Everyone is chasing TikTok virals, but the real money is somewhere else entirely. Krzysztof Bartnik reveals what really generates leads
The newsletter is usually treated as a dusty relic of the past. "Oh, it would be good to set up a mailing list someday… but first let's get millions of views on Instagram and TikTok." And then you listen to Krzysztof Bartnik (Imker), and suddenly it turns out you can look at it in a completely different way!
An inbox doesn't have to be a graveyard of spam or yet another clogged channel used only to send discount codes. It can be an extremely effective tool that, like glue, holds all your online activities together. One that really builds business relationships, not just tells a nice story about them.
A conversation with Krzysztof Bartnik.
Full episode of the SUURowo o marketingu podcast.
When a newsletter stops being a monologue and becomes a conversation
A very important element of the whole strategy is that e-mail marketing is not simply a megaphone for one-way messages. From the very beginning, it is meant to be a space for deeper reader interest and dialogue.
On social media we only catch someone's attention, while the inbox gives the reader a chance to dive calmly into the knowledge being shared. Krzysiek admits it openly: it is from this unassuming place that he has won his most valuable leads in recent years.
A simple, honest message sparks discussion. Someone shares their problem, and B2B collaboration grows out of that natural exchange. This channel is simply the closest thing to a real, human conversation with a client.
Scale in a month? No, it's a marathon built on patience
One of the most striking threads is how slow a newsletter can be at the start. It isn't as dynamic as social media and doesn't reward you with an instant shower of likes, which can quickly put many creators off continuing…
It all only makes sense if you arm yourself with patience. Krzysztof noticed a real inflow of enquiries - the kind that ultimately secured his company's revenue for the whole following year - only around the thirtieth or even fortieth issue.
This is an extremely important business lesson: this way of making money is based on iron discipline. If you decide and promise that the knowledge e-mail goes out on Tuesday, it has to go out on Tuesday, regardless of excuses or holidays. It's simply a demanding marathon, not a flashy sprint.
List hygiene: it's not about vanity, but about real engagement
Companies and creators often proudly boast of mailing lists of several hundred thousand addresses, where practically nobody reacts or clicks. Krzysztof bluntly reminds us that it's like having 1.5 million followers on a social platform but getting only twenty likes on a photo.
This is where the biggest challenge of the whole process appears: how do you stop chasing empty numbers? From a business perspective, a much smaller but genuinely active and engaged group of readers is far more valuable and effective.
The answer to clearing out "dead souls" in the system is uncompromising address hygiene. If a user has been ignoring your messages for a long time, send them a last-chance e-mail asking for a reaction. If there's still no response, simply remove them from the list without sentiment, so you don't waste money on keeping them with your provider every month.
A person instead of a logo. A digital assistant instead of an autopilot
One of the most effective "hooks" in mailing is… betting on an authentic face. If you run an online shop, sending only dry advertising catalogues will quickly bore your subscribers and send them to sleep.
But when selected products are recommended by a specific "Ada from your brand" or described by "Krzysiek" himself, people suddenly start interacting. That's because, as consumers, we want to communicate with a real flesh-and-blood person, not a computer-generated avatar or an anonymous company logo.
The conversation with Krzysiek also touches on the ever-present but important topic of using AI. Algorithms are excellent digital assistants: they can turn messy thoughts into a structure, do initial research or instantly find annoying typos in a text. But having a bot generate an expert article from scratch and pressing "send" without careful checking is, according to Krzysztof, a dead end. The value in e-mail marketing lies in a craftsman's approach and your own experience.
What stays with us after this conversation?
Effective e-mail marketing:
And above all, it proves that an inbox, if you approach it strategically and honestly, can secure a company's revenue for many months.
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