Lanna Hill: I hate mass emails but can’t resist reading Schwarzenegger’s

I don’t know if it’s because I work in branding and communications or if it’s because I’ve been running my own businesses on and off for more than 10 years.

Maybe it’s because I’m getting old and grumpy and frankly, overstimulated by the daily digital tsunami that is such a big part of business today. Or all of the above.

I guard my email address with a ferocity that is probably a bit disproportionate to what I’m handing over, yet I am still subscribed to far more email newsletters than I really want to be.

I’ve thought from time to time about a mass deletion of my personal email address inbox, to bathe in the serenity of an empty email inbox for an hour or two. I delete almost every mass email that hits my personal inbox — and often my work inbox too.

Yet there is one email newsletter I open every week without fail, along with an estimated 750,000 subscribers globally: Arnold’s Pump Club.

And I think we could all glean more than a few tips from former Mr Olympia and governor of California, author and podcast host. And Arnold’s not the only one, although, as usual, he’s doing it a little bit better than the rest. Author James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter and social media expert Matt Navarro’s Geekout newsletter are two of my other favourites.

So what are they getting right? For starters, and especially in Schwarzenegger’s case, they have exceptionally strong personal brands.

As a sports psychology and autobiography fan (and child of the Eighties), I’ve been fascinated by the evolution of the Terminator for a long time and, more specifically, how he has captured our attention across multiple generations and platforms, from paperback to Netflix.

Two of the core principles of any strong personal brand are clarity and consistency. And again, Schwarzenegger (or simply Arnold, as I prefer to call him) has had this in spades for decades.

Similarly, Clear’s trademark writing style — clean, concise and methodical — extends to his newsletters in a way that is familiar and predictable but still interesting, informative and, most of all, personal.

This is one of the other key ingredients that make these newsletters (and others I haven’t mentioned) such great examples of how, despite the odds, emails can cut through and connect in a way that social media can’t.

Done the right way, an email newsletter feels like a letter from one human to another. Now, of course, in many cases, it won’t be — but the way it is curated and written leaves you with the feeling that you have had a personal conversation or unique insight you might otherwise not have had.

The other thing I love about all of these examples (and any of my favourite brands in general) is that they don’t take themselves too seriously, while still delivering great value. There’s a sense of wholesomeness too, in a way that feels unusual in the context of our modern lives.

Arnold’s blend of earnest humour, combined with his tangible enthusiasm for the subjects we associate him with, is so irresistibly authentic. And as I’ve said many times in this column, authenticity is something that’s guaranteed to cut through, where other things may not.

Lanna Hill is a strategist, speaker and founder of Leverage Media