subject: Fifteen Newsletter Maybes [print this page] There is no format for certainty in the production of newsletters but there are things you should consider. You can ignore some, none or all of them without risk, but I would suggest you do so with good reason.
Plan
Decide at an early stage what your broad targets are and stick with them. These might be to support your customers, to sell more products, to save costs, to be the source of expertise. Then move on to the detail. However, email marketing is still new and is changing almost by the day, so be prepared to modify and react to changes in circumstances.
Aim
Establish your likely readership. You will have to decide at an early stage if you will try and satisfy a spectrum of readers, from established to potential customers, or whether to target just one kind. If the numbers or the value merits, consider different newsletters for each niche.
Personalise
Following on from Aim, consider slightly different content for your different customers. Those who have just bought a specific product might well respond better to advice on a certain lifestyle to go with their purchase.
Integration and branding
A newsletter is at it most effective when it is working with other aspects of marketing. Combine it with your direct marketing email campaign, your website, your in-store display, your postal campaign and even, perhaps, your emails. If you have a common branding across your digital products the trust that is generated by your newsletter will be transferred to your other communications.
Timing and frequency
Not the same things. Timing is what day of the week and what time of day the emails are sent, or rather received. Many recipients will look forward to receiving their newsletter on the same day each week. Consider if it might be better to avoid the more common times, such as the first of the month. You dont want to disappear amongst competitors. Frequency might well depend on your budget. The more often it is sent the more copy you need. You might want to have the timing linked to your other marketing campaigns.
Measure and listen
Do not ignore the data you get from your email marketing software. It will show if you are hitting your targets. And listen as well to your customers. If they ask for a subject to be covered, cover it. And let everyone know you have done so.
Resource and support
If you starve the newsletter of sufficient funding it will look cheap and nasty. Not the way you want to be judged. But sufficient is ample.
Fascinate
Bring them in to your business. Let them see how professional you are. Intrigue them with little tricks that only you know.
Keep the gems
Running on from the previous point, dont give away secrets that your rivals might benefit from. Make this clear in the planning stage.
Not an end in itself
The best received and most highly circulated newsletter in the business is of little use if it does not generate sales. Everything else is secondary.
by: Oliver Penn
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