you. People on your email list can buy from you. Moat Newsletters writes your newsletter every week. Moat Newsletters writes your newsletter about the work you already do.
"I do not want another job."
A lot of business owners hear "weekly newsletter" and think about one more thing to write every week. Moat Newsletters writes your newsletter. You read the newsletter draft. You say yes or no to the newsletter draft. Saying yes or no is your part of the work.
"My email list is small or cold."
A lot of business owners wait until the email list has thousands of subscribers. Your email list gets colder every month you do not write to your email list. A small email list of real buyers can still make you money. Moat Newsletters starts with the email list you have today.
"What if my newsletter stops after a few weeks?"
A newsletter usually stops when the writing is assigned to a person who already has a full time job. Posting on every platform every day is not a plan. A newsletter is one email a week sent to your email list. Moat Newsletters writes your newsletter every week, so you do not have to write your newsletter.
"Why should I start now instead of later?"
Every week you wait is a week your newsletter does not go out. Your buyers hear from other companies every week. Your newsletter is how your buyers hear from you. Moat Newsletters can start your newsletter this month.
Your newsletter goes out, or Moat Newsletters keeps working for free
The Moat Newsletters guarantee
Here is the promise. We will launch your newsletter and send at least 6 issues in the first 90 days. You and Moat Newsletters pick the send schedule together on your first call.
If we miss that promise, we keep working for free until your newsletter is launched and 6 issues are sent.
We carry the risk of a newsletter that never gets sent. You do not pay more if your newsletter is late.
You are paying for issues that get sent.
Who Moat Newsletters is a good fit for
- You have an email list, and your email list has gone quiet.
- You already believe a weekly newsletter would help your business, and you have not started your newsletter yet.
- You have real opinions about your industry, and you do not want to spend hours writing every week.
- You want to own your email list instead of posting on every platform every day.
Who Moat Newsletters is a bad fit for
- You want a newsletter with zero input from you. Moat Newsletters writes your newsletter. Moat Newsletters still needs a short review from you every week, plus a few answers about your business.
- You are shopping for the cheapest writer you can find. Moat Newsletters is not the cheapest option, and Moat Newsletters will not try to be the cheapest option.
- You want thousands of new subscribers next month. Moat Newsletters writes and sends your newsletter to the email list you have today. Moat Newsletters does not buy subscribers for you.
Three ways to handle your newsletter
- Do nothing. Your email list stays quiet, and people forget a business that stops emailing them.
- Write your newsletter yourself. Writing a good newsletter every week on top of your real work is hard to keep up.
- Let Moat Newsletters write and send your newsletter for you.
Moat Newsletters starts with one call.
Louis Shulman runs the call. Louis plans the first 90 days of your newsletter with you. Louis plans the first 6 to 8 issues with you. Louis tells you the price, and Louis tells you how much work your newsletter takes from you every week. If your newsletter is a bad fit for Moat Newsletters, Louis will say so on the call.
Book your Newsletter Launch Call