If you’re like me, you may have thought newsletters were a bit, how shall I say…a thing of the past. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I do still get newsletters to this day. It never occurred to me that I subscribe and receive newsletters via email from people and businesses, hence e-newsletters. I get emails all the time and I only ever thought of them as just that, emails. But how silly of me to not realize that they were in fact, a newsletter. Ha!
Let me tell you what I’ve learned about e-newsletters. First of all, they are definitely relevant and can be used for marketing your business. According to Digital Marketer, there are 4 types of Email Newsletters. Check the link to read more in-depth about these styles. The types are:
- Letter from the Editor or Featured Article style
- Link or Curated Content style
- Blog style
- Hustle style
The first step is to decide what sort of content you want to have in your newsletter. Then ask yourself; “What type of business do you have? Who is your audience? What is your goal for your newsletter?” Answering these simple questions will help you determine what style of e-newsletter you’ll want to use.
The best thing to do when you’re creating your newsletter is to be authentic. In other words, be yourself. As someone who gets a lot of marketing phone calls in my career, I can always tell when someone is being authentic or is reading from a script. I’m more likely to talk with someone when they are being themselves then if they are talking like a robot. The same applies for e-newsletters. I’m more likely to open an email if I trust the person or group that it’s from then if the email looks like it was written by a robot.
Next, you’ll want to decide which email platform you want to use and whether you want to pay monthly or use the free options. When choosing the free options, remember that you will be limited in your templates you can choose. If you need help deciding which platform is best, the editorial staff at WPBeginner has whittled down a list of the 7 Best Email Marketing Services for Small Business (2020).
Something to keep in mind while creating your e-newsletter is that you want to create buzz about your brand. Keep your newsletter brief and to the point. Use a call-to-action to drive readers to your website. Jane Fazackarley wrote a post called How email newsletters can help you promote your brand and she says:
Email newsletters are an effective way to increase organic website traffic. Regardless of the email content you include, linking your newsletter to your website directs traffic straight back to you, without depending on search engines or social media.
Jane Fazackarley
Lastly, what you’ll want to do is create engaging content for your readers. By doing this, your readers will come to expect great content from you which will increase the likely-hood of opening your e-newsletters and driving traffic to your website. Which, in turn, will create brand buzz, which in turn creates happy return readers/customers. Marketing at its best.
So there you have it, e-newsletters. Still relevant and worth the effort to use for your business marketing. Now go out there and create engaging content for your readers.
Have any thoughts on e-newsletters? Let me know in the comments below.
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