Email Newsletters
For small businesses, Email newsletters can be a powerful form of email marketing. Creating a newsletter can be very simple, especially if you create a template that can be changed from month to month making the job very smooth, fast and simple. The hardest part is the initial set up and design. You will need to consider the layout, subjects to cover, other content and pictures and art.
There are a few steps to take in planning and designing that first Email Newsletter that can be followed to get started. After you have developed the newsletter to your satisfaction, you can automate the process and just cut and paste each month.
First, you have to figure out why you are sending Email Newsletters. Ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish and what should you concentrate on as an overall theme. You know that you are trying to connect with clients and prospects. You are attempting to get sales through your marketing. Increasing traffic to your website is a priority. You would like to increase your social media following and you would like to have feedback so that you can understand your prospects and clients better and serve their needs.
Then, you have to figure out the basics. How often do you want to send a newsletter? Is it going out monthly or twice a month or just once a quarter? How many articles and stories would you like to include? Will there be a feature with each edition.What are the recurring segments that come out with each new edition. Most companies find a monthly newsletter with 3-4 stories to be plenty. If there is great interest, you can always add more. Recurring segments could be a news section, highlighting recent happenings at your company, industry news or seasonal articles.
Next is the layout. Should there be columns and how many? Where do the images appear and do you develop a banner that is used each time? When you build the right template, you can simply copy it for every month’s newsletter. Just cut and paste the new information into the right columns and sections.
Finally, the fun part begins. Writing the content and coordinating the pictures can be exciting while you put together the puzzle. Choose to write stories or articles that match your branding. If you specialize in a certain niche, the overall content should address that niche. Write about sales or marketing advice or inform your subscribers about important happenings at the company. Write two or three sentences summarizing the story, then find a relevant image to match. Start with your feature article and build a lead headline based on that article. Put short headlines over the other articles and sections. Have three recurring segments as a part of each email newsletter. Write about a team member or about financial news. As you are building the layout, step back and double check that the newsletter is going in the direction of highlighting your brand and company. Check for typos and spelling. Make sure that the formatting is readable and there is a flow from article to article. Double check that your logo is easily noticed.
When the newsletter is edited, proofed and ready, send the first email newsletter to yourself so that you know what it will look like in a client or prospects in-box. When you are ready to mass send the newsletter, take note of the time and day of week that you are sending it. You will want to test the best times to send to get the greatest response with the first few newsletters. When you have studied your return responses and coordinate it with the timing factor, you will know when to send it thereafter on a regular basis.
We at Everest Direct Mail & Marketing, create professional-looking newsletters, complete with your own logo. We feature high-value content to get the best reach possible for prospective clients.Our newsletters are fully customizable and allow you to connect with your community. This customization makes our newsletters even more informative and effective. The possibilities are endless! Newsletters are a great way to share organizational changes, innovation in the industry, benefit plans, competitor updates, product developments and messages from the CEO. Newsletters are a powerful way to build and maintain communication to your client base.
