Marketing newsletters can be an effective tool for building business relationships and increasing sales. However, a poorly executed newsletter can be nothing more than a waste of time, and can even harm existing business relationships. At the very least, many generic, forgettable newsletters are often thrown out or deleted without being read. These tips can help you create a marketing newsletter that actually has a positive impact.
#1: Focus on Your Customers
Your newsletter should be primarily geared toward your customers and their interests. The results of the company golf tournament may be big news at the water cooler, but most customers will not care. Use the newsletter to keep your customers informed of any upcoming changes in the business that impacts them, such as new products, new locations or new hours. If your customer base is predominantly made up of a specific demographic of people, target the information in the newsletter to these people. For example, if your business sells home health supplies to the elderly, the content in the newsletter should be geared toward the elderly.
#2: Use Short, Direct Headlines
When presented with a large amount of information, many people will simply skim over the material and glance at the headlines to determine whether or not to read further. Therefore, consider the headline from the customer’s prospective to ensure that it is catchy, easily digestible and appealing. Include short articles containing solid, highly targeted information, and avoid long, rambling sections of technical descriptions or other boring information.
#3: Create Interest
Did you ever wonder why some businesses add humorous stories, crossword puzzles, recipes and other unrelated information to their newsletters? It is simply to encourage those who receive the newsletter to actually read it. While not every marketing campaign will appeal to every consumer, the inclusion of useful and entertaining information can draw the attention of readers to the newsletter. Additionally, providing a tease in each issue about the contents of the next newsletter can help maintain your subscribers’ interest.
#4: Offer Discounts
There are two reasons that a newsletter should include special discounts. The first is simply to attract more customers to your business. Everyone likes a deal, and the inclusion of discounts can encourage more customers to pay attention to the newsletter in the first place. The second reason is that it gives you a concrete means of measuring the newsletter’s performance. While having customers read your newsletter is great, its primary purpose should be to actually boost sales. By noting the number of customers using the newsletter promotion, you can determine how effective your newsletter is in accomplishing this purpose.
#5: Make Connections
Contact information should not dominate a newsletter, but a good newsletter should still facilitate communication and an interactive relationship between you and your subscribers. For example, the newsletter should provide information on how to connect with the business’s social media sites. It should also ask for customer feedback on the newsletter and the business in general. You can make this information easily accessible without being overbearing by discretely placing contact information on the bottom of each page.
Guest post contributed by Peter Nevis, on behalf of Orange Line SEO. Peter contributes to various websites, he’s a marketing expert and enjoys writing articles about SEO & online marketing strategies.
