The typical form of a newsletter is a one-way communication where you provide information to customers, such as product updates and announcements. Creating a successful newsletter can be extremely rewarding. Subscribers and customers respond with glowing feedback, online sales jump and your customer relationships and brand loyalty deepens. Here are some useful tips that might help in creating a successful newsletter.

Define Success

Ask yourself “What is the purpose of your newsletter?” A newsletter is a substantial investment of company resources in terms of time and energy, and you need to define in as tangible terms as possible the purpose of your Newsletter.

Voice and Personality

Establish a voice or editorial personality—whether newsy, serious, gossipy or funny—that is synergistic with the image you want to portray and connects with your audience. Remember that e-mail newsletters aren’t e-mail promotions designed to stimulate immediate action. Sales and promotional copy don’t suit e-newsletters. Nor does the traditional tone of broadcast corporate communications. Think of your newsletter as a one-on-one conversation. Just imagine sitting in a coffee shop talking informally with a customer. That’s the starting point for your approach—a more personable and appropriate “human” voice will come naturally. Drop the jargon, drop the sales pitch, be as honest as you can, and talk like a human being. You can have as much or as little personality as is appropriate. Consider adding a brief editorial, a comment or two, an editor’s note, a couple of lines of commentary, a touch of opinion; adding a little human element here and there. Sign editorials, give authors a byline, or list some names down in the administrative section of each issue to which your readers can relate to.

“From” Line

Whether it’s a person’s name, name of the newsletter or company name, determine what will resonate best with your readers and stay with it.

“Subject” Line

“Vol. 1, Issue #8? or “Company News” are not enticing subject lines. They are certainly consistent and simple, but they don’t tell your readers anything that will motivate them to open your e-mail. Your subject line is your calling card—entice your readers with the most interesting or intriguing information in your Newsletter. Use attractive headlines as a means to summarize a section of content.

Style/Format

Establish a format and layout of your Newsletter that is clean and simple, with elements of the Newsletter (table of contents, “Tips”, subscription information, etc. located in the same spot each issue).

Content and Relevancy

Figure out what your readers want and give it to them. Seek continuous improvement by obtaining reader feedback and monitoring click-through rates to determine what types of articles are most popular. Another dilemma that we all confront is too much information and too little time. The newsletter’s job is to keep readers on top of trends and the latest developments in the industry. Aim for articles and feature stories to meet one of the following criteria by including either: major industry occurrences, forward thinking industry ideas, education on issues or new techniques, or business opportunities.

Whether your customers work out of a corporate or home office, or employees need answers to questions and tips for improving business activities, e-newsletters provide you with an opportunity to point out work inefficiencies, and share relevant best practice. When you create a newsletter, try changing your focus from selling products and services to solving your customers’ problems. Think about what they need and give options they don’t know exist.

The greatest thing about the electronic medium is that you can quickly add new hyperlinks and include updates on old material should new information surface without incurring another round of cost for a new issue (that happens in the real world).

Don’t Wait Till the Last Minute

Begin compiling newsletter information in advance. Ask fellow marketers to contribute articles. One great source of information is none other than your inbox where you can quickly search for worthy nuggets from the past week and relay the same essence in your own words.

Quality Sources

Where can you get quality content for your newsletter?

1. Article directories like ezinearticles.com or findarticles.com. Also get articles from yahoogroups. The downside to this is that you need to include the author’s signature or resource box.
2. Forums. One of the most dynamic and updated places on the Internet is where people write off the cuff and in real-time. Thread after thread, reply after reply of the latest information comes off the minds of forum participants. Combine interesting topics and reword them into an original article.
3. Again, your own inbox right under your nose. Whatever other marketers are writing or selling about, use them to your own advantage and recreate them as your own.
4. Your own insights are really your best resources. When you have passion, you will never stop talking about what you know. Be consistent at no. 4 and soon enough you will find a way to mold yourself into an expert. Continue to expand your knowledge database and add value to it.

Graphics

Use graphics that print well on your printer. Using a good mix of photographs and art work makes for interesting copy. Too many graphics can leave the newsletter looking cluttered.

Frequency

Determine how frequently your readers want to hear from you/receive your newsletter—and what you can commit to. As a rule, a weekly newsletter is ideal. However, don’t launch a weekly newsletter if you are not absolutely certain that you can distribute a quality Newsletter every week. A fortnightly newsletter is a good option too.

Length

A newsletter should be a quick read. Readers expect to finish reading it in 4 to 5 minutes. Short articles increase the probability that your reader will find something of interest to them.

Timing

Test and pick a day and time that works best…and stick to it. Readers should almost be able to set their watches by the receipt time of your Newsletter.

Penetration

You have the option of formatting your e-mail by including colorized text and a variety of fonts, but not all e-mail software supports HTML mail. Consider writing your newsletter in plain text or offer two mailing lists—one for plain text mailings and the other for HTML e-mail.

Make it Viral

Provide information readers can act on or that stimulates reaction—forwarding it to friends and peers, stimulating purchases or requests for additional information. Make it easy for readers to forward articles and information to peers and friends. Provide a “Tell a Friend” link that enables readers to forward the Newsletter with a personalized note.

Search

Make it easy to find articles of interest and back issues. Provide a table of contents and links to articles within the newsletter and to resources and past articles on your site.

Printability

If you want to give readers an option to print, consider providing “printer-friendly formats” on your website. Make sure your newsletter is physically readable. Avoid anything less than 12 point fonts for the article text. Fancy fonts may look good but can be hard to read when printed. Heading and text fonts should be consistent throughout the newsletter.

If you lack experience in print media, seek out assistance if you know someone in the field. If not, don’t worry—the abovementioned basic principles apply. Plan to research your material thoroughly and avoid factual or editing errors, as they will make you seem less credible.

Personalize

At the very least, address the reader by name. The most successful newsletters have a human being associated with them…and a personality. If possible, your Newsletter should be “written by a person” at your company…not the company.

Language

Not everyone has the range and depth of vocabulary as teachers and linguists do. Use words that are easy to understand, and if you do use technical terms, provide a definition that people can relate to. There is nothing more frustrating then a definition that makes less sense than the word itself. Just write in layman terms and keep it short, simple and straightforward.

Spelling and Grammar Check

Sending out copy with numerous errors creates a negative image to your readers. Aside from using a spell checker, have an outsider edit your final copy for readability, grammar and content.

Test and Track

Test the Newsletter on few e-mail addresses to check for errors and other issues before sending to the entire distribution list. Keep track of results and reactions to your newsletter to come to an understanding for further tweaks and corrections.

Lastly, to summarize the key fundamental features of an e-newsletter, make sure you include:

• Table of Contents
• Hyperlinks for customers who want more information for a featured topic
• Exciting secrets or tips related to your product or service
• Contact information

E-newsletters can take up a good amount of time if not managed correctly. The use of a list server (a piece of software that runs on your Internet provider’s computer or on your own web server) is a good option. It will automatically manage a list of e-mail addresses. Once you send your newsletter to the list server, it distributes the letter to the stored addresses. For more information on list servers, contact your Internet service provider. If you opt to use another method, make sure you have a plan for handling incoming and outgoing mail when your customer base increases.

In conclusion, your newsletter can serve as an extension of your business that will reach out to your customers. It will allow you to maintain regular contact with them and serve as an effective and rewarding addition to your marketing arsenal. These tips should help you put it all together and help you create an exceptional newsletter.

Learn more:
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I have to admit I’ve been slow to jump on board with the whole social marketing trend.

After so many years spent in marketing and frequently hearing about the “next big thing”, I’ve come to the decision that all these technologies are simply communication tools for building trusting relationships with prospective customers.

No one tool is going to make you a gazillion dollars.

But used with common sense and an understanding of where your customers hang out and what your customers are most wanting, I think social marketing technology is well worth learning to use.

Specifically, social marketing tools like Facebook, Twitter, and Linked extend your ability to make yourself known to prospective customers as well as people who may refer customers to you.

But it takes time and a focus on providing useful information and resources to others without any requirement for receiving in return.

I’ve always been a resource connector by nature (the one who is always emailing articles and snippets to you prefaced with an fyi”) so social media is a comfortable place for me.

If you are wanting results RIGHT NOW, either stay out of social media or hire someone who has a lighter touch. Social media requires a lower key approach. Hype and in-your-face sales tactics turn most members of Social Marketing Land off.

Success Strategies for Using Social Marketing in Your Business

Some strategies that work for cultivating profitable connections in social media.

Think Conversation; not Presentation

Most people hang out on blogs and social networks because they are engaging with others who have similar interests.

Social networks are informal gatherings, like going to your friend’s BBQ. You might talk business but if you do it will be a casual conversation. Not climbing up on a bench and bellowing, “Hey everyone, let me tell you about this great new service I’m offering.”

It is of course possible that a casual business conversation will lead to a “how about we set up a time to talk more next week?” in which case the result is a meeting in which a presentation is appropriate.

Remember the point is to share information and resources that may be helpful to others in a give and take conversation. 

Expect to reach out first

There’s a funny T-shirt that reads “More People Have Read This Shirt than My Blog.”

That about sums it up if you expect people to swarm to your blog or follow you on Twitter. Unless you’re maybe Ashton Kuchner.

Actions you can take to reach out include:

• Finding others who are doing something that is useful to you and your customers and making a point to comment on their posts in a way that adds to the conversation in progress.
• If you, yourself post to your own blog, include links to articles that support or enhance the points you’re making. Directing people to other blogs is not only helpful to your readers, it is very appreciated by the persons whose blogs you link to.
• They may even link back to you!
• Let people know about useful resources in all social media you participate in. I regularly post links to articles, statistics, and other bits of information my clients and colleagues may appreciate.

Be Yourself

Remember your mom telling you to be yourself when you were worried about being liked by people you didn’t know?

Your mom was right.

In addition to sharing information and resources with real, actionable value to my clients and customers, I also share observations, reviews (books, movies, electronics), and of course the occasional anecdote about my cats.

And I share in my own voice similar to how I might talk with co-workers or people I know casually at a party.

Pick Just One and Try it Out

The first explanation I heard about Twitter was “it’s microblogging.”

I still have trouble explaining blogging to a lot of people let alone microblogging.

“Microblogging” is actually a pretty good description but it’s also, in my opinion, somewhat geeky and intimidating if you’re not a social media buff.

So rather than try to figure it all out, I strongly suggest you get yourself an account with Twitter or Facebook or Linked in.

Not all of them, pick just one.

Then give yourself some time to poke around and get a sense of what’s going on.
 

Start with people you already know, trust and like

Once you get an account, invite people you know, trust, and like to join your network. Or follow them on Twitter. Or subscribe to their blog.

This way you start in a small box with others you may already be connected with. You can feel fairly confident that you’ll be interested in engaged in the conversations they’re having.

As you begin to feel more comfortable you can begin to check out their contacts or look for people interested in a particular topic you love to talk about.

Bottom Line

Once I began reaching out more and focused on hanging out with like- minded people, I got used to and even began to enjoy social marketing.

The most important thing to remember is social media is about connection and conversation. If people like what they’re hearing and find value in what you offer, you will begin picking up business and business-related opportunities.

But like any online strategy, it takes time and effort on your end to reach out and contribute first.

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If you’ve reached the point of exhaustion trying to keep up with answering the mountain of e-mails that threatens to bury you alive every single day, you’re ready to learn about autoresponders.

The bad news is that people expect prompt replies to their e-mail inquiries. However, unless you can figure out how to work continual 24-hour shifts, or hire enough people to constantly monitor incoming e-mails (while they’re eating up your revenue), you have a problem. The good news is an autoresponder is an inexpensive—or even free—method of quickly responding to e-mails. What these programs do is automatically respond to incoming e-mails as soon as they are received.

E-mails are essential to your business for many different reasons. Most importantly, these invisible e-mail voices give you their feedback about your website—for free! However, if you spend all your working hours answering these e-mails, how are you supposed to run your business?

The answer is simple: use autoresponders.

Autoresponders are programs that automatically respond to your e-mails without you so much as having to click on your mouse.

There are a number of good reasons why you need an autoresponder besides just answering your e-mail. For example, autoresponders can be used if you need a way to send information about your services or products, price lists, or if there are repeated questions asked across large numbers of e-mails. Maybe you want to offer your site visitors a special bonus of some kind, such as advice or relevant articles. All of this can be handled by an autoresponder. Additionally, you can advertise your business and then build stable relationships with your customers by using autoresponders.

Autoresponder programs vary from software that runs with your e-mail program to a specialized script that runs on your web hosting company’s server. This kind of script may use a web page form or simply operate with your e-mail account. This kind of script is programmed to send out a standardized message whenever an e-mail is received. The message is sent to a particular script or e-mail address.

Some autoresponders can do more than simply send out standardized messages. They can send out an unlimited number of follow-up messages sent at predetermined interval of time. For example, you can set your autoresponder to send out a new message every day for as long a period as you desire.

There are numerous companies who offer autoresponders free of charge. Your website hosting company often provides autoresponders as a free service. If this is not the case with your web hosting company, there are numerous companies who offer this service for a small fee, or free of charge, providing you attach an advertisement for their company to your e-mails.

To personalize your autoresponder messages, you can attach a signature. Signatures in this case are much like business cards. You can include your name, company, all your contact numbers and addresses, and a brief message.

It’s a good idea to attach a signature to every e-mail that is sent out. This works as a repeated reminder of your business identity every time a customer sees it. The more they look at your signature, the more likely your company will spring to mind when your particular service or product is needed.

You can create a standardized signature that every employee in your business uses, or you can go wild, and let every staff member create their own personal signature. Of course, like everything in life, there are some rules and guidelines to creating a personal signature.

Keep the length of your signature between four to six lines of text, with no more than 70 characters in a single line. Make sure that your e-mail program does not cut off your text! The content should include your name, your company name, your e-mail address, fax number, and any other contact details, such as 800 numbers. Lastly, always include a short personal message about your company. It should be a subtle sell of your services or your products, and possibly your company’s reliability and longevity.

Another specialized use of autoresponders is to create courses that you can then offer your site visitors for free. You must choose a topic in which you are an expert and that precisely targets your potential customers.

Once you have carefully chosen your subject, divide it into a number of different sub-topics. Then offer your site visitor a free 10 or 15 day course, each day offering a different sub-topic. The first topic should always be a welcome message to your site visitor and an explanation about what is to follow. Your explanation should be enticing, getting the point across that you are offering free, quality information that your target audience will find of great value.

With every lesson, include the number of the lesson, the topic title, information about your company and its services or products. At the end, include a few blurbs about the next lesson to entice the subscriber to continue on.

Make sure each topic is packed with essential and valuable information, and leaves the visitor lusting to know more. Otherwise, you may lose them in the very beginning.

Of course, you have to write up your course before you can offer it. Once you have done this, and gone over the material carefully, employing a professional writer or editor if necessary, you must transfer your text to your autoresponder.

There are a number of quality autoresponders you can try out for a free or low-priced trial. Just go to Google and search ‘autoresponders’, then sign-up for your chosen autoresponder. Once you do, you will receive instructions as to how to set it up and transfer your text. You can also try-out the one I use myself, TrafficWave.

E-mail is an excellent marketing tool; it is inexpensive and it is fast. Use it to advertise your business by choosing your e-mail address carefully. Your website should contain different e-mail addresses for different contact requests. For example, use info@yourdomain.com for information requests, or sales@yourdomain.com for questions about sales. It’s a good idea to set up one for the owner, such as president@yourdomain.com. This presents your company in a personal, approachable light and insures that direct contact is provided.

Autoresponders are an effective and powerful marketing tool, allowing you to make contact with thousands of potential customers. This is an invaluable asset considering how many potential customers you usually have contact with before you make an actual sale. Essentially, an autoresponder allows you to automate part of your marketing campaign.

You know how often I get asked about how effective social networking is for someone’s business, from my clients or when I’m out networking from random business owners?? Hundreds a month.

It’s amazing. It’s amazing how many of us are on the social sites but also how many are not!

I think if you’re an entrepreneur, no matter whether you do business locally or globally, you should be doing some amount of social networking as ONE source of lead generation in your business.

Of course there are hundreds of other ways to get leads too and I’m only talking about ONE right now (and it’s not always the most effective depending on how you utilize your time but it’s certainly affordable).

Lead generation is ONE goal to have when you network online but it can also do the following for you:

- solidify long lasting relationships – either personal or professional

- provide an easy way to connect faster with target prospects, referral sources or mentors

- establish yourself as an expert in your field by answering discussion questions, posting tips and articles or even inviting ‘friends’ to live events like teleclasses and webinars

- drive more traffic back to your site for special promotions, downloads or interaction

- provides a central place to share photos, videos and basically get more publicity than you could ever pay (or pray) for

Is it worth it to spend my time on the forums or having profiles on these sites?

I say definitely yes.

- You want to ask and answer questions on forums and blogs

- Post comments, articles, events, information, tips, surveys and polls, anything to get the visitors attention

- Record and post interesting or business related videos (nothing too embarrassing!)

- Send people requests to join your ‘network’, ‘fan page’ or ‘group’

- Pursue those in related groups for interaction, advice, joint ventures, etc.

- Dig deeper into the websites of those you’re really interested in working with or those you want to pay attention to you and relate to them on a deeper level if you can – this is the way to make the most of your time I think.

- And so much more….

Whew! I know this can seem daunting and more sites pop up every day right?

I mean, you can even start YOUR OWN social network these days (not that you want to).

So, what should your ROI (Return on Investment) be you ask?

Well, granted this stuff sucks up a ton of time! So, if you’re delegating some of the initial connecting and basic weekly/daily posts and then you’re only in there mostly to dig deeper, get personal and maximize your time; then you can really build a great following. One that’s loyal and interested in new things you send out. A following that clicks and interacts with your profile, your videos and your website.

This is how then you get them on your list over time, get them to attend teleclasses or join your programs or even refer you!

I can tell you that the hardest part of figuring out whether your time/money invested in social networking is paying off though is that it’s not that easy to track results.

So, if you want to really find out if it’s working for you, you have to set up systems that allow for really detailed tracking – tracking your traffic, conversions, customers and more.