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Which Email Marketing Platform Is Right for Credentialed Professionals?

There's no shortage of people telling you which email platform to use. But the right answer depends entirely on what you actually need email to do for your practice - and most platform comparisons skip that question entirely. Here's a framework to help you figure it out.

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This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure here.

There’s a lot of tech evangelizing out there.

“This newsletter software it the best!

“You don’t know about this platform? That’s the only right answer!

“I just started my newsletter using with this software and have been very impressed.”

“Definitely check out this one!”

(Sound familiar?)

And while I’m personally a huge fan of Kit as an email marketing platform for credentialed professionals – financial advisors, therapists, speech pathologists, lactation consultants, and others who built their business on years of expertise – you might be surprised to learn that I don’t recommend it for everyone.

I’m very anti one-size-fits-all advice when it comes to email marketing. (Except when it comes to consent. That’s non-negotiable.)

So instead of telling you which platform to use, I want to give you a framework for figuring out the right one for your business. But before we can get there, let’s get on the same page about a few things.

Newsletters vs. Email Marketing

First off, let’s get on the same page about newsletters vs. email marketing. People use these terms interchangeably, but they’re not the same thing – and the difference matters when you’re picking a platform. since they’re often used interchangeably.

While I have an entire post devoted to breaking down the difference between newsletters and email marketing, the way I look at it is email marketing is a spectrum , from sharing ideas and thought leadership all the way to actively selling your services.

A newsletter lives at the intersection of thought leadership and updates. It’s not really selling, but it’s still marketing-esque in you’re marketing your ideas while also staying top of mind.

The spectrum looks like this: Sharing ideas → Driving clicks → Prompting action → Making a sale

Your emails can sit anywhere on that spectrum, and they can shift over time depending on what your practice needs.

Why does this matter for platforms? Because newsletter platforms like Substack are built for one end of the spectrum. Email marketing platforms like Kit, Mailchimp, and others are built to support the whole thing.

Newsletter Platform Categories Explained

Ok, now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s break down the different types of platforms available. I’ve grouped them into four buckets:

  1. Newsletter Platforms
  2. Email Service Providers
  3. Website Builders with Built-In Email Marketing Capabilities
  4. Client Relationship Management Tools (aka CRM’s)

Newsletter Platforms

These are platforms where the whole point is to share your ideas and be discovered – not necessarily to sell your products or services. For most people using these platforms, the newsletter itself IS the product. Many people using these platforms are trying to monetize their content through paid subscriptions.

Examples: Substack, beehiiv

Best for: Writers, thought leaders, journalists, content creators who are monetizing through paid subscriptions and/or sponsorships

Pros:

  • Built-in discoverability through recommendation networks
  • Payment processing for paid subscriptions built right in
  • Public-facing archives that function almost like a blog
  • Substack also has a community feature, so it functions as a combination newsletter and social media platform

Cons:

This is super important: both Substack and beehiiv are explicitly designed for sharing ideas, not for marketing and selling services. Their terms of use make clear that using their platforms primarily to promote your services or drive people to book with you isn’t what they’re built for.

If using email to promote your services is part of the plan, I’d strongly advise against a newsletter platform. (Unless you also plan to move your subscribers on either of these platforms also onto your email marketing software.)

Email Service Providers

An ESP – or email service provider – is the platform that hosts your email list and lets you send marketing emails. This is the category most service-based businesses need.

It is NOT Gmail, Outlook, or any email account you use for regular correspondence. In fact, sending bulk emails from your personal or business email isn’t just ineffective – in the U.S., it can put you on the wrong side of CAN-SPAM act.)

Examples: Kit (formerly ConvertKit), Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, MailerLite, Flodesk, Constant Contact, Klaviyo

Best for: Digital creators, service-based business owners, coaches, consultants

Pros:

Pros:

  • Collect subscriber information (with their permission)
  • Send automated emails based on subscriber actions
  • Send newsletters and broadcast emails
  • Segment your audience based on what they sign up for or actions they take – for example, separating current clients from prospects, or people on a waitlist
  • Integrate with other tools like booking software and checkout platforms
  • You own your subscriber list and can move it to a different platform if you need to

Cons:

With the exception of Kit, most ESPs don’t have built-in discovery tools. Getting people onto your list is entirely up to you.

Website Builders with Built-In Email Marketing Capabilities

Several website builders include email marketing as an add-on feature, so you can keep everything under one login.

Examples: Squarespace, Kajabi, Wix, Shopify

Best for: People who want everything in one place and don’t want to have to work with different softwares

Pros:

  • Everything integrated with your website
  • One login, one platform, one monthly or annual bill

Cons:

Because email isn’t the core feature, it’s often not done particularly well. Squarespace’s email tools in particular are quite basic. If email marketing is central to how you grow and maintain client relationships – and for most credentialed professionals it should be – an all-in-one builder may leave you wishing you had more.

CRM Tools

CRMs – or Client Relationship Management tools – are platforms designed to manage the entire client journey, from first inquiry through invoicing and beyond. Some also include email marketing features.

Examples: HubSpot, Salesforce, GoHighLevel

Best for: Businesses that need robust client management and want email marketing fully integrated into that system

Pros:

All of the pro’s of using an ESP, plus

  • Full client relationship management under one roof
  • Very granular control over who receives which emails at which points in the client journey

Cons:

For most solo practitioners or small teams, this is more than you need – and the price tag and learning curve reflect that. If you’re asking “should I use HubSpot or GoHighLevel?”, the honest answer is: probably not yet. These tools make a lot of sense as your practice grows and your client management needs become more complex. Right now, they may just add friction.

So…Which Email Tool is Right for YOU?

You now know more than most people do about what these platforms actually are and how they differ. And honestly? That might feel like more options, not fewer.

Here’s what will actually help you decide: stop asking “which platform should I use?” and start asking, “What do I actually need this platform to do for my business?”

These four questions will get you there.

Question 1: Is your newsletter itself the product?

Are you planning to monetize through paid subscriptions – where people pay specifically to read your writing?

If yes: Newsletter platforms like Substack or beehiiv are built for this. That said, some ESPs like Kit also support paid newsletters if you want that option down the road.

If no: If your newsletter supports your business rather than being your business, skip the newsletter platforms.

Question 2: Do you plan to sell services or products (beyond the newsletter itself)?

Are you using email to promote your services, let people know you have openings, announce workshops, drive bookings, or sell digital products?

If yes: You need a platform that supports email marketing, not a newsletter platform.

If no: If you’re purely focused on thought leadership with no intention of ever promoting your work, a newsletter platform could work fine.

Question 3: What features do you need it to have?

Do you need to:

  • Send different emails to different groups of subscribers?
  • Send a welcome sequence when someone signs up?
  • Create lead magnets or opt-in forms?
  • Integrate with your booking or checkout software?

If yes: You need an ESP, a CRM, or a website builder with solid email capabilities. (For most credentialed professionals, an ESP is the right call.)

If no: If everyone gets the same content and you’re not differentiating between subscriber types, a simpler tool might work fine for now.

Question 4: Will you actually use it?

This is the most overlooked question in any platform conversation.

It doesn’t matter how many features a platform has. If you hate using it – or it doesn’t make sense to you – you won’t use it. And a platform you don’t use helps no one.

The best tool for your business is the one that does what you need it to do, and that you’ll actually open.

A note on Kit

I’ve been a Kit user since 2016 and became a Kit Certified Expert because I genuinely believe it’s one of the best ESPs available for service-based businesses, especially for credentialed professionals who need segmentation, automation, and ethical list-building in one place.

But as I said at the beginning, I don’t think it’s the right fit for everyone.

If you work through the questions above and Kit seems like a strong match, I’m happy to go deeper on why I recommend it and what it can do for a practice like yours.

And if you’re still not sure which direction to go? That’s exactly what a Power Hour is for – one focused session to look at your specific situation and walk away with a clear answer.