Blog vs Newsletter: Which One Is Better? Hint: It Depends

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One of my clients approached me about starting a quarterly email newsletter. I thought this was a great idea since the client wanted to use the newsletter to stay in front of clients and colleagues, share recent work, and discuss relevant industry trends.

The client is a small research company. I worked on the client’s website relaunch last fall. They’ve been in business since 2015 and haven’t done much marketing. So, a quarterly newsletter felt like a good next step for them and their budget.

However, my client had also been reading extensively about different marketing tactics, including blogging. That’s when she asked me about the benefits of having a blog vs newsletter.

Blog vs newsletter: Which is better?

Like so many things in life, it’s not an either-or situation.

Think of a newsletter as something a business shares with clients, colleagues, and prospects who are already aware of the business.

Maybe they stumbled on the website through a search and decided to sign up for the newsletter. Or maybe someone from the business asked permission to add the person to the newsletter list. (For example, if you have a booth at a tradeshow, you might ask the people you meet if it’s OK to include them in your newsletter distribution.)

Think of a blog as a way to attract people who aren’t already familiar with the business.

And yes, once someone lands on the blog, they might become an email subscriber if they like the content. But at its purest, a blog works hard to attract new people to the company’s site.

That’s the short explanation. I provide a deeper explanation below. If you’re more of a visual learner, you can watch this video I made on the topic.

What’s the purpose of a newsletter?

With newsletters, people opt-in (if you’re doing it right), which suggests that they are already familiar with the business/brand, at least somewhat.

A newsletter helps to keep the business at the top of people’s minds. The folks receiving the newsletter might not be in the market for the company’s services at that moment. But the hope is that they will think of the business when they are on the market for its services—and that the newsletter will have helped with these “instant recall” efforts.

What’s the purpose of a blog?

Blogging, on the other hand, is often used to draw people to the top of the sales funnel.

People at the top of the sales funnel are in the awareness stage. They’re just becoming aware that they have a problem (“How do I improve my credit score?”). Sometimes, they simply have a basic question (“How is a credit score calculated?”). They might not realize they need a solution or that solutions even exist (and some people don’t need a solution at all; they simply want free info).

When they plug a search query into Google, they might land on a blog post that satisfies their query. For some folks, that will be all they need, and they’ll go on their merry way. For others, they might poke around the site, read other articles, or even download a piece of content. They might subscribe to the blog, newsletter (or both), or follow the brand on social media. Some of those folks might buy from the brand at some point. (The latter is the ultimate goal.)

Business blogging is part of a larger content marketing strategy. Writing blog posts around long-tail keyword phrases can be an excellent way to bring in extremely targeted traffic. (Long-tail keyword phrases don’t have a ton of monthly search volume, and they don’t have much competition either, which means it can be easier for the blog post to rank high in search results.)

For example, “What is a double-blind randomized controlled trial” has a monthly search volume of 20 and very little competition. So, if my client (a research company) were to write a blog post answering that question (a popular tactic for blog posts), over time, the blog post could rank well in search engine results when someone searches on that phrase.

Blogging works through a cumulative effect.

Writing one optimized blog post won’t likely be enough to have any measurable impact. But if over six months, you write, say, 10 well-optimized blog posts, you’ll bring in targeted traffic and build authority, which will help the overall health of the client’s domain—this is the sort of stuff Google loves and rewards by serving up your client’s website for various search queries.

Of course, someone searching for “what is a double-blind randomized controlled trial” might not be the right target for my client’s business. Maybe they just have a question about how randomized controlled trials work. That’s OK. But it’s also quite possible someone searching on that phrase might be someone who’s been told they need to conduct an RCT for their research, and they’re trying to educate themselves and figure out the next steps. In this case, my client might be a great fit for them.

But even if the blog post doesn’t generate any actual “leads,” it’s still a great piece that can demonstrate my client’s expertise and develop their reputation as a thought leader. They can share the blog posts on social media and via their newsletter.

The key to using blogging as a lead generation tool is to find long-tail keyword phrases that suggest someone might be looking for the sort of services your client offers and then write compelling blog posts about those topics.

Can businesses have a blog and a newsletter?

Sure. It doesn’t need to be about a blog vs newsletter.

Many businesses have a newsletter AND a blog. (Good news for copywriters and content writers!) It all depends on budget and time. An effective blog requires consistent work—doing regular keyword research, developing an editorial calendar, conducting research/interviews, drafting the blog posts, revising the blog posts, promoting the blog posts, monitoring analytics, and revisiting older blog posts for accuracy.

A newsletter—especially if it’s quarterly (which feels like the right cadence for this particular client)—requires much less heavy lifting. But some brands put out email newsletters at a faster clip, like monthly. B2C brands (especially retailers) will send emails weekly and even daily.

Again, it all depends on your goals and budget.

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