What's the best way to get people to read your email newsletter? Make sure the content is relevant to them and it is so compelling they just have to finish the article. Here's how to create that compelling content.
In this article I cover:
1. What's the purpose of your newsletter?
2. The 7 types of article to put in an email newsletter
3. Techniques to generate a lot of relevant ideas for your audience.
4. How to handle the promotional element of your email newsletter.
>>What is the purpose of your newsletter?
• Emails newsletters should be a mixture of education and promotion.
• A newsletter that has too much promotion will turn people off; a newsletter without any promotion does not fulfil its function of helping your business, and also can leave people unaware of what you actually offer!
• Newsletters should offer something of perceived value to reader. This could be useful information, special offers, a helpline or after-sales or pre-sales support service, or a Thank You.
>>The 7 types of articles to put in an email newsletter
1. How to articles
2. Pitfalls articles
3. Getting started articles
4. Stories about customers
5. Industry News articles
6. New Product, new service articles
7. Special Offer articles
>>How to generate a large amount of relevant ideas for your newsletter
Start by writing down lists of things, for example here are some lists you can use:
• Your products or services.
• Any questions you have ever been asked about your business, its products and services, etc
• Any problems that customers come to you with.
• Any ways that you have helped people to solve their problems.
• Any testimonials you have received.
• Any Frequently Asked Questions, which may or may not be on your website.
• Any Key Words that you use in Pay Per Click, or Search Engine Optimisation.
This is your raw material.
Now start to group items together, and you will see certain themes appearing. One of the things you are looking for is an example of a customer problem that you solved.
>>Example of How To Use Lists to generate Relevant Ideas for Articles
For example in our business, we are often asked questions about how people can use email newsletters to develop their business and get more sales.
List 1: Products & Services
• Design of Email Templates
• Email Broadcast Service with full reporting etc
List 2: Popular Questions
• What content do I put in my email newsletter?
• How often should I send emails?
• How do I send emails to my customers?
List 3: Problems customers approach us with
• I don't want to spam people, I hate it myself.
• I don't have enough people on my email list to make it worthwhile sending an email newsletter.
• My website isn't getting enough traffic.
List 4: Customer Testimonials
• We have lots!
Now just from these few items we can create articles of real interest to our target audience that also tell them about us. For example here are just a few:
1. How to send emails to your customers that they want to receive
(combines 2 questions from List 2, with one from List 1)
2. Why sending your email newsletter too infrequently is as bad as sending it too much.
(1 from List 2, could also be combined with 1 from List 1).
3. Are you Missing Your Best Opportunity to send Targeted Traffic to your Website?
(One from List 3, and several from List 4 as well as one from List 1. This is an actual White Paper we published).
>>How to Handle the Promotional Element of your email Newsletter
Many people are worried about appearing to ram their products or services down their readers' throats. It's understandable, but you are missing a vital role of your email newsletter if you do not spell out sometimes exactly how you can help solve people's problems.
You believe that your business has satisfied customers, right? Of course you do, otherwise you couldn't get up in the morning. So just give other people the information, and let them decide whether to act on it. Or if they really feel it's not for them, they'll unsubscribe.
Don't worry, there are plenty of people who want your information and your products or services.
Now please start making a list for your business!
In this article I cover:
1. What's the purpose of your newsletter?
2. The 7 types of article to put in an email newsletter
3. Techniques to generate a lot of relevant ideas for your audience.
4. How to handle the promotional element of your email newsletter.
>>What is the purpose of your newsletter?
• Emails newsletters should be a mixture of education and promotion.
• A newsletter that has too much promotion will turn people off; a newsletter without any promotion does not fulfil its function of helping your business, and also can leave people unaware of what you actually offer!
• Newsletters should offer something of perceived value to reader. This could be useful information, special offers, a helpline or after-sales or pre-sales support service, or a Thank You.
>>The 7 types of articles to put in an email newsletter
1. How to articles
2. Pitfalls articles
3. Getting started articles
4. Stories about customers
5. Industry News articles
6. New Product, new service articles
7. Special Offer articles
>>How to generate a large amount of relevant ideas for your newsletter
Start by writing down lists of things, for example here are some lists you can use:
• Your products or services.
• Any questions you have ever been asked about your business, its products and services, etc
• Any problems that customers come to you with.
• Any ways that you have helped people to solve their problems.
• Any testimonials you have received.
• Any Frequently Asked Questions, which may or may not be on your website.
• Any Key Words that you use in Pay Per Click, or Search Engine Optimisation.
This is your raw material.
Now start to group items together, and you will see certain themes appearing. One of the things you are looking for is an example of a customer problem that you solved.
>>Example of How To Use Lists to generate Relevant Ideas for Articles
For example in our business, we are often asked questions about how people can use email newsletters to develop their business and get more sales.
List 1: Products & Services
• Design of Email Templates
• Email Broadcast Service with full reporting etc
List 2: Popular Questions
• What content do I put in my email newsletter?
• How often should I send emails?
• How do I send emails to my customers?
List 3: Problems customers approach us with
• I don't want to spam people, I hate it myself.
• I don't have enough people on my email list to make it worthwhile sending an email newsletter.
• My website isn't getting enough traffic.
List 4: Customer Testimonials
• We have lots!
Now just from these few items we can create articles of real interest to our target audience that also tell them about us. For example here are just a few:
1. How to send emails to your customers that they want to receive
(combines 2 questions from List 2, with one from List 1)
2. Why sending your email newsletter too infrequently is as bad as sending it too much.
(1 from List 2, could also be combined with 1 from List 1).
3. Are you Missing Your Best Opportunity to send Targeted Traffic to your Website?
(One from List 3, and several from List 4 as well as one from List 1. This is an actual White Paper we published).
>>How to Handle the Promotional Element of your email Newsletter
Many people are worried about appearing to ram their products or services down their readers' throats. It's understandable, but you are missing a vital role of your email newsletter if you do not spell out sometimes exactly how you can help solve people's problems.
You believe that your business has satisfied customers, right? Of course you do, otherwise you couldn't get up in the morning. So just give other people the information, and let them decide whether to act on it. Or if they really feel it's not for them, they'll unsubscribe.
Don't worry, there are plenty of people who want your information and your products or services.
Now please start making a list for your business!