Email Marketing That Works: Learn From the Best. Then Be Yourself.
Four timeless lessons for writing emails people actually want to receive.
Email marketing has been around for decades.
And despite all the new ways to reach people, it remains one of the most valuable tools for building relationships with customers.
Why?
Because social media is largely about getting discovered. Email gives you an opportunity to continue the conversation.
You're not relying entirely on an algorithm to decide whether your followers see your message. Someone has invited you into their inbox.
That's a privilege.
And what you do with it matters.
But here's where many business owners get stuck.
They discover a successful email marketer, study their approach, and start copying their subject lines, templates, or personality.
The problem?
What works for someone else doesn't automatically work for you.
The better approach is to learn the principles behind great email marketing and apply them in a way that fits your business, your audience, and your voice.
Four Influential Marketers Offer a Useful Path.
1. Gary Halbert: Earn Their Attention
Long before email marketing became mainstream, legendary direct-response copywriter Gary Halbert understood something every email writer needs to know.
The message only matters if it connects with something the reader already cares about.
Halbert emphasized understanding your market before writing your copy. He was also a master of writing conversationally, as though he were speaking directly to one person.
Both lessons apply beautifully to email.
Too many business emails begin with what the sender wants to announce.
"We're excited to introduce..."
"Check out our latest..."
"Don't miss this incredible opportunity..."
But your reader is probably thinking about something entirely different.
Their business. Their problems. Their goals. Their limited time.
Start there.
Try this: Before writing your next email, ask, "What is my reader thinking about that I can genuinely help with?"
Then write to that person, not to a mailing list.
Resource: The Gary Halbert Letter
2. Seth Godin: Earn Their Permission
Gary Halbert teaches us how to capture attention.
Seth Godin helps us understand what to do once we have it.
In his influential book Permission Marketing, Godin challenged businesses to stop relying solely on interruptions and start building relationships with people who actually want to hear from them.
That's the foundation of responsible email marketing.
When someone subscribes, they're giving you permission to communicate. But permission isn't a lifetime guarantee of attention.
You have to keep earning it.
If you promise helpful weekly advice but send constant promotions, you're teaching readers that your original promise didn't mean much.
And that damages trust.
Try this: Look at your signup form. What are you promising subscribers?
Now review your last three emails.
Are you keeping that promise?
Resource: Seth's Blog
3. Ann Handley: Make It Worth Reading
Attention gets someone to notice you.
Permission gets you into their inbox.
But neither guarantees they'll want to keep reading.
That's where Ann Handley's teaching becomes especially valuable.
Through her work on writing and content marketing, Handley reminds us that business communication should be clear, useful, and human.
Your email isn't simply a delivery system for your latest offer.
It's an experience you're creating for another person.
Consider the difference:
Generic: "Here are five strategies to maximize your business productivity."
More human: "Ever finish a busy day wondering what you actually accomplished? Here are a few things that might help."
The second opening recognizes an experience many readers understand. It begins with the reader, not the business.
And it gives them a reason to continue.
Try this: Before sending an email, finish this sentence:
"My reader will be better off after reading this because ______."
If you can't answer it, reconsider what you're sending.
Resource: Ann Handley and her book Everybody Writes.
4. Liz Wilcox: Make It Your Own
Now we come to a lesson I think too many business owners overlook.
You can follow every email marketing best practice and still sound like everyone else.
That's why I love pointing people toward Liz Wilcox.
Liz teaches email marketing with a personality that's unmistakably her own.
She's playful, direct, colorful, and sometimes delightfully unconventional.
You may not write anything like Liz.
And that's exactly the point.
Her success isn't a reason to imitate her personality. It's a reason to develop confidence in yours.
Maybe you're funny.
Maybe you're thoughtful and reflective.
Maybe you're a storyteller.
Or maybe your greatest strength is explaining complicated things in a simple, practical way.
You don't need to become someone else to write effective emails.
You need to understand your readers, deliver genuine value, and communicate in a way that feels natural to you.
Try this: Read your last email aloud.
Does it sound like something you'd actually say to a customer?
Or does it sound like you're trying to be a marketer? If it's the latter, rewrite a few sentences in your own words.
Resource: Liz Wilcox's YouTube Channel.
Put the Four Lessons Together
Here's the progression worth remembering:
Gary Halbert: Understand what matters to your reader and earn their attention.
Seth Godin: Respect the permission they've given you.
Ann Handley: Reward their attention with something genuinely useful.
Liz Wilcox: Deliver it in a voice that's unmistakably yours.
These aren't four competing approaches.
They're four parts of the same relationship.
And together, they provide a practical framework for almost every email you write.
Before you hit send, ask yourself:
Attention: Am I starting with something my reader actually cares about?
Permission: Does this email honor what they signed up to receive?
Value: Will they gain something useful from reading it?
Voice: Does this sound like me?
You don't need a complicated formula.
You need to consistently give people good reasons to welcome your emails.
The Platform I Use: beehiiv
Of course, you also need a reliable way to create, send, and manage your emails.
There are plenty of good email marketing platforms available.
The one I use for The Earned Edge is beehiiv, and I love it.
It gives me a place to write and publish my newsletter, manage subscribers, and build an ongoing relationship with readers.
If you're thinking about starting a newsletter—or reconsidering the platform you're currently using—I'd encourage you to take a look.
But remember, the platform is only the tool.
What makes email marketing work is the relationship you build through it.
One Thing to Remember
Learn from the best. Understand why their methods work. Then make those lessons your own.
Because your subscribers didn't sign up to hear from Gary Halbert, Seth Godin, Ann Handley, or Liz Wilcox.
They signed up to hear from you.
Give them a reason to be glad they did.
