Get going with a newsletter

A large part of what I do is writing newsletters for my clients so that they can build and maintain relationships with their clients.

My clients find that this targeted communication channel really ensures they stand out from their competition and that it’s a brilliant way to cultivate a personal and intimate connection with their clients.

So how can you get started?

The overall rule is to inform and entertain alongside selling to build a long-term relationship with your customers. First things first:

Build your database. Without it you have no audience. Simple as that! So get collecting email addresses as part of your business processes and ensure you have the permission of the email address holder.

Choose a newsletter service. Systems like HubSpot, Mail Chimp, and Campaign Monitor all offer affordable models to create newsletters.

Design it. Depending on the service you use, you can build a newsletter includes your logo, colours, contact details, links to your website and buttons for all your social media channels. Then have a bit of fun and decide the sections you want to include. This could include latest news, events, industry trends, a word from a guest blogger.

Keep it short and sweet. While an email newsletter needs to have substance, readers must be able to scan it quickly. If you have more to say why not write a blog and link to it from your newsletter?

Grab attention! The most important part of a newsletter is the subject line. Make sure it stands out amongst the dozens of unread emails in the average inbox.

Make your reader ‘do’ something. Keep in mind the purpose of why you’re sending this newsletter in the first place. If it’s to get your clients to visit your website make sure you have a clear call-to-action with a link to the correct web page!

Check, check, check! Use a spell checker and if you can, get someone else to read it. Broken links happen more than you’d think, so check them as well!

Schedule. Decide on a publishing schedule and stick to it! It’s better to publish less frequently and publish regularly, than to promise a weekly newsletter and only send once a quarter.

And, like one of my clients, why not create a promise to your readers and show that you really value them and their attention?