{4:45 minutes to read} We typically call the monthly email we send out for our clients a newsletter, but most times it’s actually a custom digest email of their blog articles. That’s by design, and there’s a lot that goes into each newsletter. Now, while a newsletter is a good vehicle to share content, we don’t want recipients to only read what’s arrived in their inbox; we want to send them to the client’s website.
Composing a Newsletter (Digest Email)
The newsletters we design aren’t filled with lots of text. Folks are skimming their emails—usually on-the-go and more often on their mobile devices. We combat this by using blog excerpts, images, titles, and links to the actual blog post on their website.
Keep in mind, we really want to keep the textual content of the newsletter very minimalistic. We want it to be engaging and to attract their attention, but we really want them to click through to your website to get to your content.
What Else Can You Include?
Events & Training
Other content you might include are any events that may be of interest to your audience. If you are doing a training, why not list those events in your newsletter? The same applies to any training you may have received. I always suggest that if you go somewhere and learn something, write a blog article about it, and then include the blog post in your newsletter.
But if it’s something small or a simple announcement, don’t be afraid to let your phoneBlogger.net Promoter know that you want to include that in your newsletter.
New Opportunities, Products & Service Lines
Additionally, you may be exploring new opportunities, products, or service lines for your practice; we see this all the time. If it warrants it, by all means, write a blog article and feature it in a newsletter. It’s a great method of introduction and bringing it to the forefront.
Ethical Bribery
We have clients who have created what we call “ethical bribes.” They’ve written more lengthy articles (e.g., “Mistakes to Avoid” in their industry) and, in order to read the full article, you’ve got to surrender your email address and “sign up to access the complete article.” But…you already have their email address, so why would you want them submitting their email address again?
1. You’d like to know that people are reading it.
2. Your newsletter gets passed around.
If there’s good content in it, people forward it to others. Those others may not be on your mailing list. You’d certainly like to get them on your mailing list, so that’s just as well.
Although I’m all about giving away useful and valuable information through your website, newsletter or social media, don’t be afraid to set up the more lengthy or involved types of articles, tip sheets, or special pieces, as an ethical bribe. All that means is that you’re willing to give them something that’s valuable and of interest to them—a meaty resource. It’s ok to require an email address in exchange for free, educational material.
Of course, if you do that, there’s the secondary component of whether you want to send content to any new email addresses collected from a welcome email. Let them know that you are adding them to your mailing list along with your standard disclaimers. Indicate that they can always unsubscribe at any time.
Recycling Past Articles
There may be something that you wrote last year that’s still useful & valuable to the reader. Don’t be afraid to share it again in your newsletter. Not everybody reads your newsletter every time they get it. They may subscribe for years and only open it every once in awhile.
How are you leveraging your newsletter?
Mark Bullock
Telephone: (631) 754-0800
Email: Mark@phoneBlogger.net
Website:phoneBlogger.net
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