“A newsletter is a great way to communicate with current, former, and even prospective customers,” Joe O’Neill, marketing communications manager for The Expert Institute, says. “It can help establish your brand as an authority in your industry or service, bolster your credibility, and foster trust between your customers and your brand.”
To help you create a stellar newsletter, we’ve created a list of tips.
1. Create quality content
The main driving force behind a newsletter is, of course, content. It’s the main dish. To make sure your guests devour your content, every article should be well written, informative, and conversational.
“Quality trumps quantity,” O’Neill says. “Putting a few pieces of high quality, useful content in your newsletter will serve you much better than filling a newsletter with plentiful but weak content.”
Quality content should be error free, so take the time to proof read every article. Read it aloud to catch more errors. Don’t hit the send button until you’re 100 percent satisfied with all of the content.
2. Select a format
There are two popular formats for email newsletters. The first option is a traditional newsletter like the one below. This newsletter has a professional layout with several articles featured on the front page. If you go with this option, you’ll want to create three or four shorter pieces that captivate your audience.
The other popular option is the headline newsletter. With this format, you offer a series of headlines and short article descriptions and encourage the reader to go to your blog for the full story. The Expert Institute creates this kind of newsletter.
3. Include links
No matter what format you select, every newsletter should have several links in it. You always want to give readers an opportunity to interact with your business or brand. Include links to your blog, website, or social media channels.
4. Use images
If content is the main dish, images are the side dishes. Don’t underestimate their power. Images have the ability to draw your reader in and help them connect to the story. Take a look at the newsletter below. The pictures add to the overall look of the newsletter and encourage you to read the text.
5. Send your newsletter on a regular basis
A newsletter should have a set delivery schedule. How many newsletters do you plan to send? Will you commit to a weekly newsletter or a monthly one? Decide how many newsletters you want to send each month and then decide when you’ll send it. You want customers to expect your newsletter in their inbox, so stick to the schedule you set.
6. Watch your stats
On average, email newsletters have a 20 percent open rate. Your open rates may be a bit higher than that in the beginning, but after a few months statistics show open rates for newsletters level off.
Keep an eye on your stats. If your open rates start to decline sharply, it might be time to make some changes. Consider changing the format, content topics, or send times to improve your stats once again.
Do you email a regular newsletter? How does it help your company? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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About the Author:
Lisa Furgison is a freelance journalist and co-owner of a media company, McEwen’s Media. Find her on Twitter @lfurgison.