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Newsletters are a great way of reaching your
target audience to promote your products and
services. Newsletters allow you to reach a wide
market to launch/expand your brand to potential
clients and also cross/up-sell to your existing
clientele.
It is an inexpensive and very targeted means of
promotion in comparison to television commercials
and advertising in print publications. At the same
time, newsletters are an effective and -- unlike
spamming -- respected method of marketing.
The e-newsletter playing field is democratized
in the sense that both small and large businesses
can both send effective, professional looking
newsletters. Follow the steps outlined in this
white paper to ensure that your e-newsletter is up
to scratch and the best that it can be.
Why Choose an E-Newsletter?
Make sure you know what an e-newsletter is, and
type of content belongs in it before you decide to
choose one as a means of marketing.
Readers don't want to see information in an
e-newsletter that they can find on your website,
so make sure your newsletter offers the reader a
reason to read. Include current information and
updates on your company or any future developments
and projects that are being planned (give them a
sneak preview), advertise discounts for new
products just for subscribing and include articles
relating to your field of expertise.
The "Personal" Touch
Effective newsletters should always contain a
personal touch, mainly to appear in-touch with
your reader and his/her needs.
It is important to let your personality
dominate the newsletter so that it doesn't present
itself as yet another mediocre sales blur. Make
sure you capture the first name of your reader so
that you can address them by it. There's nothing
worse than getting a "Hi there" when you
should really be getting a "Hi John".
Create a feeling of community to let your
readers know that their opinions and views really
do count. Correspondingly, encourage readers to be
an active member of yout community by allowing
them to contribute with feedback on featured
articles and even make contributions to your
newsletter themselves.
It is imperative that you study who your target
audience is. Find out what topics will interest
your readers by placing surveys on your site or in
your newsletters and follow up with related
information in future editions. Encourage readers
to send your newsletters to friends who may be
interested by using a 'send this newsletter to a
friend' feature.
Your newsletter will attract people who possess
similar demographics to your existing subscribers.
It's important to research and outline who your
members are and what they want - regardless of
whether your subscriber list is small or large -
that way you can optimize your newsletter to be
both useful and relevant to your audience.
Don't Over-Do the Sales Pitch
E-newsletters are great resources for cross
selling and up-selling your products and services,
yet while most newsletters contain some
advertising, be careful not to go overboard.
This becomes even more prominent if you plan to
include third part advertisements. Readers almost
certainly don't subscribe to newsletters to
receive what they will essentially consider as
junk mail. If you over-do the advertising then
your newsletter is no more than Spam, and the
unsubscribe link is sure to ensue.
Look and Feel
It's a good idea to extend your branding
efforts to your newsletter. If customers associate
your website with a good product or service and
subscribed to your newsletter through your site,
then it would be beneficial to keep your branding
efforts prominent in your newsletters too.
For members that have not yet transacted with
you, your newsletter is definitely a good way of
subtly introducing them to your brand.
Additionally, make sure your newsletter is easy to
navigate and contains no broken links.
Present your information in small paragraphs
with links to more information if necessary. That
way, you can place more detailed information on
your site and readers can click on the relevant
links that catch their attention to read more.
Legitimate Email Marketing - the Respected
Alternative
There are a few steps that you will need to
follow to ensure your newsletter does not seem
invasive. You need to accommodate for subscribers
who are wary about receiving newsletters by
providing them with an unsubscribe link.
Unsubscribe link - It's important that your
subscribers don't feel like you're making it
difficult for them to unsubscribe. If you do hide
your unsubscribe link or act evasively about
presenting a clear unsubscribe link, then you are
portraying yourself as sly and ambiguous - a good
way to lose subscribers.
At the same time, you should ensure that the
unsubscribe request is actually honored and the
subscribers is taken off the list immediately.
Multiple lists - If your subscribers belong to
different lists, it is important that you specify
which list they belong to and make sure you do not
email the same subscribers repeatedly about
unrelated products.
It's also important that you take the time to
offer tailored e-newsletters to specific lists so
that you present readers with more customized
information. It's important to remember that
people sign up to for newsletter because of the
value perception -- more commonly known as
"what's in it for me?".
If the information in your newsletter tries to
cater to too many different subscriber lists then
the line between being informative and junk mail
becomes very blurred.
Conclusion
Most businesses have an e-newsletter --
regardless of whether they are a one-person
business or a large corporation. Unlike posted
newsletters, print publications and other hard
copy methods, e-newsletters add a lot more
dimension to your marketing efforts, including
cost-effectiveness, timely sending, dynamic
design, content, presentation and easy feedback.
Newsletters help your company touch base with
both existing and potential customers -- they are
not designed for long drawn out articles, but
rather short, informative snippets of information
that make some level of impact.
Sharpen your e-newsletter for your readers and
make sure you keep optimizing it for both present
and future subscribers by enhancing the sense of
community and personalization. The positive
difference that an effective newsletter can make,
will do wonders for your business.
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