I attribute a lot of Future Firm’s success to my newsletter.
In fact, I’d even call it my most effective marketing channel!
While it has a pretty good reader base of over 11,000 these days, the number wasn’t always that high.
So, if you’re planning on starting an accounting newsletter (just like I was years ago)…
Let me help you with that!
What Can You Achieve With a Newsletter?
One of the best things about writing a newsletter is that you own your audience.
Instead of leaving the fate of your content to search engines and AI search tools…
You can reach them directly.
Here’s what you can do with that.
Stay Top of Mind With Clients and Prospects
Most of your prospects will not be ready to buy the second they find you.
Sure, maybe they just had a mediocre experience with their current accountant and are thinking about switching.
But not yet.
So who do you want them to think of when “today” finally arrives?
If you’ve popped into their inbox every week always with something useful, you’ll have much better chances.
But if they haven’t heard from you since the day you added them to a list somewhere, your chances are as good as nil.
The same goes for existing clients, by the way.
Just because someone’s already paying you doesn’t mean you’re locked in.
They might forget how you’re helping them, which I bet is a lot!
Establish Your Firm as a Trusted Expert
It’s no secret that people strongly prefer to work with experts.
But do you know what the irony is?
For a lot of these experts, their expertise is the secret!
They know their stuff, and they’ve seen a thousand versions of the same problem.
They could even talk for an hour about the tax implications of some obscure transaction most people will never encounter.
But none of that appears anywhere a prospect can see it, does it?
A newsletter fixes that.
Every time you share something you know, you’re taking expertise that used to be locked away and putting it on display.
You’re not even bragging, because stuff like that is genuinely useful.
And over time, without ever saying “I’m an expert, trust me”…
They start understanding that you are one.
Opportunities to Sell Your Services
Now, there’s a right and a wrong way to do this.
And the wrong way is usually easier to do.
Don’t sell to your readers right out of the gate, unless you want unsubscribes. 😛
And if you do sell, it shouldn’t be the whole point of the newsletter.
Get the value out first, every time.
The selling comes later, and it comes as a side note, not the headline.
When you consistently deliver something useful, week after week, you build a stockpile of trust.
Your reader isn’t thinking about you as someone trying to get something from them.
They’re thinking about you as someone who keeps handing them something for free!
Once they’ve gotten that value, then you can softly mention how you can help them.
That could be a one-line P.S. about a new offering or a quick “if you’re dealing with this, we help with it” tucked at the bottom.
For example, if you’re sending out newsletters during tax season, you can use a P.S. line like this:
P.S. We saved our clients $1M in taxes last year. Reply to this email to see how we can lower your taxes.
Or if you specialize in helping with business growth, you can use this:
P.S. We have 5 spots open this month for cash flow planning & budgeting services to help you manage your growth. Reserve your spot here. <- (Add your link)
This way, it feels like a natural next step from someone who’s already proven they know what they’re talking about.
A newsletter gives you dozens of small, low-pressure moments to plant a seed.
And as long as the value comes first, this strategy can absolutely work.
7 Steps to Starting an Accounting Newsletter
Before we start, it’s important to know that every newsletter journey is unique.
For me, I didn’t even have an end goal with the Future Firm newsletter when I started it.
I really was just so passionate about talking about the future of the accounting profession that I decided to start a newsletter alongside my blog.
(For reference, here was my very first newsletter.)
Since 2018, from that humble 41 subscribers, I’ve been writing newsletters week in, week out.
And if I were to do it all over again, here’s how I would do it.
Step 1: Decide Who It’s For and What You Want to Achieve
This is the absolute number one step, not just for newsletters, but for marketing your accounting firm in general!
You can’t just open up an email platform and start typing with no audience or goal in mind.
Before you write a single word, figure out exactly who you’re talking to:
- Is it your existing clients?
- Are they prospects who haven’t signed yet?
- Is it a specific niche you’re trying to gain trust in, like e-commerce brands, medical practices, or something else?
The answer changes everything about what you write next.
It will also determine how you write.
If you’re writing for a specific niche, learn how they actually talk and what they care about.
The closer your content speaks their language, the more it resonates…
And the more it feels like it was written for them.
For example, Hall CPA is an accounting firm that specializes in the real estate industry.
And in their newsletter, they share tax-saving strategies and news that may be relevant to their specific readers.
Then, figure out what you want the newsletter to do for you.
Maybe you’re trying to stay top of mind so you’re the first call when someone’s ready to switch.
Or, you might be aiming to build authority so people see you as the expert in your space.
Everything else (e.g., topics, tone, frequency) starts from here.
Step 2: Decide What You’ll Write About and How Often
It’s easier to figure out the topic you’ll write about if you know who you’re writing for.
To help you get started, think about what your target audience is losing sleep over.
Here are a few examples:
- If your clients are stressed about missing tax deadlines, you might want to write about the estimated tax payment schedule and what the penalties look like if they fall behind.
- If your clients are confused about which expenses are deductible, you might want to write about common write-offs they’re probably missing.
- If your clients are worried about cash flow heading into a slow season, you might want to write about how to build a buffer before it hits.
You don’t need to put out some groundbreaking discovery every issue.
Pick topics that are not only a source of stress for your readers but also an area of genuine expertise for you.
For instance, Luke Templin, started a newsletter to provide entrepreneurs with financial strategies to grow their businesses, and it’s worked quite well:
Frequency is just as, if not more, important than your content itself.
Like I said, I’ve never missed a week writing my newsletter since 2018.
I don’t know how it all would’ve gone down if I weren’t consistent.
But I do know consistency played a very huge role in its growth.
So, pick a frequency and commit to it.
A monthly newsletter you never miss beats a weekly one that fizzles out after a few months.
So be honest with yourself.
What can you realistically sustain with everything you currently have on your plate?
Good content delivered onto reader inboxes with consistency are ultimately what make a successful newsletter.
Step 3: Choose an Email Platform
You need software to schedule and track your emails.
Don’t overthink this step.
Pick something simple enough that it doesn’t get in the way of your writing.
Here are a few solid options:
- Mailchimp: Perhaps the most familiar name. Intuitive even if you’ve never used an email marketing platform before.
- Kit: Built specifically for newsletter writers and creators. It’s what I use at Future Firm.
- ActiveCampaign: More powerful automation and CRM features, but comes with a steeper learning curve if you’re just getting started.
Any of these will get the job done.
Ultimately, the platform isn’t what makes a newsletter work…
The writing is.
Step 4: Build Your Initial Contact List
You don’t need thousands of subscribers to start…
You just need to start.
Want to know how I started?
I just asked people at the bottom of my very first blog post, lol.
Of course, that might not work these days, with AI having increased the skill floor for writing.
Here’s what you’ll do instead.
Look at who you already have access to:
- Current clients
- Past clients
- Prospects who never converted
- Referral partners
- Friends and family in your network
- Other business contacts who might know someone in your target audience
Then, you ask them.
The trick is not to frame it as “Hey, want to join my newsletter?”
Frame it as offering them something useful, because that is what you’re doing.
Here’s a simple template you can use:
Subject line: Quick favor?
Hey [Name],
I’ve started putting together some practical tips on [topic, e.g., saving on taxes, running a leaner business] and sending them out regularly.
Thought it might be useful for you given [reason it’s relevant to them].
Want me to add you to the list? No pressure either way.
[Your name]
For the people that say yes, get them loaded into your email marketing platform!
Step 5: Plan Your First Newsletters
Before you write your first issue, map out around 5 to 10 newsletter ideas.
You don’t need fancy layouts or a polished content calendar.
For now, a running list of ideas you can pull from will do.
Here’s a tip that’ll make this way easier:
You can share curated content on your newsletter, so that you’re not thinking of new, original ideas all the time.
You’d still be handing your reader something worth their time that they wouldn’t have found on their own.
But instead of digging through the internet every week hoping to stumble on something good, do this:
Create a free Instapaper account and grab the browser extension.
Every time you come across something worth sharing like a good article, a useful stat, a tool your reader would care about, click save.
It’ll be sitting there waiting for you the next time you plan an issue.
You can also subscribe to a handful of newsletters in your space, so you let good content come to you instead of the other way around.
This way, you’ll be picking from a pile you’ve already built.
You can also take advantage of seasonal events.
For instance, before the end of the year, instead of a “don’t forget to submit your documents” email…
Plan for something like “3 things you can still do before December 31st to lower your tax bill.”
Step 6: Write and Schedule Your Newsletters
Let’s start with the subject line, because if nobody opens the email, nothing else matters.
“Weekly Newsletter” as a subject line is guaranteed to get ignored.
Here’s a true story: one of my highest-performing subject lines ever was literally “Test test.”
60% open rate.
Nothing clever about it, it just looked out of place enough to make people curious.
I’m not saying you should mess with your readers frequently.
Your subject line still has to connect to what’s inside.
But don’t default to boring just because it feels safe.
Play around with it and let your open rates tell you what’s working.
For instance, this simple but curious subject line got a good 48% open rate.
Once they open your email, keep them there.
Keep paragraphs short.
(You’ll never catch me writing a wall of text. 😛)
Keep them interested by:
- Adding some personality
- Telling a story
- Throwing in a GIF or a fun link
Remember: this isn’t about you.
It’s about them and what they walk away with, so keep the self-promotion minimal.
That said, there’s a smart way to work in your own content without it feeling like a pitch.
In my curated newsletter, every piece I link to has a related link underneath it that points back to my own site.
Small thing, but it adds up.
Once the writing’s done, use your email platform’s scheduler.
Set it and move on to the next issue.
Step 7: Monitor Your Metrics
Once you’ve got a few issues out, start paying attention to the numbers.
Open rates tell you if your subject lines are working, while click rates tell you if what’s inside is landing.
But don’t obsess over hitting some perfect benchmark.
One low-performing issue doesn’t mean anything.
Look for trends instead.
If a certain type of subject line keeps underperforming, stop using it.
If a certain topic keeps getting ignored, drop it.
And if something’s working better than usual, do more of that.
Your newsletter isn’t something you set up once and leave alone.
You adjust as you go, based on what your readers are telling you through their behavior.
Track it, learn from it, and keep tweaking.
Tips for Writing Your Newsletters
Now that you’ve got the fundamentals down, let’s talk about a few things that’ll make writing your newsletter easier.
These small habits and tricks will save you time, improve your writing, and keep readers opening what you send.
Train an AI Tool on Your Voice
Before we get into this, I want to make something clear:
Don’t let AI do the thinking for you.
If you do that, you’ll end up sounding like every other newsletter out there.
What you can do instead is train an AI tool on your voice, and use it to take your original ideas and clean them up, tighten them, or expand on them.
Feed it your past newsletters, old emails, anything you’ve written that sounds like you.
The more real writing samples it has, the better it gets at sounding like you.
You bring the idea, the story, the opinion.
Let AI help you get it onto the page faster, or polish it once it’s there.
The most important part here is that the thinking has to be yours.
Engage With Your Readers
A newsletter shouldn’t be a one-way broadcast.
Ask questions, invite replies.
And when someone writes back, respond!
I had a subscriber once ask if I could work some Wu-Tang Clan references into my newsletter.
(Not kidding.)
So I did:
Now, could I ignore stuff like that and stick to my content calendar?
Sure.
But moments like that make a newsletter feel personal instead of automated.
When you make a reader feel heard, they’re more likely to open the next one, and the one after that.
The more your readers feel like there’s an actual human on the other end, the more likely they are to stick around.
It’s a small effort that pays off big!
Take Inspiration From Newsletters You Like
Look at the newsletters you enjoy opening, and study why.
Is it the subject line that gets you every time?
The format?
The way they tell a story before ever getting to the point?
One newsletter writer I like is Olly Richards.
He’s got this way of opening with a short, punchy line, then dropping into a personal story that slowly unpacks into the actual lesson.
It’s simple, but it works.
You’re hooked, and you’re learning something.
(Neat!)
Now, this is important:
Borrow the format, not the content.
Don’t copy what someone else says.
Copy how they make you feel like reading just one more line.
Then, adapt that structure to your own voice, your own stories, your own business.
If you’re looking for inspiration, here are some of the top accounting newsletters I’ve found.
Improvise!
Not everything good that happens is planned!
I was on vacation once when a technical glitch sent an email out from my inbox that just said “test.”
(It was a mistake, and it has been fixed.)
But you know what happened?
People replied…
Like, a lot of people.
I could’ve just moved on and never mentioned it again.
Instead, I leaned into it.
Told the story in another newsletter issue.
While you can’t plan moments like these, you can absolutely take advantage of them when they show up.
Don’t panic and pretend it didn’t happen.
Turn it into content, because it may lead to some of the most engaging pieces of content you’ll write.
Bonus: AI can’t generate the things that happen in real life!
Expand Your Reach With a Newsletter
There you have it!
A newsletter can keep you top of mind and turn readers into paying clients.
Over time, it becomes one of your best growth assets.
If you want to learn how to grow your accounting firm into a highly profitable business that doesn’t require you working overtime…
Go check out Future Firm Accelerate. 🙂
Good luck!
