A good newsletter is hard to beat when it comes to driving traffic to your website, building cult loyalty with your audience, and driving revenue. The most important part of creating a successful newsletter that manages to accomplish all that? People want quality content they can count on.
With a well-written newsletter, marketers can engage subscribers and organically grow their lists.
In our quest to shed light on some of our favorite newsletters, we’ll be sharing a different recommendation every month.
Today in the series, we’ll be talking about Urban List.
Be sure to check out our last post about Concrete Playground if you missed it.
Introducing Urban List:
Urban List is a newsletter and lifestyle blog, bringing Australia and New Zealand the freshest, newest releases on entertainment trends, health discussions, food options, and the culture-filled cities in Oceania.
Unlike some of the long-running magazines we’ve covered in the past, the Urban List website was founded less than a decade ago in 2011. Yet, in that time, UL has grown to become Australia & New Zealand’s largest youth media brand.
Similar to Concrete Playground, the Urban List newsletter allows you to pick the city most applicable to your experience. UL offers tips and to-dos for the following places:
In short, if you’re an Aussie or a Kiwi and had to pick one publication that would keep you up-to-date on culture in your specific area, this would be the one.
This newsletter does a deep dive into fun activities, trending eats, unique getaways, and upcoming activities to do in the city.
Usually featuring eight to ten topic summaries, you can easily click through this newsletter to read well-written blog posts. Here, you’ll find must-know culture updates (e.g., why you should watch the new IT trailer) and content specific to your city, like Melbourne or Sydney.
The newsletters are a quick encapsulation of what the blog has to offer, divided into categories like Style, Travel, and Entertainment, just to name a few.
If you’re looking for trendy updates and relevant info, rather than local news or world events, Urban List could be a newsletter well-suited to your interests.
How it started:
The Urban List website was founded by Susannah George, a marketer who left one career to pursue her passion. George is still overseeing the brand’s growth and development as CEO.
Like all great tech stories, this website began as a personal project in George’s house. But, despite founding the company in her bedroom, George has built a site that’s expanding faster than ever, thanks to Urban List’s BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goals).
With global ambitions, UL doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, Urban List may pop up in other parts of the world.
Who it targets:
Urban List targets Australians and New Zealanders with a youthful approach to lifestyle. Want to try quirky vacation spots? Looking to fill your weekend with unusual dinners? Urban List can help.
On the other hand, UL also works to connect its readers with their world by reporting on relevant entertainment and wellness. Subscribers get a quick dose of culture updates to scan through, easily keeping them in the know, whether the reader is a young college student or an established professional.
Urban List can help readers plan their lives. From big, celebratory events to making the perfect dinner, this newsletter seeks to enrich the lives of its readers.
What you can learn from it:
Urban List has a wide variety of lessons to teach, both for readers and email marketers.
As a reader
Sometimes staying on top of trends can feel overwhelming but, with a youthful newsletter like Urban List in your inbox, you can easily scan over the cool news your city has to offer.
With a clean, easily understandable format, beautiful visuals, and exciting headlines, UL tells you exactly what you need to know about the featured posts. Urban List pushes its subscribers to embrace a young curiosity about lifestyle news, which UL proves is exciting and important.
As a marketer
In the same way “feeling relevant” can be overwhelming to everyday subscribers, marketers often struggle to seem approachable to their audience.
Since no subscriber wants to be pandered to, it’s important to know your stuff. What’s going on in the world? What about in your city or, better yet, your subscribers’ cities?
By understanding your subscribers’ interests, you can more accurately create content—genuine content—they’ll actually enjoy reading. Not sure what your subscribers’ interests are? Ask them with a survey or start segmenting them by location. Subscriber loyalty often goes further than you might think.
Wrap up
Urban List provides region-specific ideas and recommendations for youthful subscribers and marketers alike. Are you a culture-seeking socialite in Australia? Maybe you’re an entertainment-loving marketer in New Zealand. (Or maybe you’re like us here at Campaign Monitor, and you have a little FOMO when you’re not reading every newsletter you can get your hands on.)
Whatever the case, it may be time to sign up and start receiving Urban List newsletters today.
Are you thinking about building a newsletter? Already have one? If so, consider how you can incorporate the tactics used by Urban List into your own work.
Want to see your favorite newsletter listed here? Tell us in the comments below. Or start your own newsletter by signing up with Campaign Monitor today.