1. Send regularly — If you have an email newsletter, it’s easy to click “send” whenever you have something to share. Online or not, if you issue your newsletter only a few times a year, subscribers can easily forget about you and your offerings. At best, you should send an online newsletter at least once a week and at minimum — print or digital — quarterly, four times per year. This will help ingrain your business or organization in people’s minds to build trust with them to boost sales and/or memberships.
2. Keep a schedule — I’m for testing newsletter delivery at different times of day, especially for e-news, and certain days, for the best open rates. Some marketing experts suggest mid-week is best, others believe weekends work better. Let the results be your guide. Unless your experience shows otherwise, it’s best to commit to a delivery day, even if you can’t always publish at the same time. It shows follow-through, and people like consistency, which boosts your image, and again, builds trust.
3. Publish “sticky” content — No one wants to stay subscribed to a dull diatribe. You don’t have to stun everyone with every issue, but your content should offer value to readers beyond pitches. People tend to gravitate to content targeted to their interests and demographics. Pay attention to their questions or poll them to find good subjects. Publish readers’ comments or articles, which can increase your bond with them. Listen to their responses; for e-news, watch your unsubscribe rates and your newsletter and link open rates — and tweak headlines to catch readers’ clicks.
4. Make it a marketing tool — A newsletter is also an effective content arsenal. If you archive back issues at your website, optimize them for search engines. Link to them in blog posts, in comments, or in online forums you frequent. Give out copies at events; email helpful articles to your leads when you follow-up with them, and gain more subscribers. Many of these methods have helped me, and they can help you, too. Newsletters, combined with social media, a blog, and a website, form a powerful marketing combo.
5. Recycle — Again, work your existing content into other marketing platforms; you can save time and see returns. Repurpose your articles into blog posts, eBooks, articles for publications, PowerPoint presentations, social media posts, or other means, or do the reverse and reprint content from those sources in your newsletter (with permission, if necessary).
Need help with your newsletter? Request a free e-news audit. No strings attached, and nothing required to buy. Just good, solid advice which can result in more leads and more money in your pocket.
Quotes
66% of Americans made a purchase as a result of an email from a brand — more than three times the number of people who bought in response to a Facebook message — 20%, or a text message — 16%. ~ Exact Target
…Marketers consistently ranked email as the single-most-effective tactic for awareness, acquisition, conversion, and retention…56 percent of respondents identified email as being most effective at retention, several points ahead of the second-most effective tactic (social media marketing). ~ Gigaom Research, Workhorses and Darkhorses: Digital Tactics for Customer Acquisition
Comments? Suggestions? Need help? Feel free to contact me.
Michelle Troutman
classywriting.com
