Improving Your Online Newsletter
- by Gary B. Smith
Improving on your newsletter is becoming more of a priority rather
than an optional marketing ploy. Informative newsletters are even
starting to replace the more expensive media of advertising and direct
mail, both in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer
(B2C). But it is permission-based e-newsletters in particular that
are steadily outperforming every other online advertising and e-marketing
medium.
A newsletter - printed or delivered by e-mail - is a highly effective,
low-cost marketing and customer relations tool. It is used to generate
sales and profits, and ongoing exposure, as well as credibility as
an expert in your field. It's also a great way to 'test' new marketing
promotions at very low cost before expanding to traditional forms
of marketing like paid advertising. Marketing is all about getting
exposure for your customers, telling potential customers about what
you have to offer them, and showing them specifically what benefits
they will get by doing business with you. The Internet is a great
breakthrough for online businesses. For very low cost you can e-mail
an informative, value-added newsletter directly to your customer's
e-mail account at no charge. In a matter of minutes, your e-newsletter
will arrive in the e-mail account of thousands of people without any
costs for printing, postage, production, or mailing services. The
only resources needed are your time, your creative energy, some inexpensive
software and Internet access.
Just like any marketing program, execution and a generous dose of
creativity are essential for your newsletter to have staying power.
If executed properly, your newsletter will wow your customers, generate
sales leads, produce credibility for your business, and lead to alternative
sources of revenue you never even considered. However, while the potential
effect of an e-newsletter as a mouthpiece can help your database grow,
it is wise to be mindful that an effective newsletter should not read
like a hard-hitting sales letter or product/service-focused brochure
that people generally hold a natural suspicion for. Rather its approach
should be the equivalent of a personal friend or associate recommending
your services to your clientele or membership. Of course the purpose
of a newsletter is to promote what your company has to offer, but
don't lose sight that your objective is to also build a positive long-term
relationship with its readership. Know the needs and expectations
of your readers when compiling the content of a newsletter. By offering
the right products or services and valuable information your readers
will form positive opinions about your company or institution.
A sure indication of the growing importance of newsletters as a marketing
tool can be seen in the way both large and small companies use them
to promote their products and services. Big names like Amazon.com
and ZDnet find that the e-newsletter generates positive customer relationships;
the same applies to smaller businesses and entrepreneurial sites who
have also adopted this permission-based marketing tool. The success
of an e-newsletter lies in its ability to invite return visits to
sites, promote branding and also attract new clients and users. Many
claim that e-newsletters which are content-rich and properly targeted
can increase a site's user database.
Yet, until fairly recently the e-newsletter was seen as optional,
and a rather extraneous method of marketing and promoting CRM (Customer
Relationship Marketing). This view has changed, and newsletters are
now starting to be seen as a central part of a company's communications
and marketing strategies. Newsletters are now recognized as having
the ability to increase the sense of customer care and relationships
in a comparatively rapid and easy way. They are certainly starting
to replace the more conventional route of advertising and direct mail.
It is estimated that permission-based newsletters have the potential
to exceed the performance of all other online marketing strategies.
What should be remembered is that just patching together a quick text
message and calling it a newsletter might do your business more harm
than good. It is extremely important to devote a fair amount of time
to planning the layout and content of the e-newsletter. Ensure that
it is technically sound and visually appealing to motivate users to
read what you have to say. A hurriedly put-together newsletter with
poor content will have a negative impact on your image. You need to
determine what the theme is for your newsletter, offering something
in relation to your business. You don't want to just send blatant
commercial advertising to your customers about your products. This
will come across as self-serving and do you a disservice. You need
to offer them something that they will perceive as offering value.
If you do, you will build trust and a reputation as an 'expert' in
your field. Think of something you could write about that would help
your customers be more successful with your products, or educate them
about topics related to your business.
A chief advantage of an e-mail newsletter, and major incentive for
investing quality time and effort in its design, is the low-cost of
production. Creating and distributing an e-mail newsletter is one
of the most cost-effective means of getting news and information to
clients and especially to decision-makers who might be interested
in your services or products. An e-mail newsletter fulfils many functions;
it allows you to capture the e-mail address of a visitor to your site
for promotion campaigns.
Preparing Your Newsletter
Although e-mail and traditional newsletters share similar attributes,
there are marked differences to consider when preparing your e-mail
newsletter.
Image - Carefully consider the type of image you want to project
and don't skimp on resources. A poor-quality newsletter is just
not worth the time and effort. Make sure that the presentation of
the newsletter matches the type of image you want to project for
your service or company.
Frequency - Decide how often you will send your newsletter, whether
it be weekly, monthly, etc. I would suggest that you publish no
more than once per week. Any more than that gets to be a burden
on your customer's time. If you plan to do something more frequently,
make sure what you send is very concise so your customers can read
your e-mail in 30 to 60 seconds.
Quality of Content - Remember, a newsletter that is all self-promotion
is sure to cause many subscribers to leave your list. There should
be a mix of promotional areas and company news as well as features
that are worth the read, for instance a Q & A section, value-added
tips, industry briefs, images, etc. Just make sure it all relates
to your goal.
Mailing List - If possible, develop an accurate mailing list that
includes past, current and prospective customers, business associates,
vendors, residents and media. It is a good idea to personalize the
e-mail lists by including actual names and not just job titles.
It is imperative to keep the list up to date. Build your database
of e-mail addresses by promoting your newsletter on a Web site offering
free subscriptions; advertise free subscriptions in the classified
areas on AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, etc You can, of course, use software
programs like Floodgate and Netcontact to 'strip' e-mail addresses
from all over the Internet and commercial on-line services. A quick
work of caution though - when 'stripping' e-mail addresses using
Floodgate, etc., any e-mail you send to these people will be considered
'unsolicited' or sending without consent. This act violates Internet
netiquette. You will get a negative response when you do this and
could lose your Internet account for violating 'Terms of Service.'
One suggestion would be to send a message to those people first
(along with a sample of your newsletter) asking them to subscribe.
If they do, add them to your list. If they don't reply, take their
e-mail address off your list.
Distribution - An important tip is to learn how to send your e-newsletter
in the simplest format so that recipients - who have a wide variety
of e-mail software and computers - will receive it in an easy-to-read
style. The debate as to format still continues - with many experts
still claiming that HTML newsletters are intrusive and unnecessary;
and that plain text formatted letters are much more appropriate
to the medium. Contrary to this are recent reports that HTML-formatted
mails are gaining in popularity. However, if you are to ensure everyone
sees the message as you intend, simple ASCII-text within the body
of an e-mail is still your best choice.
PART TWO: Continually
Improve Your Content
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