You won’t lose your readers by selling to them
For a long time, I was afraid of selling to my mailing list.
Not because I didn’t believe in what I was offering — but because I was convinced that my readers would react negatively if I suddenly started promoting a product. That they would feel manipulated — as if the good newsletters had just been a prelude to a sale. That they would unsubscribe.
So I didn’t. Or I wrapped it up so much that the message almost disappeared.
That was a mistake.
When I first introduced a product directly in a newsletter without an apologetic preface and without hiding the link at the bottom something unexpected happened. Not much. I might have lost 2–5 readers out of a couple of thousand. And I don’t even know for sure if it was because of the sale. People unsubscribe for all sorts of reasons.
What I got in return, however, were sales from people who were happy to hear about it.
Trust isn’t a shield against sales it’s the prerequisite for them
Here’s what I think many self-employed people misunderstand: your readers aren’t on your list to avoid commercial messages. They’re on your list because they trust you and are interested in what you do.
If, over weeks and months, you’ve sent newsletters that gave them something concrete to think about or work with, you’ve built a relationship. And within that relationship, it’s not strange that you might occasionally say: “I’ve created something that can help you move forward would you like to hear more?”
That’s not exploiting their trust. It’s using it for what it was built for.
The only thing that makes sales awkward
The only thing that can make a product launch awkward is if it falls out of the context you usually write in. If you suddenly present something that doesn’t fit with what you usually talk about, your readers will notice not because you’re selling, but because it doesn’t make sense.
If, on the other hand, you introduce something that is a natural extension of the content you already provide, many of your readers will think: “This is actually just what I needed.”
That’s the difference between an offer that feels forced and one that feels perfectly timed.
What you can do now
If you have a product you haven’t yet introduced to your list ask yourself: have I written about the issue the product solves in recent months? If so, you’ve probably already warmed up your readers without realising it.
Write an email. Tell them what you’ve been working on, who it’s for, and what they’ll get out of it. And trust that the readers who are on your list are there because they like hearing from you.
If you’d like to know more about how to sell via your newsletter without feeling like a marketing machine, I’m currently writing a book on the subject "Build Your Own Profitable Newsletter" which is due out in September. Sign up for the premiere list here and be among the first to hear more.
