Blogging is changing and one of the best ways to build a strong connection with your audience is through email marketing. From welcome sequences to forever series’, incorporating a variety of emails and sequences can significantly impact your engagement and growth. In this post, we’ll explore 5 types of emails bloggers can send to their lists to keep their audiences informed, engaged, and coming back for more!

Are you ready to take your blog marketing strategy to the next level? Check out my guide, Growing Your Email List With A 5-Day Series - The Best Way To Get Email Subscribers!, to learn how to grow your email list.

Constant Google updates and changes to AI are making it harder to grow as a blogger. Organic web traffic isn’t growing as quickly and ad revenue is dropping. While these changes may make it seem like the chances of making it as a full-time blogger are pretty slim, it only means that having an email marketing strategy is more important than ever.   

Bloggers with an email marketing strategy can stay in constant communication with their ideal audiences, allowing them to deliver their content directly to the people who want to hear from them most. Best of all, they don’t have to deal with pesky algorithms!

If you’re a busy blogger who is ready to start their email marketing journey, you can begin by using any of these five different types of emails in your strategy. Each email will either help you grow your email list or turn your existing subscribers into your biggest fans. You’re setting yourself up for success, no matter which one you start with!

What is email marketing?

Email marketing is a marketing strategy that connects businesses and bloggers with their customers and readers via email. You know those emails you get from your favorite food bloggers telling you about their new recipes or the emails from retailers about a sale coming up? That’s email marketing!

Having an email marketing strategy can be helpful for all kinds of businesses because it’s all about sending personalized messages to the people who connect with you the most. It’s a wonderful way to build relationships, keep your audience engaged and informed, and drive sales or website traffic.

Should food bloggers have an email marketing strategy?

Yes, definitely, 100%. Why? Because all of that amazing content you’re creating should be shared directly with your audience (not just on your blog or social media)!

The subscribers on your email list chose to be there. Opting into your email list means they want to hear from you, engage with your content, and check out your new posts. Basically, bloggers who have an email marketing strategy can more successfully build a loyal community.

5 types of emails bloggers should send to their lists

This isn’t an exhaustive list of emails bloggers should send—the options are endless! But throughout my time as a content writer for food bloggers, I’ve seen clients and other food bloggers have the most success by incorporating most, if not all, of these emails into their email marketing strategy: 

1. Welcome Sequence

A welcome sequence is an automated sequence of emails that a new subscriber receives in the first few days after opting in to your email list.

Usually, a welcome sequence is a collection of 3 to 4 emails,  although this can vary depending on how much you have to say or your goals. In these emails, you’ll introduce yourself, your blog, and your content directly to new subscribers

Here’s what a typical blogger welcome sequence looks like:

• Email 1: Welcome the new subscribers to your community. Give them some hints about  what they can expect from your emails  and the type of content you like to share.

• Email 2: Show them that you’re a real human by sharing your interests outside of blogging. Plus, go deeper into what they can expect from your blog posts and the types of emails that you want to share  with them.

• Email 3: Start sharing some of your most popular blog posts with your subscribers.

Need inspiration? Check out these 5 food bloggers who are rocking their welcome sequences in this article from Email Octopus.

Too busy to write your own welcome series? No problem! The 5-Part Welcome Sequence Template in The Ultimate Time Saving Kit for Food Bloggers does the heavy lifting for you.

2. Weekly Newsletter/Broadcast

Chances are that if you have an email address, you've probably received someone's newsletter or broadcast email. These newsletters can be a mix of personal updates, educational information, or sales announcements. Typically, they’re sent once or twice a week to engage an audience.

You have a lot of room to be creative when it comes to a weekly newsletter. I've found that sharing updates about my personal life and business activities resonates strongly with my audience. This approach helps build trust because your readers get to know you on a deeper level.

The goal of your newsletter should look something like this: Connect with your audience on a personal level while also keeping them in the loop about what’s new in your business or on your blog. This way, you’re able to build trust and create a more engaged and loyal readership.

Pro tip: Sign up for your favorite bloggers’ newsletters to start getting inspired!

3. Meal Plan Email

These meal plan-style emails are specifically for food bloggers. Each email includes links, photos, and descriptions of recipes to help your audience plan their meals for the upcoming week. Similar to a newsletter, you can send it out once a week, preferably on Sundays or during the weekend, to set your readers up for success for the week ahead.

Include a minimum of 5 recipes/meal ideas (ie: 5 easy dinner recipes) or go all out by planning their entire meals for Monday through Friday (ie: a recipe for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner). You can even include a grocery list or PDF printable menu to be extra helpful!

A meal plan email not only helps your readers solve a major problem but also showcases your expertise, builds trust with your audience, and encourages readers to interact with your content.

Are you a food blogger who needs help writing meal plan emails? My VIP Day service, 4 Months of Meal Plan Emails in 2 Days, is perfect for you! 

4. 5-Day Email Series (Quick Start Guide)

I first learned about Quick Start Guides in Matt Molen’s course, “Email on Autopilot.” This is a 5-day email series that’s designed to grow your email list and solve a problem for your audience.

The series starts with one overarching seasonal or evergreen topic. “5 Secrets to Vegan Cooking” or “Essential Photography Equipment for New Photographers” are two evergreen topics that can remain active all year long. Others, like “Summer-Themed Crafts to Keep Your Busy Kids” or “The Ultimate Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Menu," should only last for their respective seasons.

There are 5 emails in this series, with 1 email being sent to new subscribers once per day over 5 days. Each email will focus on an aspect of your topic or your existing blog posts. For example, if your series is about vegan cooking secrets, each email will reveal one secret, linking back to relevant content on your blog.

The best part? The emails are short, to the point, and always include links to your published blog content. There’s no graphic design included, and you can easily adapt the series to fit different seasons, holidays, quarters, or months!

Ready to grow your email list with a quick start guide? Sign up for my Grow Your List email writing service to have an experienced content writer do the work for you in less than 1 month.

5. Evergreen Sequence (Forever Series)

An automated evergreen sequence, or forever series, includes as many emails as you want, each showcasing and linking to a piece of your published blog content. Once the emails are set up in your email marketing tool, they’re automated to be sent once per week.

The beauty of this sequence is that it runs automatically, continually engaging your audience without having to write and send a newsletter every week. And because the content is evergreen, this sequence can be weeks or even months long and run in the background all year long.

Elevate your email marketing game with these 5 emails

Bloggers who incorporate most or all of these 5 emails into their email marketing strategy are more likely to boost engagement and turn subscribers into lifelong fans. Start experimenting and see what works for you and your audience!

Ready to take your email marketing to the next level? An experienced content writer and email strategist can help you get there. Explore my variety of email writing services and VIP Days to see which is right for you.