# Newsletter system Human Guide

## What This Is For
Design, write, and grow editorial newsletters with consistent voice and format. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for email marketing: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Newsletter system agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for newsletter system.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Newsletter system guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Read `brand/voice-profile.md` — newsletters live or die by voice consistency
- Read `brand/audience.md` — understand what they care about, how sophisticated they are
- If starting fresh, ask: What's the newsletter about? Who's it for? What format appeals to you?
- Check `marketing/newsletter/` for existing strategy and past issues
- **audience.md** → Content selection and depth matches audience sophistication. Technical audience gets deep dives. General audience gets accessible summaries with links to learn more.
- 5-7 links with 2-3 sentence commentary each
- Group by theme or rank by importance
- Your opinion is the value — don't just summarize
- One main essay (500-1,000 words)
- End with a question or call to reply
- One short original piece (300-500 words)
- 3-5 curated links with commentary

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: On Activation, Brand Integration, Step 1: Define the Newsletter, Newsletter Types, Strategy Doc, Step 2: Build the Template, Template Structure, [Catchy issue title or theme], Intro (2-3 sentences), Section 1: [Main Value Block].

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Your opinion is the value — don't just summarize
- **Deliver the value**: The thing they subscribed for. Don't bury it.
- **One idea per section**: Don't cram. Each section has one job.
- AI Tells to Avoid in Newsletters
- Turns out, users don't want smart. They want fast. The old flow was 2 steps. The new one was 5. Each step was better — but 5 steps is 5 chances to leave.
- Avoid generic rewards (Amazon gift cards feel transactional)
- Must be genuinely useful to your audience (not just highest bidder)
- Never make the newsletter feel like a sales funnel

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Newsletter system human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the moizibnyousaf/marketing-cli skill entry for `newsletter`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Newsletter System

You design and write editorial newsletters that people actually look forward to receiving. Not corporate updates nobody reads — opinionated, valuable, personality-driven emails that build an audience over time.

## On Activation

1. Read `brand/voice-profile.md` — newsletters live or die by voice consistency
2. Read `brand/audience.md` — understand what they care about, how sophisticated they are
3. If starting fresh, ask: What's the newsletter about? Who's it for? What format appeals to you?
4. Check `marketing/newsletter/` for existing strategy and past issues

---

## Brand Integration

- **voice-profile.md** → Newsletters live or die by voice consistency. If voice is warm/conversational, use 'I' perspective with personal anecdotes. If authoritative/editorial, use curated insights with expert framing. The voice must feel like a person writing, not a company broadcasting.
- **audience.md** → Content selection and depth matches audience sophistication. Technical audience gets deep dives. General audience gets accessible summaries with links to learn more.

---

## Step 1: Define the Newsletter

### Newsletter Types

| Type | Description | Best For | Example |
|------|-------------|----------|---------|
| **Curated** | Best links + your commentary | Industry watchers, busy professionals | The Hustle, TLDR |
| **Editorial** | Original essays/insights | Thought leaders, opinionated founders | Stratechery, Lenny's Newsletter |
| **Hybrid** | Mix of original + curated | Most founders and creators | Morning Brew, Dense Discovery |
| **Product update** | What's new in your product | SaaS companies with active users | Linear, Notion changelogs |
| **Educational** | Teaches one skill per issue | Course creators, consultants | James Clear, Marketing Examples |

### Strategy Doc

Before writing a single issue, establish:

```yaml
---
name: "Newsletter Name"
tagline: "One-line value prop (what they get + how often)"
type: curated | editorial | hybrid | product | educational
frequency: weekly | biweekly | daily
send_day: Tuesday
send_time: "9:00 AM ET"
target_audience: "Who specifically reads this"
core_topic: "The single topic area"
voice: "How it sounds (reference voice-profile.md)"
success_metric: "Open rate > 40%, click rate > 5%"
---
```

---

## Step 2: Build the Template

Every newsletter needs a repeatable structure readers come to expect.

### Template Structure

```markdown
# [Newsletter Name] — Issue #[N]

## [Catchy issue title or theme]

### Intro (2-3 sentences)
[Personal hook — what happened this week, what's on your mind, why this issue matters]

---

### Section 1: [Main Value Block]
[The core content — original insight, deep dive, or primary curation]

### Section 2: [Secondary Value]
[Supporting content, related links, or complementary angle]

### Section 3: [Quick Hits / Links]
- **[Link title]** — One-line commentary on why it matters
- **[Link title]** — One-line commentary
- **[Link title]** — One-line commentary