AI & Automation
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
I'll never forget the conversation I had with a B2B SaaS client who was frustrated with their email marketing results. "We're getting decent open rates," they said, "but engagement is terrible. Nobody replies, nobody clicks through to meaningful conversations. It feels like we're shouting into the void."
Sound familiar? Most B2B companies are stuck in this same cycle - sending polished email blasts to carefully segmented lists, only to watch their engagement rates slowly decline month after month. Meanwhile, their competitors are building genuine relationships and generating actual conversations through a completely different approach.
After working with multiple B2B startups and witnessing the shift firsthand, I've discovered that LinkedIn newsletters fundamentally change the game. Not because they're a shiny new feature, but because they solve the core problem email blasts can't: building authentic, ongoing relationships with your audience.
Here's what you'll learn from my experiments with both approaches:
Why LinkedIn newsletters create deeper engagement than traditional email campaigns
The specific metrics that prove LinkedIn newsletters drive better B2B results
How to transition from email-first to LinkedIn-first content strategy
The counterintuitive reason why "personal" beats "professional" in B2B marketing
A step-by-step playbook for launching your first high-engagement LinkedIn newsletter
This isn't about abandoning email entirely - it's about understanding when each approach works best and how to build a content strategy that actually generates business conversations.
Industry Reality
What B2B marketers keep doing (and why it's not working)
Walk into any B2B marketing meeting and you'll hear the same strategy: segment your email list, craft the perfect subject line, optimize for open rates, and measure click-through rates. The entire industry has built sophisticated funnels around email automation - welcome sequences, nurture campaigns, product announcements, and carefully timed follow-ups.
Here's what everyone's doing with email blasts:
List building - Creating lead magnets and opt-in forms to capture emails
Segmentation - Dividing lists by company size, industry, or behavior
Automation - Setting up drip campaigns and trigger-based sequences
Optimization - A/B testing subject lines, send times, and content formats
Measurement - Tracking opens, clicks, and conversions through complex attribution models
This approach exists because email marketing has been the backbone of digital marketing for decades. It's measurable, scalable, and gives you complete control over your message delivery. Plus, you "own" your email list - no algorithm changes can take it away from you.
But here's where conventional wisdom falls short: email blasts treat relationships like transactions. You're essentially interrupting someone's inbox with your agenda, hoping they'll engage on your timeline. In today's world, that feels increasingly intrusive and impersonal.
The bigger problem? Email blasts create a one-way conversation. Even when someone replies, it often feels forced or scripted. There's no natural way for readers to discover your content organically, share it with their network, or become advocates for your ideas. You're always starting from zero with each send.
This is why open rates are declining industry-wide, why spam filters are getting more aggressive, and why B2B buyers are increasingly ignoring promotional emails. The medium itself has become associated with sales pitches rather than valuable insights.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
This realization hit me while working with a B2B SaaS client who had built an impressive email list of 15,000 subscribers in their industry. Their open rates were above average (22%), click rates were decent (3.2%), but something was fundamentally broken.
The founder came to me frustrated: "We're sending great content - industry insights, case studies, product updates. People are opening our emails, but we're not getting any real engagement. No replies, no conversations, no one reaching out to discuss partnerships or even ask questions about our product."
I dug into their email analytics and found the classic B2B email problem: their audience was passive consumers, not active participants. People would scan the content, maybe click a link, but there was no mechanism for building actual relationships. The email format itself was working against them.
At the same time, I noticed the founder was getting much more engagement from his occasional LinkedIn posts than their carefully crafted email campaigns ever did. A simple industry observation on LinkedIn would generate 20-30 meaningful comments and several direct messages. Meanwhile, their monthly newsletter to 15,000 people would get maybe 2-3 replies.
That's when we decided to experiment. Instead of just posting occasionally, we launched a weekly LinkedIn newsletter focusing on the same industry insights they'd been sharing via email. The difference was immediate and dramatic.
The LinkedIn newsletter created something email never could: visible engagement. When someone commented on the newsletter, their network could see it. When they shared it, it reached people who'd never heard of the company. Most importantly, the comment section became a place where industry peers could connect with each other, not just with the company.
Within the first month, the founder was getting unsolicited messages from potential customers, partners, and even competitors wanting to discuss industry trends. These weren't sales conversations - they were relationship-building conversations that eventually led to business opportunities.
The key insight: LinkedIn newsletters don't just deliver content - they create a community hub around your expertise.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's exactly what we implemented, step by step:
Step 1: Shifted from "company voice" to "founder voice"
Instead of sending newsletters from "[Company Name] Team," everything came from the founder's personal LinkedIn profile. This immediately made the content feel more authentic and approachable. B2B buyers want to connect with people, not brands.
Step 2: Changed the content structure completely
Email newsletters typically follow a formal structure - header, multiple sections, clear CTAs. LinkedIn newsletters work better when they feel like extended LinkedIn posts. We started each newsletter with a personal observation or story, then dove into the insights. No corporate templates, no heavy branding - just valuable perspective from someone who knows the industry.
Step 3: Built engagement loops into every newsletter
Instead of ending with "click here to learn more," we ended with questions that sparked discussion: "What's your experience with this approach?" or "What would you add to this framework?" The goal wasn't driving traffic to their website - it was starting conversations that build relationships.
Step 4: Leveraged LinkedIn's native distribution
LinkedIn newsletters get special treatment in the algorithm. Subscribers get notified when you publish, and the content shows up in feeds with higher visibility than regular posts. We optimized publication timing for when their audience was most active (Tuesday-Thursday, 8-10 AM).
Step 5: Created a content calendar focused on industry pain points
Rather than promoting product features, every newsletter addressed a specific challenge their target audience faced. Topics like "Why most SaaS metrics are misleading" or "The real reason customer churn is increasing" - content that positions the founder as someone worth following.
Step 6: Turned newsletter comments into relationship opportunities
When someone left a thoughtful comment, the founder would continue the conversation both publicly and privately. This turned newsletter readers into actual connections and, eventually, customers.
The most important shift was understanding that LinkedIn newsletters aren't just content distribution - they're relationship building tools. Each newsletter became a networking event where industry peers could connect around shared challenges and insights.
We also developed a systematic approach to cross-pollination: insights from newsletter comments became topics for future newsletters, creating a feedback loop that kept content relevant and engaging. This organic approach meant we were always addressing what the audience actually cared about, not what we thought they should care about.
Authentic Voice
Personal trumps corporate every time in B2B
Content Strategy
Focus on sparking conversations, not driving clicks
Native Distribution
Let LinkedIn's algorithm work for you instead of fighting email filters
Relationship Building
Transform readers from passive consumers to active community members
The metrics told the story clearly:
Email newsletters (15,000 subscribers):
- Average engagement: 3.2% click rate
- Replies per newsletter: 2-3
- New business conversations per month: 0-1
- Cost per engaged subscriber: $12 (including tools and time)
LinkedIn newsletters (started with 2,500 followers):
- Average engagement: 8.5% comment/reaction rate
- Comments per newsletter: 25-40
- New business conversations per month: 8-12
- Cost per engaged subscriber: $3 (mostly time investment)
But the real breakthrough wasn't in the numbers - it was in the quality of conversations. LinkedIn newsletters generated discussions with decision-makers who were genuinely interested in solving the problems we were addressing. These weren't tire-kickers responding to promotional emails; they were potential customers who'd discovered us through our expertise.
Within six months, the founder's LinkedIn following grew from 2,500 to 12,000, with 60% of new followers fitting their ideal customer profile. More importantly, three major deals traced back to conversations that started in newsletter comments.
The unexpected outcome: other industry experts started referencing and sharing the newsletters, creating a compound effect that email blasts never achieved.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here's what I learned from this experiment and similar work with other B2B clients:
Visibility beats control - Yes, you "own" your email list, but LinkedIn's native distribution reaches people you'd never capture otherwise
Comments are more valuable than clicks - A thoughtful comment creates relationship opportunities that click-throughs rarely provide
Personal brands trump company brands in B2B - People buy from people, especially in complex B2B sales
Consistency matters more than perfection - Regular, authentic content beats polished monthly campaigns
Industry expertise travels faster on social platforms - LinkedIn's sharing mechanisms amplify thought leadership in ways email can't
Engagement quality follows audience size - A smaller, engaged LinkedIn audience often converts better than a large, passive email list
Cross-platform strategy works best - Use LinkedIn newsletters for discovery and relationship building, then email for nurturing and sales
The biggest mistake I see companies make is treating this as an either/or decision. The most effective approach combines both: LinkedIn newsletters for building authority and starting conversations, email for nurturing those relationships toward sales conversations.
LinkedIn newsletters work best when you're focused on long-term relationship building rather than immediate conversions. If you need direct response marketing or have a short sales cycle, email might still be your primary channel.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing this strategy:
Start with founder-led content to build personal authority
Focus on industry pain points rather than product features
Use newsletters to validate product ideas through community feedback
Convert newsletter engagement into product beta testing opportunities
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce B2B applications:
Share behind-the-scenes insights about supply chain or manufacturing
Create content around industry trends that affect your buyers
Use newsletters to announce new products to trade professionals first
Build relationships with industry influencers and wholesale buyers