Kristen McCormick January 10, 2021 Choosing a creative newsletter name can feel like a bit of high-pressure situation. It needs to stand out while staying on brand. It needs to grab attention without being too dominant, and ideally, it needs to appeal to the human senses of your potential readers, such as their sense of curiosity, their need for predictability, their affinity for finite lists, etc.
Though just one name, your newsletter will go out hundreds, maybe thousands of times, and your list will grow to hundreds, maybe thousands of readers. But don’t stress! With a creative name, you’ll have hundreds of opportunities to get clever with your marketing and content. And in this guide, I’m going to help you come up with an email newsletter name that you feel good about. Here’s what we’ll cover:
- The importance of email newsletters and naming them
- Words and phrases to help guide your newsletter brainstorming process
- Clever examples of newsletter names and descriptions to inspire you
By the end of this post, you’ll be equipped to come up with a name for your newsletter that fits your brand voice, sets you up for creative marketing opportunities, and attracts existing and potential customers. So sit back and take a read, and let this post turn the newsletter naming process back into a fun one.
Why email newsletters?
Email and newsletter marketing is one of the top marketing strategies employed by businesses today. Why?
People like email because they have more control with email than, say, social media. They can opt in and opt out easily (versus having to figure out settings on each social media platform; or deal with ads), they can choose whether to open an email or not (as opposed to social media where, if you don’t care for a post, you still have to scroll past it), and they can delete emails they don’t like.
And marketers like email because…well…people check their email! When they wake up. When in line. On the bus. At work. For work. Email marketing gives you the ability to reach audience members who want to be reached, to be creative, to keep current customers up to date on deals and promotions, products, and news, and to nurture leads into paying customers.
Why have a creative newsletter name?
There are a number of effective ways to promote your business today, but with all of them in use by so many businesses, it’s hard to stand out with simply the channel you’re using. In order to capture the attention of your target audience and stand out above your competition, you’ve got to work on your messaging, delivery, and approach within each channel to shine.
Having a creative and authentic name for your email newsletter, or different names for each of your different mailing lists can:
- Help you stand out in your readers’ inboxes
- Help recipients differentiate your different email channels (Ex. your emails for coupons vs your emails with blog post roundups)
- Improve the feel of the newsletter (Readers feel like they’re part of a community, or they feel informed and secure).
- Increase the appeal of the newsletter (A catchy name helps to facilitate the joining of an exclusive community)
- Make it more shareable (A name that rolls off the tongue or is catchy is more fun to share and easier to remember (i.e. “Thanks! I learned it from Tina’s Tuesday Tech Tips, ha!”)
Approaches you can take with newsletter names
In addition to having catchy and effective email subject lines, you can also use the email newsletter name itself to increase the appeal of your emails and maybe even increase open rates. Here are some of the common tactics you can use to come up with creative newsletter names:
One note before we begin: many of these ideas I came up with off the top of my head or with some thesaurus and rhyming tools, and which may or may not exist. Of course with the images, you know those newsletters actually exist. Before you decide on your newsletter name, check to make sure it doesn’t already exist. It’s not ideal to use someone else’s newsletter name, but duplicates exist. Just use your best judgment. Obviously, using the same name as a competitor or even a complementary business within your niche is not kosher; but if you happen to share a name with a business apart from you by several degrees of magnitude and on some other continent, it may be okay.
Rhyming newsletter names
Simple rhyme schemes can be delightful (Can I use that word? Yes.) and memorable. Choose a root word to build off of that ties into your local business or simply use your business’s name:
- Renegade Arcade’s Cheat Sheets
- Letters from a Trendsetter
- The Pet Gazette*
*But please, for the love of all things good in this world, don’t use this one as it’s as overused as [insert something you’re sick of hearing here].
Blog Paws, on the other hand…
For rhyming newsletter names, online tools like Rhymezone.com come in handy if you go this route.
Alliterative newsletter names
Using words that begin with the same letter or sound can help your newsletter name to roll off the tongue and welcome a click. Alliteration has been shown to focus a reader’s attention on specific sections of text and generate a natural rhythm and even a feeling. Specific sounds may also suggest undertones. For instance “s” may strike a ssslithering or sssecret feel. So keep this in mind in relation to your brand personality. Others may suggest no undertones at all, though, so don’t take this fact too seriously.
- Monday Morning Memo
- Runner’s Review
- Daily Dispatch
Punny/play on words newsletter names
A pun uses a word or phrase’s double meaning to its advantage. These are particularly popular as they’re often humorous and clever.
- The Daily Press—this could work for a coffee shop.
- Fresh Thoughts—grocer or florist.
- Between the Lines —for a tattoo shop.
- The Drummer’s Beat—music teacher.
Plain and obvious newsletter names
Some brands like to nix the puns, the rhymes, the cleverness, and just tell it like it is. This is good for brands that aim for a simple feel, or who cover complex topics and want to convey that they speak in plain terms their readers will understand.
- Matt Levine’s Money Stuff
- Design Things
- Finance Facts
- Simply Colors (painter or interior designer blog)
- Just Pics (for a photographer)
Industry jargon newsletter names
Creative email newsletter names can also use industry jargon that only certain people would recognize or understand, to grab their attention. If you have a very specific niche, this can be very effective in giving the newsletter an exclusive feel and attracting a very specific following.
- The REO Newsletter (REO is a real estate term, “real estate owned”).
- Exhibit A (for a law firm or lawyer association newsletter).
- First Look Newsletter (for a wedding planner).
Location or time-based newsletter names
Treat your newsletter like a place that people stop in on from time to time. This helps create an atmosphere for the reader. You can use rhyming or alliteration here but it’s not necessary.
- The Caterer’s Corner
- Allison’s Idea Factory
- The Husky Lovers’ Hub
- The Space for Taste
Creative words and ideas for newsletter names—category-based
In this section, I’ll provide words for various themes or categories of newsletters to help spark some creative inspiration. You can apply any of the approaches above to the ideas below. For example, you’ll see “Marketing Minute” (alliteration) in the first grouping of ideas below.
Timely newsletter names
If you’re providing regular updates, choose a name that suggests that. Go-to words would be:
- Update (The Daily Update)
- Pulse (The Pricing Pulse Newsletter)
- Scoop (The Scoop—pretty simple)
- Buzz (Beckworth’s Buzz)
- Minute (Marketing Minute)
Industry insight newsletter names
If the aim of your newsletter is to provide thought leadership, data insights, or information, choose more knowledge-oriented words or phrases:
- Report (The Philanthropic Report)
- Dive (Deep Dive)
- Insights (Physician’s Insights)
- Forecast (Financial Forecast Newsletter)
*Keep in mind that you can also simply use the word alone for your newsletter (i.e. “The Report” or “Insights”)
Innovation newsletters
Looking to establish yourself at the forefront of your field? Your newsletter title can help show that you are, well, there, at the cutting edge. Choose words like the ones below:
- Cutting and/or edge (of course) (Thoughts from the Razor’s Edge)
- Frontline (The 3DP Frontline Newsletter)
- Master (Python Masters)
- Innovation (The Innovation Station)
Local community-oriented newsletters
If you’re connecting with a local community, use words that resonate to them in a more geographical and lifestyle sense. Using the aforementioned “place” approach such as with words like “corner” or “hub” might be a good idea here.
- Bulletin (The Lakewood Bulletin)
- Living (Blue Desert Living)
- Neighbor/neighborhood (The Next Door Neighbor)
- Nest (The Newton Coffee Nest)
Support-focused newsletter names
A newsletter that dispenses advice or support should make that as clear as possible to readers. These words will get your point across clearly from the start:
- Notes (Notes from the Doctor)
- Advice (The UNH Freshman Advice Corner)
- Center (The Adult Learning Center)
- Tips (Tech Tips)
- Tidbits (Sips n’ Tidbits)
- Bites (or Bytes if in tech) (ThriveHive once had a local SEO podcast called FoundBytes, which I found to be a clever name)
- Pointers (Pointers for Pennies)
- Thoughts (Thoughts From the Frontline)
List/roundup newsletters
These newsletters are pretty self-explanatory. Here are some words to help you in deciding a name.
- Recommendations/recs
- Picks/top picks/top X
- [Day of the week or period] roundup
- Rally
- Collection/collective
More creative newsletter finds for additional inspiration
Mention Memo
Timeless & Timely
Chips & Dips
While You Were Working
Hurry Slowly
Netted
Tipoff
Milkshake
In Progress
Brass Ring Daily
Leanluxe
Start brainstorming words that you feel describe your business or the content of your newsletters, write them down then find synonyms for those words. You’ll end up with a solid starting point. Be cognizant of your audience and look for creative newsletter titles that will appeal to them and their interests. With the suggestions I’ve provided and your own expertise, your own authentic brain, your expertise, and the goals of the newsletter, you are now equipped to come up with a solid title that you feel excited about.
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