Digital Marketing Newsletters I Read

I read a lot of newsletters. Like, a lot.

I read newsletters about politics, newsletters about business, newsletters about my city (Madison) and my state (Wisconsin)… and I read a bunch of newsletters about digital marketing.

I was recently talking to someone from another digital marketing agency and I started listing off some of the digital marketing newsletters I regularly read. I assumed everyone in digital marketing was likely reading a lot of the same newsletters, and I was simply sharing my opinions on a few of them.

It became quite apparent quite quickly that he wasn’t following along. He was overwhelmed.

🤓 It turns out not EVERYONE reads as many digital marketing newsletters as I do. 🤓

So I thought I’d write up a list of some of my favorite digital marketing newsletters to help you navigate this overwhelming, but exciting space.

You don’t have to subscribe to all of them (or even to any of them!) but I figured just knowing what’s out there might be helpful.

I’ll be listing them out below, along with their frequency, my thoughts and how to subscribe. In the meantime, if you like any I missed, please share them with me!

Want to skip reading these digital marketing newsletters while still getting all the value they have to offer? Consider working with me as a digital marketing consultant for your progressive campaign, organization or brand!

I’d love to help you and your brand find, hone and tell your stories online! Learn more about how I help organizations win the internet, and reach out today.

Without further ado, let’s dig in!

Marketing Examples by Harry Dry

How often they publish: Sporadic. He’ll do weekly for a bit, then disappear for months before returning with more 🔥 content.

My thoughts on the newsletter: One of my favorite digital marketing newsletters, bar none.

I know when I get an email from Harry Dry, it’s going to be chockfull of helpful takeaways, brilliant examples and a whole lot of dry British wit (no pun intended).

He’ll take real-world ads and show what makes them great… or ads that missed the mark and what could have made them great.

It’s not clear to me if he invented the graphic style he uses or not, but he was the first one I saw using it… and now I see it literally everywhere.

Here’s an example:

He just has a way of cutting right through. His analysis is a great mix of science (he’ll break down psychological concepts impacting an ad) and gut (he just gets how to make an ad pop).

If he sent a daily newsletter, I’d read it.

I’m putting this digital marketing newsletter first on my list, because it’s the digital marketing newsletter I get most excited to see in my inbox.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: marketingexamples.com/newsletter

Total ANNARCHY by Ann Handley

How often they publish: Every other Sunday

My thoughts on the newsletter: If you care about digital marketing, and you don’t know Ann Handley, you should change that asap!

Ann wrote the book “Everybody Writes,” and is a master when it comes to better writing.

Her newsletters feel like a letter from her to a friend, full of stories, jokes, smart takes and lots and lots of advice on getting more out of the written word.

You should check her out, follow her on social and for sure subscribe to her newsletter. You’re going to love it.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: annhandley.com/newsletter

The Geekout Newsletter by Matt Navarra

How often they publish: Weekly on Fridays

My thoughts on the newsletter: If you only know one digital marketing newsletter, I’d say there’s at least a fifty percent chance it’s the Geekout Newsletter from Matt Navarra.

Matt has built a fascinating beat for himself — he’s the guy who first reports on changes happening on social media platforms.

At least, that’s how I think of him.

He has a massive Facebook Group called the Social Media Geekout, huge social media channels of his own, and he publishes this beast of a weekly digital marketing newsletter.

And when I say beast, I mean beast.

Honestly, I typically skim his newsletter. Reading it outright would take too long.

But it’s an amazing trove of updates, news and analysis, along with lots of sass and good dry humor (we’ve got another Brit on our list!).

If something happened in digital marketing over the last week, Matt is going to tell you about it in his weekly Geekout Newsletter.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: geekout.mattnavarra.com

The Hustle

How often they publish: Daily, Sunday through Friday

My thoughts on the newsletter: The Hustle was part of the first wave of big newsletters that spawned the current world we live in. They came up alongside Morning Brew, and have created an equally large shadow imho.

The Hustle was created by Sam Parr, one of two hosts of the business podcast My First Million (alongside Shaan Puri — who we’ll talk about below).

He sold The Hustle to HubSpot a few years back, but the content hasn’t really changed.

Five days a week — Monday through Friday — The Hustle is quick hits and short snippets covering what’s going on in the world. There will be a few short articles and a bunch of very short pieces breaking down the news you should know.

It’s not really a digital marketing newsletter, but it made this list because so much of the business news it covers so regularly overlaps with the digital marketing world. While I read every word of certain sections and blurbs, I find I get value even just skimming it daily.

On Sundays, they do one long-form article. The topics are all over the place (how do you insure those $1 million contests? or meet the guy who cleans the world’s iMax theaters) but they are always really well written and researched.

Free of freemium: Free. They have a sister newsletter called Trends which is $299 a year. It’s a weekly newsletter providing deeper dives into trends they see in the world and the opportunities surrounding them. I’m also a subscriber of Trends, but it didn’t make this list because it’s not really related to digital marketing.

How to subscribe: thehustle.co/join

Why We Buy

How often they publish: Once a week, give or take. I think often more, but not as cut and dry and some of the other newsletters on this list.

My thoughts on the newsletter: I use Notion to track interesting things I learn in the digital marketing industry (and beyond!). And let me tell you — when I read Why We Buy, I almost always add at least a few items to my general marketing knowledge doc.

They promise “buyer psychology in 3 minutes a week” and they deliver! They dig — deep — into the psychology behind why people buy. And it’s amazing. I’m constantly amazed that they never run out of topics to cover.

I don’t work in e-commerce, so a lot of what they cover isn’t always directly relevant for me and my work as a digital marketing consultant.

But I do a ton of work in campaigns, brand building, audience development and issue-based advocacy, and I find that many of their lessons are super applicable in those spaces as well.

If I wanted to implement one of their takeaways, I could intentionally make a typo write here (see how I did that), thus leaning on the pratfall effect.

Because as they share, “flaws humanize brands and products.”

I’ve read studies from them regarding when to use emojis (don’t replace the word with the emoji, add the emoji after the word), seen justification for brands using never-before heard of holidays (special day promotions get 2x more clicks than regular discounts) and a whole lot more.

I read every issue, and I always find value in it.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: customercamp.co/why-we-buy

Free Digital Tools

How often they publish: Every other Tuesday

My thoughts on the newsletter: I don’t just read this digital marketing newsletter… I write it. 😉

Every two weeks I share two free digital tools to help you round out your digital marketing toolkit.

I share tools that will help you step up your content repurposing, graphic design, copywriting, video skills and more. We cover AI tools, apps, and all kinds of other free digital tools to help you do more with less.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: You can subscribe and also see all past issues at freetools.digital.

Wonder Tools by Jeremy Caplan

How often they publish: Weekly on Thursdays

My thoughts on the newsletter: If you like digital tools, here’s another great newsletter worth subscribing to.

Jeremy does deep dives into a bunch of tools and shares his takes on all of them.

While Free Digital Tools focuses exclusively on free digital tools, Wonder Tools covers both free and paid tools.

But most tools he covers have at least a freemium version, if they aren’t free outright.

He’s been doing a lot of coverage on AI tools of late (of course). But he also digs in on voice assistants, organizing tools and all kinds of other things.

It’s a very cool newsletter if you just can’t get enough digital tools.

Free of freemium: Freemium

How to subscribe: wondertools.substack.com

ICYMI by Lia Haberman

How often they publish: Weekly on Fridays

My thoughts on the newsletter: This newsletter started out as a sort of casual roundup of what was happening in digital marketing.

Then Lia got a big scoop and was one of (if not the) first person to share what Meta’s new social platform Threads was shaping up to look like. Her scoop blew up and she’s really doubled down her efforts on the newsletter ever since.

She does deep dives into issues, sometimes does interviews and shares all the updates going on in digital marketing in a given week.

ICYMI is much shorter than Matt Navarra’s Geekout, while still covering all the highlights.

And she often gets interesting scoops in the space, so it’s a good one to pay attention to.

Free of freemium: Freemium

How to subscribe: liahaberman.substack.com

Ad Professor

How often they publish: Weekly on Thursdays

My thoughts on the newsletter: This one is super simple. They “collect” great ads from a variety of platforms (digital/OOH/magazines…) and they share them along with the principle that makes them great.

Here’s an example:

All the examples are that quick and easy to read, make sense even if you don’t have a Master’s Degree in Journalism, and are chockfull of amazing creative that will keep you wanting more.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: theadprofessor.com

Platformer by Casey Newton

How often they publish: Four days per week

My thoughts on the newsletter: Casey Newton used to work for The Verge. While there, he started a newsletter called The Interface. He built up a massive audience, and ultimately took that audience with him and headed out on his own. His new media company is called Platformer.

They send four emails a week (to paid subscribers — I think just one to unpaid) and once a week he does a podcast called Hard Fork with co-host Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times.

Platformer isn’t really about digital marketing, but if you care about digital marketing, it’s a must-read!

Casey has the inside scoop on everything going down on the Silicon Valley side of the digital world.

If a story is breaking about Facebook or Twitter, Casey likely broke it.

If Snap or Google are releasing new wearable tech, Casey has likely tested it.

If someone is doing something interesting in the world, and it relates to tech, AI, or the internet in general, Casey likely knows about it.

This newsletter is much more commentary and reporting than any of the others on this list. But again, if you care about the big picture as it relates to digital marketing, this is a must-subscribe.

Free of freemium: Freemium

How to subscribe: platformer.news

Please Advise

How often they publish: Daily, Mondays through Thursdays

My thoughts on the newsletter: Monday through Thursday, they send an easily skimmable email with four short sections.

First Section: Look. They show a cool ad.
Second Section: What’s Happening. They share a few quick updates about what’s happening in the world of digital marketing.
Third Section: Do. They share some kind of advice to make you a better digital marketer. It might be how to write a solid blog post, ways to get people to stop scrolling, how to write a good listicle… it’s always something different.
Fourth Section: Try. They share a tool you can learn more about and test.

They added that second section a while back.

It used to just be Look. Do. Try.

But the What’s Happening is a nice little add-in.

It only takes me a few moments to scroll through their emails and I do so every day.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: builtbytophat.com/landing/entrepreneur-on-fire

The Daily Carnage

How often they publish: Daily, Mondays through Fridays

My thoughts on the newsletter: Like Please Advise, The Daily Carnage is run by a digital marketing agency.

I think both are brilliant examples of content marketing, for what it’s worth!

Their emails are well-designed and easy to skim. They start with a section called “Be In The Know” that shares four updates from the world of digital marketing.

Then they share a tactics or advice section, followed by a poll, then a tool, then a video to check out and finally a static ad. Their static ad library goes deep – they often show ads from decades ago.

I’ll be honest, I open their newsletter every day (except for Friday, which is more of a recap of the week), but I almost never scroll past their first section.

BUT for me, their first section is a never miss.

So do with that what you will. 🙃

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: carney.co/daily-carnage

Trung Phan’s Sat Post

How often they publish: Weekly on Saturdays

My thoughts on the newsletter: Trung was a star writer at The Hustle (according to Sam Parr) before setting off to do his own thing.

Sat Post is not really a digital marketing newsletter, it’s more of a let’s-nerd-out-on-whatever-Trung-is-nerding-out-on kind of newsletter.

But Trung is amazing. Smart as hell, always down for a massively deep dive, very funny and a total weirdo, in the best way possible.

Sat Post issues are long! But really well-researched, written and thought out.

He usually does a deep dive into one topic for about half of the email, and then will have some other odds and ends.

If everyone is talking about the new biography of Elon Musk’s, Trung has read it, along with a thousand other articles, and is going to offer insight beyond what you will find on Twitter.

Want to understand how Michelin Stars work for restaurants? Trung will do a deep dive. Why are Trader Joe’s designed the way they are? Trung has answers!

Like I said, this is not a digital marketing newsletter. But he will regularly overlap with topics that I find super relevant, so I’m very comfortable including Sat Post in this list.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: readtrung.com

Yello by Hunter Schwarz

How often they publish: Weekly (I think — I’m a paid subscriber and it’s sometimes unclear to me who gets what when)

My thoughts on the newsletter: Let’s stick with the theme of great newsletters that aren’t actually about digital marketing but still earned their place on this list.

Yello focuses on the “look” of politics. Literally.

While other journalists cover the policy and the tactics of politics, Hunter focuses on the branding.

Whether or not you care about politics, there is so much to learn from political branding!

Political branding is quite unique. Campaigns pop up, raise a bunch of money, build something huge, and then disappear.

There aren’t really any other comparable industries out there.

Like sure, Ron DeSantis is running for President to enact terrible, awful policies on the American people. But before he can do that (or lose by 50 points to Donald Trump trying to do that), first he first has to pick a logo, settle on brand colors and fonts, sign off on signage for his podium and merch for his website… and make so many other visual branding decisions.

Hunter digs into all of that in a very unique and fun way. I’m a better political campaign consultant, graphic designer and digital marketer because of this newsletter!

And not all of his content is on political campaigns. When NASA partnered with Prada to rebrand, Hunter wrote about it. When Bud Light is in the news for accidentally wading into politics, Hunter covered it.

He does a lot of great work on the LGBTQ movement, as well as the modern art space.

All in all, a worthwhile read whether or not you “care about politics.”

Free of freemium: Freemium

How to subscribe: yello.substack.com

Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of digital marketing newsletters that exist? Have no fear – I read them all so you don’t have too!

I help progressive campaigns, organizations and brands of all sizes find, hone and tell their stories online so they can win the internet.

Want to step up your own newsletter or start your own podcast?

Want to talk social media or content marketing?

Want to make your webcopy pop?

Looking to get more out of your digital marketing program?

LET’S CHAT!

Garbage Day by Ryan Broderick

How often they publish: Several times per week

My thoughts on the newsletter: Garbage Day is another newsletter on this list that is not actually about digital marketing. But it’s about the internet, so I think it’s quite relevant to our little round up.

Ryan is a master at knowing what is happening online at any given moment. But he also has an almost overwhelmingly deep and broad knowledge base of the internet’s past and how what’s happening today fits into the history of the internet.

I am VERY ONLINE, but I read Garbage Day and feel old and out of touch. It’s great!

He remembers every meme, every obscure digital movement, troves of sites and platforms I’ve never heard of, and casually and masterfully weaves the stories of the day into the context of the past.

He’s a funny writer and he’s damn insightful into what’s going on, what it means and why it matters.

I read a lot about Elon’s takeover of Twitter (LIKE SO, SO, SO MUCH!) but I don’t think anyone captured my frustration, sadness or hopelessness half as much as Ryan did.

It was his analysis of why losing Twitter matters that convinced me, after about a year of being a subscriber, to upgrade to the paid tier.

It’s not a quick read, but if you care about what’s happening on the internet at any given moment, it’s well worth your time.

Free of freemium: Freemium
How to subscribe: garbageday.email

Highrise

How often they publish: Weekly on Tuesdays

My thoughts on the newsletter: This is a fun one. A quick read, easy to skim, and lots of helpful little tidbits with solid formatting, making it easy to jump from section to section as works for you.

It starts with “Marketing News,” sharing updates from the digital marketing industry.

Then it shares a “Tool of the Week.”

Then “Useful Links,” which is usually an article they think worth reading.

Then they close out with “Interesting Stuff,” which is random things popping around the internet worth checking out.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: highrisereads.com

Digital Brand Bites

How often they publish: Monthly

My thoughts on the newsletter: Once a month, they send out a newsletter showing some interesting, funny or otherwise noteworthy brand social posts that had a good moment cutting through the algorithm.

They then provide the context surrounding the posts and what was going on that lead to the concept.

While they show posts from across the globe, they focus pretty heavily on UK brands (it’s usually the UK version of brands you know, like KFC-UK).

Lots of great Ryan Air takes.

But also, plenty of American brands as well.

It’s a quick scroll that I quite enjoy on a monthly basis.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: digitalvingill.com/subscribe

Newsletter Operator by Matt McGarry

How often they publish: Weekly on Saturdays

My thoughts on the newsletter: Matt McGarry has sort of become known as the newsletter growth guy.

He’s worked with a bunch of big newsletters, and is a go-to guy for growing a newsletter.

Once a week, he sends out the Newsletter Operator.

He sends out some quick links, updates about the field and then a deep dive into something related to starting, running and/or scaling a newsletter.

Some of his deep dives are short and sweet, others much more in-depth breakdowns of important issues in the industry.

He recently started listing newsletters for sale at the bottom of his newsletter. It’s pretty interesting to see the size and perceived value of what others are doing in the newsletter space.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: newsletteroperator.com

5 Tweet Tuesday by Shaan Puri

How often they publish: Weekly on Tuesdays

My thoughts on the newsletter: Above, I mentioned the podcast My First Million. Sam’s co-host is Shaan Puri. Shaan has started, and sold, a bunch of businesses and he’s stupid smart when it comes to frameworks and context surrounding the business news of the day.

He’s also a big idea machine. Seriously. I consider myself a big idea guy (I work as a digital marketing consultant based almost entirely on the value of my ideas!). But Shaan is next level.

His newsletter signup isn’t just for 5 Tweet Tuesday. He’ll get into phases where he’ll randomly send a few newsletters for a month and then stop. But everything he sends adds value to my inbox, never spam.

5 Tweet Tuesdays is pretty consistent (though he regularly misses a week, or randomly sends them out on a Wednesday without apology or explanation.

I don’t mind — I love his weekly roundups.

He shares… 5 tweets. And then he tells you why he likes them. Some have huge lessons from super smart people. Some are just silly jokes. ALL of them are great.

A LOT of the newsletters I subscribe to share funny or interesting tweets sprinkled throughout (Geekout, Platformer, Sat Post to name a few). But I find I’ve typically seen most of them by the time they hit my inbox, either directly on Twitter, somewhere else on social or in another newsletter.

So with Shaan’s roundup.

He must follow different accounts than everyone else in my inbox.

His roundup isn’t digital marketing related, but there are plenty of digital marketing takeaways and they are all in the form of… digital marketing!

I really like this one — enough that it didn’t make sense not to include it in our roundup.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: shaan.beehiiv.com

Smart Nonsense 🌈

How often they publish: Daily, but not really (more below)

My thoughts on the newsletter: This one is not digital marketing-related at all, but it’s wild. I mean really and truly wild.

You’ve never read — or really even seen — anything like it.

It was started by two YouTubers (Henry Belcaster and Dylan Jardon) and as far as I’m concerned, they have simply reimagined what a newsletter can look like.

Read it for the amazing content, the fire artwork and the inspiration to take whatever you are doing and to do it… differently.

In theory, they publish daily Monday through Friday. But they regularly go days at a time without an issue.

Each issue is on one simple topic. And those topics are all over the freaking place:

• How did the Mona Lisa become so famous?
• Why does the Leaning Tower of Pisa… lean?
• Why do sailors measure in knots
• How do Diet drinks have zero calories
• How humans lost our fur

Like I said… all over the freaking place.

They intersperse amazing illustrations and GIFs throughout their newsletters. They have a character who makes an appearance in all of them. His name is Durd.

They are great teachers and take complicated subjects and make them fun, funny and simple. I find that I remember what I learn from them in a ***different*** way than most things I learn. Like, when something comes up that I learned from them, I almost have a visual understanding of what it is or how it works.

As an avid reader, that’s not usually how I find my brain works. But they create such immersive little lessons that they not only hit different, but they seem to stick different.

So yeah, this one is not about digital marketing. But reading it will for sure make you smarter… and probably a better digital marketer in the process.

Free of freemium: Free

How to subscribe: smartnonsense.com

Okay, so that was most of the newsletters I read about digital marketing (there are actually more, but this seemed like a solid list).

As I mentioned above, I also read a bunch of newsletters that cover politics, news in general, Wisconsin and a bunch of other topics.

I’m planning to do a political newsletter roundup soon. Want me to let you know when that’s live? Subscribe to my mailing list. I rarely write, but when I do, it’s 100% value and 0% spam.

But before we wrap this up though, let’s look at…

What All Of These Digital Marketing Newsletters Have In Common

First and foremost, they all add value directly to my inbox

Pretty much every one of these newsletters has links in it. But not a single one requires me to click a single link in order to get value from it.

I subscribe to lots of newsletters that just round up stories with links for me to keep reading. Guess what? I almost never open them more than a few times, before ultimately unsubscribing.

When someone gives you their email, it’s a sacred thing! Treat it accordingly. Don’t write them emails asking them to go to your website, or to listen to your podcast or to check out your new… whatever. Provide them so much value, right in their inbox, that they can’t wait to click through to your site, check out your podcast or learn more about your new whatever.

As this blog post should make clear, I read a lot of newsletters. LIKE A LOT! And every one of them provides value directly in my inbox.

If you have a newsletter that doesn’t, you should ask yourself why. Because if every email you send me is asking me to head somewhere else online, I might subscribe, but I’ll rarely open.

They all have a specific beat

If you are trying to grow an audience, it’s really helpful to ensure that your audience knows what to expect from you.

I know exactly what I’m getting every time Shaan Puri emails me. Or Matt McGarry. Even Smart Nonsense, which covers topics all over the damn place, has a very specific and clear beat and I know exactly what to expect every time I open it. I might have no idea what the content will be — but I know why they’re writing me.

Every issue of Free Digital Tools is… two free digital tools. If you’re into that, you should subscribe. If you’re not… that’s okay! Don’t subscribe.

It’s actually bad to have people on your list who don’t want to hear from you. They’ll be annoyed when you write, and they’ll hurt your open rate, making it harder for you to avoid the dreaded spam folder from folks who do want to hear from you.

To sum up: know why you’re writing and make it easy for folks to unsubscribe.

I never feel like I’m getting spammed

Every one of these newsletters exists to make money. Whether it’s through premium subscriptions, through ads, or it’s run by a digital marketing agency or consultant trying to stay top-of-mind so you’ll hire them when you need them.

And I’m totally fine with that. Of course!

Folks won’t keep doing this if they can’t find a way to monetize it.

BUT not a single one of the newsletters I listed above feels like a giant advertisement. There are lots and lots and lots of digital marketing newsletters that do — and not one of them made my list. Because if I sign up for a newsletter, and the whole thing feels like one big ad, I’m unsubscribing faster than you can say “hey wait, just one more thing.”

Ads are fine. Pushes to upgrade to premium content are fine. Reminders that you are a digital marketing agency or freelancer are fine. So long as they don’t get in the way of the value you are adding to my inbox.

Want To Start, Scale or Manage Your Own Newsletter

Or work on any component of your digital marketing program? I read all of these newsletters (and a whole bunch more!) to ensure that I’m always at the cutting edge of digital marketing… so you don’t have to be.

Drop me a line today and let’s see how we can work together to win the internet!