5 Elements of an Effective Newsletter for Business

1. A descriptive headline – Among the most crucial elements of an effective newsletter for business, the subject line should refer clearly to the content while it entices people to open.

Example: Is your Rx running low? (DFD Russell Medical Centers)

It should also provoke curiosity. Use power words, numbers, news, or scarcity (“This Friday Only”) to grab attention. Subject Line, Sharethrough, Advanced Marketing Institute’s Headline Analyzer, and other analyzers can help you choose click-worthy headlines.

2. A simple structure and design – Follow AIDA, which stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. Generally speaking, put the most important information at or near the top, where people tend to look first.

Research and marketing firm Fenwick studied several B2B newsletters. Those they ranked the highest contained an average of 241 words, used few images, had one column, and featured the same colors and branding as the companies’ websites.

3. Interesting content – Ask yourself why you’re sending your newsletter to determine what to include. Do you want to get more leads?

After you’ve started, the challenge is to keep people reading. HubSpot suggests you do that through “building relevance.” If you know why you’re sending people your newsletter, ask yourself, “What value are they going to get from it?”

4. Personalized copy – Michael Katz, an expert on professional services and solopreneur newsletters, recommends you blend stories about your life experiences with your business knowledge to connect with readers and build trust.

A more personal touch may make you stand out as someone people can relate to rather than a faceless brand name. It can also keep your content interesting.

5. Ease of reading – Check the readability level. Some grammar experts advise that your content read at an eighth or ninth-grade level or below. To check the level, use The Hemingway App.

An overlooked part of newsletter design is compliance with accessibility standards such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the European Union Accessibility Directive. The ADA requires certain businesses to accommodate people with disabilities. Web content for them should be accessible for navigation by voice, screen readers, or other assistive devices.

The ADA guidelines apply to businesses that run 20 or more weeks yearly with at least 15 full-time employees or those that provide public accommodation, such as inns and restaurants. These are the ADA legal requirements for an email.

Learn more about crafting engaging and effective business e-newsletters.

What do you think are the most effective elements of a newsletter? Feel free to comment below.

Need help with your e-newsletter? Check out The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Newsletter, my business newsletter writing packages, or request a free e-news audit.

Quotes

“When setting the goal for your email, you want to consider how to send the right email to the right person at the right time.” ~ HubSpot

“Regardless of which type of email you are sending, your reader needs to know what you’re trying to convey. Aim for a clean, straightforward design to display the value you are sending.” ~ HubSpot

5 Tips for Writing Inclusive Content

1. Race and ethnicity – For writing inclusive content, in June 2020, “Associated Press Stylebook” and “Chicago Manual of Style” (CMOS) editors agreed to emphasize capitalizing the “b” in “Black.”  Essentially, the CMOS advises it “in the service of editorial logic and consistency,” but doesn’t require it. So, if you usually write in the lowercase, it’s OK to continue to use “black.”

The AP has decided not to capitalize the word “white” (except in titles and at the beginning of a sentence), explaining that “as is done by white supremacists,” it “risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs.”

In 2019, the AP removed the hyphen from “African American” and other references to dual heritage for writing inclusive content. Other changes: In reference to non-whites, the AP accepts the term “people of color,” but not the acronym POC. It also allows the terms “racial minority/minorities.” But, if a person’s race or ethnicity is a focal point of your piece, it’s better to move from the general to the specific. So, instead of stating someone is Hispanic, per the example below, refer to their dual heritage.

Example: “Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida was the first Cuban American elected to Congress.”

2. Racism – The “Merriam-Webster Dictionary” recently updated its definition of the word to include “systemic oppression,” and it’s likely the first of many revisions in other references.

The AP defines racism as “a doctrine asserting racial differences in character, intelligence, etc., and the superiority of one race over another, or racial discrimination or feelings of hatred or bigotry toward people of another race.” It leaves the decision over whether a “specific statement, action, policy, etc.” should be termed “racist” or described differently open and up to “discussion with colleagues and others from diverse backgrounds and perspectives.”

The AP also suggests looking at the facts to determine if a statement or action meets the definition of the word. Use of the term “racist” requires similar caution; it’s better to be specific in describing a person’s words or actions. Depending on the context, “prejudiced,” “biased,” “racially divisive,” and similar terms may be more appropriate.

3. Gender-neutral pronouns – As our society continues to recognize transgendered and non-binary individuals, more people are deciding how they want others to refer to themselves, whether it’s as “he,” “she,” “it,” or “they.”

Some people state their personal pronoun preferences in their email signatures and/or their social media profiles. Traditionally, if you’re unsure of the correct pronoun, you would use “him or her,” but “they/their” is becoming more acceptable and common. If you don’t know, ask.

4. Gender-neutral nouns – Given the greater acceptance of non-male genders in different careers, our language also continues to evolve. For example, recent trends suggest terms such as “policeman,” “actress,” and “Congressman” are out of touch compared to more gender-neutral wording. “Police officer,” “actor,” or “member of Congress” are more acceptable alternatives. For writing inclusive content, the AP suggests everyone use neutral language unless an organization specifies otherwise.

5. More sensitive terms for other groups – Per the AP and other works, references to illegal immigrants or undocumented workers, homeless people, and the elderly are also changing with the times:

  • The AP has shifted its stance on the term “illegal immigrant.” It now prefers that writers “specify whenever possible how someone entered the country illegally and from where.”
  • It considers “the homeless” unacceptable and prefers the term “homeless people,” “people without housing,” or “people without homes.”
  • Also, some see the phrase “older adults” as more appropriate than “seniors,” “senior citizens,” or “the elderly.” In this case, the AP believes it’s better to be less specific and more general.

For more help with race/ethnicity, gender identity, and other multicultural terms, see The Diversity Style Guide. And for advice on skillful language rooted in critical thinking and compassion, visit The Conscious Style Guide.

Sharpen your image while you show compassion for others — learn how to write more inclusive content.

When you write inclusive content, which problems do you face? Feel free to comment below.

Quotes

“Writing about race and crime was not new territory for me. But it can be treacherous. So here are my rules: No stereotypes. No generalizations. No explanations. No apologies. Just the facts, ma’am.” ~ Colin Flaherty, “White Girl Bleed a Lot.”

“Tweak your internal grammar so that the pronoun ‘they’ can refer to a specific individual. It takes some practice to get the hang of it, but the human language processing capacity is more adaptable than people realize, even for geezers like me.” ~ Geoff Nunberg, Even a Grammar Geezer Like Me Can Get Used to Gender-Neutral Pronouns

  • Published July 7, 2020
  • Updated: 2022

5 Signs of Amateurish Writing

1. Not varying your word choice enough – If you use the same term in a piece too often, you’ll torture your readers. With so many words in the English language, it doesn’t hurt to change them occasionally. A thesaurus can help you turn amateurish writing into professional prose.

2. Starting every paragraph with words of the same letter – This practice isn’t always obvious, but as I look down a page while I edit,  if I spot a series of paragraphs that begin with “the,” they stand out. Again, variety will sharpen your writing.

3. Not changing the length of your sentences  As one writer put it, three short sentences in a row becomes annoying. Your readers shouldn’t stumble over certain passages. Watch the flow of your sentences; pay attention to their rhythms and edit them accordingly.

4. The passive voice  This is one of my favorite writerly nemeses. That’s because almost everyone has lapsed into the passive voice at some point, including me. The cliché about its popularity in the business world is true. Yes, it’s hard to remove it all the time, but in many cases, there’s no excuse not to just get to the point.

5. Too many paragraphs of similar length Some writers think one- or two-sentence paragraphs are cool, but too many in a row can frustrate readers. Marketing writers often do this in an attempt to build a connection. At the same time, too many long paragraphs can look intimidating. Generally, you want to keep sentences on the same topic together, but sometimes, for the sake of variety, you can get away with breaking some of them up.

Need help with your content? Contact me.


Quotes

“It is inappropriate to use an exclamation point in formal writing, such as a business resume, school book report, or a due college paper, as the style expected in these should be objective, standard, and informative.” ~ WhiteSmoke

“The unnecessary use of quotation marks is a sign of amateurish writing.” ~ Grammarist


Comments? Suggestions? Need help? Feel free to contact me.

Michelle Troutman
classywriting.com

Healthcare Email Marketing: Best E-Newsletters

In my newsletter, I discussed the aspects of effective emails — check out these examples that follow healthcare email marketing best practices, with good design and writing.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not affiliated with any of these sites. I like their content, and present it for educational purposes only for better healthcare email marketing.

1. MaineGeneral HealtheMatters – They present their information in a visually appealing way while projecting a positive image of their organization to build trust to keep patients and get donations. Donors can give money with one simple, easy-to-find click.

2. MaineHealth Health Matters e-Newsletter – MaineHealth’s engaging e-newsletter truly informs, with healthful recipes, links to health tips and videos, and news everyone can use.

3. Consumers for Affordable Health Care (CAHC) – The weekly Coffee CAHC e-newsletter covers federal and state policy news about health care.  It’s distressing, though, how much it has become politicized and how divisive the issue of access to affordable health care has become.  Aside from the political issues, I applaud the informative information, and they make great use of subheadings throughout to break up the different sections.

Are you getting enough leads and revenue from your newsletter?  If not, contact me for a free e-news audit today!

What do you think?  Do you have any great newsletters to share here?

Published November 6, 2018

Best Social Media Sites: Health and Wellness

I sometimes find Twitter and Facebook pages that feature great content. These are a few of the best social media sites in the health and wellness industries.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not affiliated with these organizations. I admire their websites, and present them for educational purposes only.

1. MDI (Mount Desert Island) Hospital: With workshops on various aspects of wellness, ads that entice job seekers to find out why MDI is a great workplace, and posts, such as the one for #GivingTuesday (11/28/17) that encourage donors to give and to state why, MDI comes across effectively as a hospital that focuses on health and on fostering a community of caring.

2. Spectrum Medical Group: With safety tips, promo for shows that feature doctors in their practice, and links to information about illnesses and conditions, Spectrum keeps followers in the know. They could try to engage them more and repeat posts less, but overall, they cover the bases well.

3. EMHS of Maine: EMHS of Maine features a mix of company news and spotlights health issues through videos, health tips, and health news; it was touching to see them thank their workers in a Thanksgiving post and veterans in a Veteran’s Day post. That not only appears altruistic, it also makes EMHS look like a caring brand.

4. Penobscot Community Health Care: With items about their services and helpful community news, PCHC creates and builds on a spirit of compassion. It would be good to see some replies to the reviews posted at their page, but overall, they handle their social media content marketing adequately.

5. Sarasota Memorial Health Care System: This Florida-based hospital and trauma center includes hashtags with news about upcoming events, medical treatments, and featured employees, comments from patients, and more. Their posts promote while providing interesting content, and generate an image of a vibrant healthcare system that works together to put the “heal” in “health.” 🙂

Find out how to improve your website and other digital copy in my FREE ebook, 5 Common Online Content Problems — Solved!.

What do you think? Do you know of any other great social media sites?