Recently we talked about why you should be investing in a newsletter, this week we look at how…
There is so much content currently on the internet, it’s hard to know where to look for the news that you want. 62% of people now use social media as a news source because it’s quick and easy, this is also why people are turning back to newsletters. It’s convenient like Facebook, but it has less of the fluff in between. Email newsletters are versatile and show massive credibility to your company, yet not enough companies take advantage of the benefits it could have to your business. If your businesses’ main goals are to increase your traffic and keep your existing audience’s interest, below are a few of our top tips to help get you started:
1. Evaluate your situation
Do you actually need a newsletter?
You need to look into whether a newsletter is right for the marketing of your company and how it will benefit from it. There is no point wasting time and resources on something that doesn’t fit well within your company’s industry. Does a newsletter align with your goals and could it be successful? If the answer is no, then it may be worth looking into other marketing options.
2. Content is key
Deciding on the type of content you want to include in your newsletter can be a little daunting. Often, newsletters can be cluttered because they are not focused on one thing, which makes it a little harder for audiences to follow. Newsletters work best when they are dedicated to one area or topic of your business to suit your different audiences, but there should still be balance between the information and the sales side. Keep it mostly informative and the sales pitch to a minimum at the end so they’re convinced why they need the product or service you’re selling. People are more inclined to buy things when it’s not sold to them all the time, so limit the self-promotion.
3. Switch up your subject lines
Companies often make the same mistake by keeping the subject line the same week in week out. There is no incentive to read the newsletter right there and then because audiences get too familiar and may have the mind-set that they can just skim past or not even open your newsletter, because it will be the same as the last. Get creative and change your subject line every week.
4. One main CTA
Keep to one main call to action on your newsletters. Although newsletters have different articles or pieces of information that may require different click through links, don’t let them share equal importance. There should be one main call to action and the rest are extras that audiences will read if they have enough time. Try and send them to your main website, as this is where you want most of your traffic to head towards.
5. Design and copy
Newsletters can easily be cluttered and messy because of their nature, but you want to try and keep it as simple and minimal as possible. Copy should be concise and relevant so audiences don’t spend all day reading it, whilst the design should be appealing to the eye. You want to give audiences a taste of the information that’s interesting and visually pleasing so that they then go elsewhere to read more, like your website.
6. Test Test Test
Testing before and after sending out helps you to spot any mistakes and make the necessary revisions. Send tests to different people in the company beforehand so that you can double check for spelling or grammar mistakes or any improvements. Testing after means you can experiment and change things up a bit once you can examine the results from your campaigns. This will help you find out what works best for your company.
7. Listen to your audience
Your newsletter should be what your audience wants to read, therefore, we need to adapt to their readership. This involves more research; you could even do some polls, but it helps you develop the right kind of tone and topics that you should include. And in the long run, this should help keep your audience engaged and actually wanting to read your newsletter.
8. Keep your promises
It’s easy to set expectations when setting up a new marketing tactic, “we promise you new content every week!” seems relatively easy at the start but can become a little daunting over time. Set realistic expectations that you are positive you can keep to. Your readers will start to become dependent on your content, so you want to make sure you can keep to your schedule. Set one day a week or fortnightly to publish your content and keep on top of it.
Emails are often branded “dead” or “old news” by marketers because new marketing techniques are appearing every day. But it still remains a solidly strong favourite that delivers results because it’s so easy to read in a quick amount of time. It may not be the next big thing but it is still one of the best ways to bring in traffic and ROI. Just make sure you’re doing it right and don’t be afraid to change things up until it fits you and your company.
