email newsletter playbook: how to drive 3,000 weekly clicks
In the Pit with Cody Schneider | Marketing | Growth | Startups
Revitalizing Email Marketing for Early-Stage Companies
This chapter highlights the vital role of email newsletters in marketing for early-stage companies and how engaging with dormant email lists can drive impact. The discussion includes strategies for revitalizing email communications and emphasizes the importance of a structured approach and understanding customer journeys.
In this episode, I sit down with Louis Shulman of Orbit Flows Marketing to dive deep into why a warmed email list is the single most valuable asset a brand can own. We explore how consistent, process-driven newsletters can drive thousands of targeted clicks weekly, share real-world examples and metrics, and unpack the exact frameworks, templates, and AI-powered workflows Louis uses to produce hundreds of newsletters a month for some of the world’s fastest-growing companies. Whether you’re resurrecting a dormant list or scaling a six-figure send, you’ll walk away with concrete steps to build, clean, and monetize your newsletter with repeatable, bite-sized automation.
About the Guest
Louis Shulman
Louis leads client success and content strategy at Orbit Flows, where his team of five writers produces over 50 email newsletters per week for a collective audience exceeding one million subscribers. He’s spent years perfecting the playbook for turning long-form expert conversations into high-impact weekly sends that consistently deliver 3,000+ clicks per issue.
Key Takeaways
- Email Newsletters as Owned Media: A weekly newsletter is an asset you own and control, unlike social platforms or paid ads.
- Process Over Perfection: Success comes from simple, repeatable systems (templates, cadence, checklists)—not chasing “perfect” content.
- Customer Journey Mapping: Structure newsletters around problem-aware, solution-aware, and vendor-aware stages to guide subscribers down your funnel.
- Bridge of Belief: Craft content that anticipates and answers subscriber objections before they arise—turn objections into subject lines.
- AI as an Accelerator: Treat AI like a managed teammate—define clear sub-steps and approval checkpoints to get 90% of the work done, then add human polish.
- List Hygiene & Segmentation: Start conservatively, re-engage dormant subscribers with win-back sequences, and prune non-openers after five sends to protect deliverability.
- Lead Magnets & Growth: Educational email courses and targeted downloadable assets (e.g., “5 Day Course on Accounting Pitfalls”) drive higher opt-in rates than generic “join my newsletter” pitches.
- ROI in Click Equity: With a 170,000-subscriber list sending twice weekly, 10,000 clicks per send saves upwards of $800,000 in paid LinkedIn ads annually.
Episode Highlights
- 00:00 – 01:00 – Why Email Is King: The host frames newsletters as the most valuable, yet overlooked, marketing channel.
- 01:00 – 02:00 – Sponsor Break: Acclaim Podcasting: Full-service agency that builds your weekly content machine (acclaimpodcasting.com).
- 02:00 – 04:00 – Volume & Scale: Louis shares that Orbit Marketing dispatches 50+ newsletters weekly to 1M+ subscribers—and how one weekly send drives ~3,000 clicks.
- 04:00 – 07:00 – Defining “Newsletter”: Establishing clear expectations, consistent format, and landing-page first mindset for newsletter signups.
- 07:00 – 11:00 – Customer Journey & Content Strategy: Reverse-engineer subscriber beliefs at each funnel stage; problem, solution, vendor.
- 11:00 – 15:00 – Objections into Subject Lines: Proactively address subscriber doubts (e.g., “Is TikTok still worth it?”) in your newsletter copy.
- 15:00 – 18:00 – Ideation & Prompts: Three core content buckets—personal stories, business strategies, industry insights—and 100+ ghostwriting prompts for weekly topics.
- 18:00 – 22:00 – Templates & Systems: Pin down a weekly structure with 3–5 sections to eliminate decision fatigue and ensure consistency.
- 22:00 – 26:00 – AI-Powered Workflow: Build “Orbit Flows” with templates, voices, knowledge bases, and spaces—treat AI like a junior teammate with incremental approvals.
- 26:00 – 30:00 – List Building & Hygiene: Start small with new or cold lists, run win-back sequences, remove non-engagers after five weeks to maintain deliverability.
- 30:00 – 34:00 – Lead Magnet Mastery: Email courses and downloadable guides convert far better than generic newsletter invites—package education, not just tips.
- 34:00 – 38:00 – Productizing Internal Tools: How Orbit spun its own AI newsletter engine into the OrbitFlows SaaS platform, with live demos of templates and research pipelines.
- 38:00 – End – Final Advice & Connect: Louis drops his top three rapid-fire tips for B2B founders and shares where to reach him next.
Resources & Links
Guest Socials
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisshulman/
- Orbit Marketing: https://www.orbitmarketing.io/
- X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/LouisShulman/
Brought to you by
- Acclaim Podcasting: https://acclaimpodcasting.com
OrbitFlows (Built by Louis & Team)
- Product Site: https://orbitflows.com
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