Most people learn email marketing by watching videos, taking courses, and consuming content. Hadiatullah Olaitan, email copywriter, content strategist, and founder of a LinkedIn-to-email revenue system , says that is only half the education.

The other half happens when you get your hands dirty. When you make mistakes, fix them, and learn things no course will ever teach you. In this episode, Hadiatullah shares how she went from a generalist copywriter in 2020 to a specialist who grew her leads from 28 to 387 in just two months and the real on-the-job lessons that got her there.

If you have been consuming content about email marketing without feeling like you are actually moving forward, this episode will challenge you to think differently about how you learn.

INSIDE THIS EPISODE

1. Why Hadiatullah describes email marketing as community building and how it is fundamentally different from social media

2. How Email Marketing helps in retention than social media

3. The Mailchimp mistake that taught her more about list management than any course ever could

4. How she went from generalist copywriter to email specialist and why niching down changed everything

5. The moment she realised LinkedIn content could be the engine that drives her email revenue

6. Why practical implementation beats video watching every single time and what to do instead

7. How she grew from 28 to 387 leads in two months by showing up consistently on LinkedIn

8. Her approach to email length and the unconventional way she studies other people's emails

9. The "build in public" strategy that helps beginners get proof of work without having clients yet

10. Her free guide for LinkedIn users who want to turn their profile into an email list landing page

GUEST RESOURCES

Guest: Hadiatullah Olaitan

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hadiatullah-olaitan/

Free Gift: Before You Post — a free guide to optimising your LinkedIn profile so it works as a landing page for your email list. 👇

https://nestuge.me/hadiatullah-olaitan

EPISODE TIMELINE ⏱️

[02:01] – If email marketing had a job description according to Hadiatullah and why she calls it community building

[02:47] – Why email is the retention layer social media can never replace

[03:35] – Open Rates Confession: the Mailchimp mistake that almost cost her a subscriber permanently

[05:33] – Dr. Sapphire's own story of a guest who accidentally sent a mass email under the wrong name

[08:27] – How Hadiatullah started freelancing in 2020 and discovered copywriting through a gifted book

[11:05] – Why she niched down from generalist to email copywriter in 2022

[13:09] – How LinkedIn content grew her leads from 28 to 387 in two months

[16:20] – The automation mistake that forced her to send manual campaigns and what it taught her

[17:35] – Why practical implementation is the real education in email marketing

[22:39] – Her philosophy on email length and how she learns by dissecting expert emails

[25:06] – Advice for beginners: build in public, start where you are, volunteer strategically

[31:49] – About the Before You Post guide and how to get it

CONNECT WITH US

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.sapphire_/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayebanoabenwari/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@dr.sapphire_

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/sapphirelearninghub/

Website: https://sapphirelearninghub.com/

The transcript of the podcast session with Hadiatullah Olaitan follows below:

Podcast Session Transcript: Hadiatullah Olaitan

The host introduces the podcast "Email Marketing Experiments" and guest Hadiatullah Olaitan (Hadat).

Olaitan is described as someone who helps turn followers into revenue using a "LinkedIn to email to income" workflow.

Question: What is the job description of email marketing?

Olaitan: It is "community building". While social media followers are often called a community, true community building happens on an email list, free from algorithm restrictions, shadow banning, and impression limits.

Host: Agrees, noting that email's power lies in the "retention part" — converting followers into loyal fans.

Olaitan: Shared a mistake involving a paid newsletter on Mailchimp. While segmenting subscribers, she accidentally deleted a paid subscriber and could not re-add them without fresh consent. After significant research and stress, she fixed it by creating a new opt-in form to re-input the email.

Host: Highlights that mistakes are part of the journey and that Olaitan's "doggedness and resilience" in finding a solution is the key lesson for listeners.

2020: Olaitan entered the freelance world during COVID-19, starting with copywriting for a non-profit and then an e-commerce brand.

2023-2024: She joined an email marketing agency, handled technical back-end work, and eventually focused on content strategy.

Current Flow: She uses LinkedIn content to build followers and leads, then moves them to an email list to generate revenue.

Olaitan emphasizes that one only truly learns email marketing by "getting your hands dirty". Practical implementation is vital because watching videos is not enough.

She shares another story of an automation mistake where subscribers exited a flow because she hadn't set up the next steps in time, forcing her to send manual campaigns.

The host reinforces the philosophy that "practical implementation equals experience".

There is a brief technical interruption in the audio.

Olaitan argues that email length should be determined by the content’s ability to remain interesting: "Wherever it stops getting interesting, stop there".

She uses a mixture of short and long-form emails depending on the topic (e.g., long for storytelling or frameworks, short for feedback).

For beginners, she recommends studying industry experts' emails and "dissecting" how they work before testing what fits their own audience.

Olaitan's primary mantra is "a closed mouth will never get fed".

She advocates for "building in public" to show a track record and gain visibility, noting that people cannot hire you if they cannot see you.

She advises newbies not to overthink or wait for perfect information.

Key steps: Start where you are, use free resources, volunteer strategically for "proof," and focus on implementation.

Olaitan discusses her lead magnet, a guide called "Before You Post," which helps people optimize their LinkedIn profiles before they begin content marketing.

She highlights that an optimized profile is essential for converting content engagement into followers and subscribers.