Writing Newsletters - Tricks of the Trade
Follow 10 simple rules of thumb, and you'll soon be writing
great newsletters and reaping the rewards.
Company newsletters can be an amazingly successful marketing
technique. Whether you want to up-sell or cross-sell, establish
your brand or establish your authority, or simply reach a wider
market, a newsletter can do the job for you. You just have to
make sure you write it right.
Television, radio, and print advertising are often too expensive
for many businesses to justify - especially small businesses.
Fortunately, there is an alternative. Today's internet and email
technologies make company newsletters a very inexpensive, yet
surprisingly effective, form of advertising. When it comes to
newsletters, big companies and small are finally competing on a
level playing field.
So what is an email newsletter? An emailed newsletter serves
much the same purpose as a traditional company newsletter. Think
of it as a short newspaper - but instead of relating to a town,
city or country, it relates to your business. You can include
articles on new products or services, awards, recent success
stories and case studies, promotions, specials, share price
rises, company events, research... And if it's a quiet month,
you can simply write articles that might help your customers out.
10 Steps to Success Follow 10 simple rules of thumb, and you'll
soon be writing great newsletters and reaping the rewards...
Keep It New! Your readers won't waste time reading something
they already know, so make it news they can use. Keep it
personal: Always use your reader's name. Make sure when someone
signs up, you get their name, then use it in the subject line,
in the greeting, and anywhere else you can. Know your reader:
Find out what your reader is interested in. Do some pro-active
research, invite response, or find an email marketing solution
such as Ezemail** that tracks the links your readers click on
and keeps a history of their activity. Let them know you: Let
your personality shine through. Readers are far more likely to
become loyal if they feel they know you. Always include a bit of
you in the newsletter, whether it's humour, personal details,
personal anecdotes, or personal views. Subject is Headline: The
subject line of an email newsletter is like a front-page
headline in a newspaper. You need to draw the reader in, so make
it engaging and relevant (maybe promise a benefit) but no more
than 25 characters so your reader can see it all before opening
the email. Use a Title bar: Make the most of the title bar to
add visual appeal and establish brand awareness. Make it
'scannable': Most people don't read online - they scan. Make
sure you use easy-to-read bullet points and sub-headings. Don't
lose your reader's attention. Reading is physically more
difficult online, so make sure you're concise. Use links to
other places instead of writing long articles. Use White space!:
If your page is too busy, you'll lose your reader. Give them a
chance to absorb valuable information by dedicating about 30% of
your screen real estate to white space. Easy unsubscribe: Make
your unsubscribe easy to find. If it's obvious, they'll feel
safe and can then appreciate the content. To many people, the
ease of unsubscribing is an indicator of the integrity of your
company. Forward to a friend: Include a link to encourage
readers to forward the newsletter on to their friends and
colleagues. Find an email marketing solution which allows you to
do this and sit back and watch your database grow! ** Ezemail
enables you to create, manage, deliver and track your email
marketing and sales communication. Email kathpay@ezemail.com.au
or visit www.ezemail.com.au.