Should a newsletter include memes and GIFs?

I do a newsletter for a landscaper in West Austin. That might be the most boring business on earth. His company newsletter has a 60% open rate.

"He says the reason is he puts funny memes at the end of every one. People have an incentive to open because they love seeing the memes."

He told me he puts about 10 memes at the end of each one. That's his explanation, not a controlled test. I started doing it in my own newsletters too.

Why should a local newsletter be fun at all?

Because the local media that already exists is boring. It's hard-hitting news and journalistic principles. That's not what we're doing.

People can technically get local information in other ways. We're the fun way. We're not talking about cops and city council meetings, we're talking about stuff people care about, and we make it a little silly. Fun is a big part of the value I think we should bring.

Where should memes go?

At the end. Always. The meme is the reward for scrolling through the whole thing, and it gives people a reason to open next week.

Do the memes have to be local?

No. The ones at the bottom of my newsletters are random funny stuff that has nothing to do with the newsletter or the town. People like to laugh. Who cares?

Local memes are better if you can make them, but they take real focus. If you think you'll figure it out in three minutes of scanning the web, it probably won't work and you'll move on, like I did. Set time aside, write down meme ideas, then go search for templates.

The easy move is combining the news with a meme. Costco's coming to town? Everybody loves Costco, everybody hates how busy Costco is. That's a meme. Jacob Espinoza told me on my podcast his method: pick a hot local topic, then find a template that conveys the emotion. TikTok shows you the meme template with a button to edit it.

One tool I wish existed: a meme library inside the newsletter builder, where I could say "I want four memes at the bottom" and pick them.

How many images should a newsletter have?

Most sections should have an image or a GIF. Not all of them, but most. If there's one main story, it always gets one.

One newsletter I reviewed had zero images or entertainment value from the first section down. A wall of text. We add GIFs, and we get a lot of feedback that it makes the email lighthearted and fun. Not a ton of comments, but people do write in to say they love the GIFs.

Keep images small. On a phone, one big image takes up the entire screen.

How do you make a GIF for a newsletter?

We make a five-picture GIF for restaurants. It takes about two minutes once you know how, and it adds a sense of professionalism people don't realize is that easy.

1. Build it in Canva as a video.
2. When you download, pick GIF as the format.
3. In Beehiiv, treat it like a photo.

You can also make a 20-second GIF, which is just a video with no sound. Put it above the text, and make the image link to Instagram so people can watch the whole video.

Isn't that unprofessional?

"We're not a journalistic newspaper with Harvard. We're just having fun helping you, so making it fun is good."

The guy I work with says throw all the memes in, send them all. My wife says no, we're not doing that on ours. I think he's right.

Why is this AI-proof?

No AI newsletter is going to pick a meme your town will laugh at. Humor, a pet of the week, a GIF that fits the moment: that's what tells readers a person made this.

Do polls work?

When you can come up with good ones. My wife thought of a great one that worked really well: what's your favorite beach?

Weak poll questions are a reason to skip the poll that week.

Why ask readers to reply?

Engagement. When lots of people write back to you, I believe that helps Gmail and the other inbox providers see you as a legit sender. I'm not sure of all the technical side.

Does this work for business newsletters too?

Yes, especially there. Who wants to read a lawn care newsletter? The landscaper's 60% says plenty of people do when it's fun. A realtor, a roofer or an insurance agent can make every issue a little fun: GIFs, memes, events, pet of the week. See what a business newsletter should include.