This Week’s Fix: The 90/10 Rule
Your newsletter is about your audience and their goals. The way we like to think about it at Future Forest is that the newsletter is a product that solves a problem for a reader. It delivers value (insane value, ideally, per Chenell Basilio) on a consistent basis.
Whether it’s Morning Brew delivering the day’s news with personality, 1440 giving you just the straight facts, or Sam Parr and Shaan Puri on My First Million sharing fascinating business ideas – what keeps you coming back is Insanely Valuable Content.
One strategy to make sure you do this is to keep the 90/10 rule in mind.
Dedicate 90% of your newsletter’s word count or “real estate” to serving your readers’ goals. Or, send nine newsletters with zero promotional content and use the tenth selfishly.
This is how you build and compound trust over time. You disproportionately “deposit” goodwill so that there’s something to “withdraw” later.
How You Can Apply This Today
If your newsletters are weighted towards promotional content, here are a few ideas to help you tip the scale:
Share curated resources—articles, podcasts, or videos you’ve found that your audience would find useful
Add a section with a bulleted list of interesting stats or highlight one data-rich chart with valuable industry intel
Highlight a partner organization or publication that delivers complementary services to yours
You could combine several of these within one newsletter template and then study performance to see what resonates with your readers.
Who Does This Well?
A Saturday morning briefing on innovation and society written by Kyle Westaway.
The best of the Catskills, delivered to your inbox every Tuesday from Michael Kaffuman.
If you have a great example, reply and let me know. I’m always on the lookout for excellent newsletters, and I’ll send the first person who replies the following postcard (in the mail, of course).
This Week’s Postcard
Grand Central Station in 1934
Something from IRL
My older son, James, turned four this past weekend. One of his uncles sent him a “karaoke microphone” that can play music and amplify his voice. He and my younger son have been singing together; it’s the most beautifully dissonant noise I’ve ever heard. The tune on repeat today: Do Re Mi from The Sound of Music.
Our new karaoke microphone, “gently" used within minutes of opening
See You Next Week
That’s it for this edition of Priority Mail. Next up, one simple fix under the Writing & Research category.
Until then, if you’re struggling to send a consistent, high-quality newsletter that keeps you top of mind with clients, I’d love to help.
Book time with me here.
We can take a look at your ESP setup, review a recent newsletter, or talk through your biggest pain points; whatever is most helpful.
Chris
GM at Future Forest
