✪ Curate a Newsletter - #41
Building trust via email. Why. Benefits. Real-world examples. What is a curated newsletter. Characterizing traits.
Trust isn't a commodity you can acquire or ask AI to generate for you.
Trust is a consequence of consistent actions, authentic interactions, and genuine value delivery.
Trust cannot be gained by leveraging pushy marketing tactics, frameworks, hooks, and funnels.
Trust can only be obtained by showing that your first interest is not your gain, but being of guidance, support, and lead to others.
Introduction
Curated newsletters can save readers time and effort, while positioning the curator as a trusted authority.
Why?
*Classical newsletters* are a one-to-many communication vehicle.
They bring the idea, vision, interpretation of something from the head of the writer, to the multitude of readers in his audience.
Just like ads.
*Curated newsletters* are many-to-many.
They bring ideas, visions and insights from multiple sources and authors into a coherent panorama that speaks the audience language.
Just like the set of advice and recommendations an expert, a doctor or a lawyer can provide you.
That’s why subject matter experts often produce curated newsletters. Curating multiple sources, authors and ideas allows them to expand and deepen their own quest while being of value to others.
That’s their primary goal.
Non-curators primary goal is to persuade you that they have the solution or information you are looking for.
Curators illuminate.
They shed light where others can’t see (or will not look).
Curators are explorers. Mushroom dogs. Information hounds. They search and collect the best and most valuable resources on a topic and add context, interpretation and insights from the perspective of their audience.
In this issue:
1) Why To Curate a Newsletter
2) What is a Curated Newsletter
3) Key Traits of Curated Newsletters
4) Examples of Great Curated Newsletters
5) Advice
1) Why To Curate a Newsletter
Ten good reasons why curating a newsletter is a good strategy to build trust with your audience.
I have started my whole indie career with a curated newsletter in the year 2001, and I have not stopped since.
Here’s a few things that I have learned:
a) Curating sharpens your mind
When looking for non-obvious stuff, I have become more sensitive to small, little cues that tell me there may be something good, and better at looking beyond the mere appearance of things.
b) Curating helps you showcase your competence
When I create a collection, or even a small selection of little-known valuable resources, you can immediately appreciate my competence, as there are no search tools or AIs that would have offered the same suggestions.
c) Curating helps you get discovered
By citing, referencing and mentioning other authors, you signal your presence, appreciation and viewpoint.
d) Curating shows you are credible
When your focus shifts from telling people what to do and how, to interpret and contextualize what others have discovered in their journey, you look much more credible and informed than everyone else.
e) Curating helps you expand your know-how
Curation helps you to master any subject in greater depth as it requires you to question, investigate, explore and experiment to construct a personal understanding of any subject.
f) Curating facilitates noticing emerging trends and patterns
To curate you have to sift through a lot more stuff than normal. That’s how you start seeing patterns nobody else is noticing.
g) Curating aids in building personal and brand authority
Then more you show that you know a subject and how to find stuff inside it, the more authority and trust you build.
h) Curating helps to build credibility
By consistently curating high-quality content from authoritative sources, you demonstrate to know the experts and authorities in your field, enhancing your credibility.
i) Curating helps you become a critical thinker
By forcing you to explore, vet and evaluate personally what is of relevance, curation trains the naturally curious to explore with a more systematic approach, while maintaining a skeptical, investigative attitude.
j) Curating increases your visibility inside search engines (classic and AI)
As long as you publish your newsletter also on the web and include original commentary and credit/links to the original sources, curating content is a solid strategy to gain more visibility inside search tools.
k) Curating helps you grow a community
When you systematically share valuable insights, tools and resources on a topic, and then inject them with reader contributions, comments and discussions, you build fertile ground for the growth of a community of interest.
Curating a newsletter is an excellent method to develop a personal viewpoint and to become an insightful and critical observer.
Highlighting hidden gems your audience wouldn’t find on their own builds authority and credibility while providing useful insights, resources, and ideas from others.
It means being the vehicle for your readers to discover valuable content from unknown, hard-to-find sources.
References:
“From Teaching to Diving: Memorizing Facts Is Not Good Enough”,
Robin Good, 2017“Organizing and Curating Content on a Subject May Actually Be the Best Way to Learn It”, Robin Good, 2012
“Is Content Curation the New Community Builder?”, by Eric Brown, Social Media Explorer, 2011
“Serve It Up: Frameworks for Curating Content in Communities”,
Michaela Hackner and Leah Stern, 2013.
Warning: Don’t get fooled. Although curation can save very significant time to those who benefit from it, it positively does not save any time at all to the curators who exercise it.
To know more about content curation benefits see:
The Key Benefits of Content Curation (Robin Good - 2017)
2) What Is a Curated Newsletter
I define a curated newsletter as an author-based email-first publication that compiles, interprets, and highlights resources, information, and ideas from others threaded by a unique and clearly definable focus.
From this perspective a curated newsletter is a powerful content format that leverages the curator’s expertise and network to provide readers with a tailored, high-value selection.
Said in simpler words, curated newsletters collect, filter, and hand-pick relevant news, tools, resources, and opinions, while providing context and interpretation for a specific audience and need.
In addition, curated newsletters save time (to readers), build trust, and position the curator as an authority who is able to gather and contextualize valuable information from diverse sources.
3) Key Elements of Good Curated Newsletters
There are a few requirements to successfully curate any topic:
a) truly understanding audience ambitions, pain points and needs
b) finding a unique, recognizable personal writing style
c) nurturing an expanding network of high-value sources and relations
plus, you want to pay very close attention to the following variables:
About Page
Author Transparency
Author Face
Introduction - The Why
Theme - Focus - Threading Line
Context
Commentary - Opinion
Reliability - Vetting
Format - Layout
Credits + Sources
3.1) About Page
A curator is a point of view. An individual, unique eye, filtering, analyzing, and interpreting stuff in a certain space for your benefit.
But unless you know who he/she is, what she believes in, and what his values and ideas are, you don’t know what glasses you are putting on.
An About page allows readers to understand the unique perspective and expertise that the curator brings to the curation process.
3.2) Author Transparency - Name
A curator without a name and last name is like a ghost.
Your name is the essence to build trust and establish relationship.
I don’t trust brands.
I trust individuals with a name.
3.3) Author Image
If you’re just a logo without a face, I have a hard time trusting you.
First, I ask: why are you hiding?
Better a fake face than no face.
3.4) Introduction - The Why
If I don’t know why you’re curating something, I can’t appreciate what you’re showing me. The why you curate is the lighting for your film.
The clearer a curator’s why, the easier it is to appreciate their work’s value.
The why is the reference sound frequency for your audience to tune in.
3.5) Theme - Focus - Threading Line
No focus, no party.
Yes, there are curated newsletters with many, seemingly unrelated interesting links and resources. But any hypothetical counterpart with a specific theme, perspective or audience focus is much more valuable and interesting.
The threading line doesn’t have to be a topic. It can be your interpretation or selection criteria.
3.6) Context
Who is this for? For what purpose? What are you trying to achieve? Who are you trying to help?
The more you tell me, the better I can appreciate what you curate.
3.7) Commentary - Opinion
Are you picking and passing stuff, or do you have something to say? What impressed you about this thing? Why choose this other one? Why is it important for me to check it out? What value did you see in it?
Unless a curator shares his viewpoint, little value is passed on by simply cold recommending. Personal perspective and opinion give value to whatever the curated thing is.
You can’t recommend a restaurant to a friend by sending him the address. You tell how you discovered it, what caught your eye and tongue, and how the staff made you feel. That’s how you curate. You take the reader inside the address before they go there.
You’re the trailer for what’s behind a link.
3.8) Voice
If I can’t distinguish your writing from an AI’s, something synthetic will replace you soon.
If I can’t feel your experience, feelings, and sensations through your words, then you’re not talking to me. Maybe you’re talking to yourself.
I can only hear your voice when you’re not afraid of my expectations. I hear it when you stop trying to be perfect and start being yourself.
The more of you I perceive and resonate with, the tastier your curation becomes. Curating with your original voice means someone won’t like you. That’s a good sign.
3.9) Reliability - Vetting
Curators verify the information they share. They check that links work. They double-check names. Fix overlooks and errors. Place proper dates, captions, credits.
Curators invest a lot of time to do their work. They are very organized and they always have some very good assistants. It’s otherwise impossible to reliably do all the extra work their craft requires.
3.10) Format - Layout - Information Design
Curators study and master how to make things highly legible. They don’t try to make their content look nice. They don’t chase beauty because they know it’s subjective.
Curators do not decorate or embellish or try to make content look more attractive. They make their content more readable and navigable.
Curators prioritize objective elements: order, clarity, simplicity, and cleanliness.
3.11) Credits + Sources
Curators are a stage for rare acts they discover.
Curators are talent scouts, discovering new gems.
Curators always share where they find and discover interesting new things by giving full credit to their sources and inspirators.
4) Great Curated Newsletter Examples
To leave no space for doubts here are a few great examples of curated newsletters, and what’s unique and special about them.
1) The Marginalian
Maria Popova excels at finding, showcasing, and extracting gems and insights from modern and classical authors and artists.
2) Rambull
Devotes each issue to an invited guest who shares six unique resources, tools, products, or experiences they’ve personally tried.
3) e-Biz Insider
Nihall Doherty seeks and curates stories of successful online indie entrepreneurs to highlight key lessons.
4) Creative Destruction
Thomas Klaffke showcases how reality and the world could be better re-interpreted in the future. He brings together new perspectives, ideas, and concepts.
5) Storythings
Matt Locke and his team capture 10 interesting stories every week that offer creative inspiration.
*Do you know some great curated newsletter(s)?
Please share them in the comments.
5) Advice
Curation is a highly intentional behavior that mixes love, curiosity, and high attention in a specific direction.
You can’t curate by accident.
You must love what you curate.
Curating is not about making collections or lists. It’s like a light illuminating unknown places and things, guiding you in understanding their value.
The best curators don’t just collect and share - they provide analysis, context, and a unique point of view that elevates the content.
To curate value, you must be very competent in your chosen topic, or a) you won’t be able to discern what is valuable, b) experts in the field will tell right away you’re a fake.
My humble suggestion: Curate with intention, focusing on a specific audience and their needs.
If you don't have a genuine enthusiasm for the topics you're covering, it will come through in your curation and your audience will be able to tell.
The most successful curators are those who are truly passionate about what they do.
Robin Good
How I Can Help You
I analyze what you do and provide you with a report and recommendations
($99)Critical analysis (video) of your site/landing page/newsletter/blog (choose one) pointing out limits and weaknesses while suggesting improvements, additions and changes
.
I help you define and improve your online communication strategy
Focus on providing feedback to your existing communication strategy
after having reviewed your overall existing online presence
(website / social / newsletter).
I work with you on a sustained-basis to improve your visibility, authority and content strategy
Two private monthly sessions to review, assess, update and re-define your online content strategy to increase visibility, authority and conversions
Written monthly report with screenshots of your work and specific suggestions on where and how to improve
Website / social media / newsletter video audit
Follow a path with a heart.
From Koh Samui (TH)
Robin Good
