When newsletters are entertaining and engaging, they can be an effective marketing tool. They’re a great way to build relationships with your target audience, get people really invested in your mission, and provide content that people actually look forward to receiving. They’re also cheap (or even free). That said, a large number of newsletters never really find an audience. If you want yours to be successful, keep these tips in mind:
- As always, start with why. You won’t know if you’re succeeding if you don’t know what you want to do. Your newsletter has to be part of your overall marketing strategy. What will you accomplish by writing one? In addition to marketing goals like growing your audience or building engagement, you need big picture goals about your content in general. Do you want to raise awareness, educate people, or find supporters and community partners? Newsletters are different from short-form content in that it’s ok to have more than one goal. Some people will have a goal for each section. For example, a ‘happenings’ section to update stakeholders on the challenges and victories of your organization, a ‘stewardship’ section to thank your supporters, and a ‘news’ section to provide important updates about your cause. Whatever sections you decide to include, make sure you think about why you want to share this information.
- Make it about what your audience wants. I repeat it a lot because it bears repeating. Any content you create, and anything you do to market an organization, brand, or person should be focused on providing value to the audience. The quickest way to get people to unsubscribe is to provide content that doesn’t meet their needs or interests. Teach them something valuable. Tell them what they’ve missed. Provide news about the industry or the cause. Establish your expertise and provide thought leadership. Feel free to provide blog posts or social media posts they may have missed, but don’t make the entire newsletter recycled content. Give people a reason to open your newsletter and actually read it.
- Work out some logistics in advance. The more planning you do for any endeavor early on, the easier it is to stick to. Figure out how frequently you want to publish your newsletter. Create a template so you aren’t starting from scratch each month. Nail down what your sections will be and create your design. This will keep your branding consistent and help you with content creation since you are writing the same kinds of things in each issue. Make sure your design is attractive and readable with a lot of white space and visuals. Plan how many Calls To Action to include. Limit them to things like “read more” and “visit my site for more information.” Hard sells in a newsletter can alienate your audience.
- Analyze results and adjust your strategy. There are lots of tools out there to help you send newsletters, and what you choose depends on your own goals and needs. Make sure the ability to analyze your results is one of the factors in your decision-making process. All of the most popular tools (Constant Contact, Mailchimp, Hubspot) allow you to segment your audience, perform A/B testing, and keep track of your open and click rates. This will help you learn what works and what doesn’t, what resonates with your audience and what sends them running for the unsubscribe button. Pay attention to the feedback your numbers give you, and ask your readers how you can better meet their needs.
- Lastly, keep it legal and keep yourself out of the spam folder. Send from a real business email address at your organization and include your physical address in the email somewhere (usually in the footer). Don’t send to anyone without permission, and make it easy for subscribers to unsubscribe. Send only content that is both wanted and useful. Avoid subject lines with salesy, hyperbolic language that will trigger spam filters (buy, sale, deal, once in a lifetime, serious cash, etc.). Keep an eye on your spam score on Sender Score. Clean up your list regularly to remove people who routinely don’t open or whose emails bounce back to improve your open rate. The more emails you send that aren’t opened, the more the filters think you’re spam.
Substance and Style 