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Newsletter Tips
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A quality newsletter needs more than coupons and ads, it needs something
more that readers can’t get from your blog or website. Different types of
content are appropriate depending on who your newsletter’s audience is.
Whether you’re sending it to clients, investors, thought leaders, peers,
donors or media, consider these types of content to keep it fresh.
1. Case Studies or Success Stories
Everyone loves a good success story. Current customers or clients can see
more examples of what your company is capable of and your peers get to
see how you tackled a problem. Use this type of content to emphasize the
metrics of why something was a success. When current customers know
what is important for a successful campaign and the reasoning behind it,
they will be able to apply the concepts to their own experiences.
2. FAQs
Do customers regularly come to you with the same questions? Try creating
an article that answers X Questions about Y Product or Y Problem. The article
is something you can send to future clients and others in the industry. If you
don’t want to use the Q&A format, try creating an article that answers
commonly asked question in a listicle: X Things You Should Know About Y.
3. A Column By An Industry Expert
Do you have a thought leader or just a really opinionated manager in your
office? Harvest their knowledge and give them their own column in your
newsletter. In their space they can share opinions on best practices, teach
new tactics and comment on news.
4. A Survey Invitation – and Results
This type of content hits two birds with one stone. Ask readers to fill out your
survey or questionnaire, then compile the data into an infographic, white
paper, article, etc. When the content is done, use it in the next week’s
newsletter to showcase results. Surveys create content for two weeks and
position you as a thought leader in your industry.
5. Blog Recaps from the Week or Month
Depending on the budget you or your client is working with, there might not
be the resources to create a unique article for your e-blasts. Instead, use
your newsletter to recap what readers might have missed — it’s new content
to them! Even if you do use new articles for newsletters, including recaps of
what readers missed the week before gives an extra boost of traffic to
articles that aren’t on the front page anymore.
6. Industry News Round-Up
Did major events occur in your industry this week that will affect both your
peers and clients? Review the top three or top five news stories and what
their effects will be on the industry. Show that you follow trends and can
respond to them quickly as a company.
7. Personal Spotlight or Profile
Profiles focus on a specific person or team in the company and what they do.
They can showcase how awesome your organizational structure is, highlight
an employee who does something unique for the industry or answer FAQs
about what a particular part of your business does. Do customers at a gym
managed by your client want to know about personal training? Profile a
personal trainer. Do they want to know how about infographics? Profile your
graphic designer.
8. Letter from the CEO, President, Founder, etc.
Has the company changed or grown dramatically over the past few months
or year? Did the organization reach a milestone or goal that once seemed
impossible? Even if your company’s only victory was surviving the quarter,
let someone explain where the company has been and where it is going –
even if it’s a major corporation. This type of article will add a personal touch
to the organization and help you connect emotionally with readers.
9. Welcome A New Client or Partnership
Depending on your newsletter’s audience, this can either be done right when
the partnership is finalized or when there are proven results. The article
would talk about the client or partner and everything they do and then
describe what your company will be doing for them. The new partner will
appreciate the shout-out and know that you appreciate them.
10. Growth and KPIs
This bullet also depends on your company, target audience, and industry.
Non-profits that exceed fundraising goals can use this space to thank
everyone who donated, while public companies on the stock market can
announce their success to investors and set the outlook for the next quarter.
Talking about the numbers shows how transparent a company is, which
clients and investors will appreciate.
11. Seasonal Tips or Advice
Seasonal articles are perfect if you only have a quarterly or monthly
newsletter. Health non-profits could write about the dangers a particular
season has on one’s health, while accountants could write about money
management over the holidays. You don’t necessarily need a weekly
newsletter to make an impact.
12. Announce Upcoming Events
Do you have a webinar on the horizon? How about a major fundraiser? You
can either use your newsletter to announce events as they get close or
announce the schedule for the quarter in one foul swoop. A theater would
want to announce the shows for a season but a marketing agency might
want to announce a webinar a week or two before it happens.
13. Event Recaps
This one goes hand-in-hand with the survey invitation suggestion. If you host
a webinar or Google+ hangout, post the video or an article describing what
was discussed and share it with readers who weren’t able to attend. Maybe
they saw the invite but forgot to sign-up and missed it. Non-profits that hold
fundraising events can use newsletters to thank attendees, link to photos
and announce the amount of money that was raised. Many of the tips in this
article are meant to provide inspiration for newsletter content that’s already
around you. Don’t overthink things: if you host a webinar or event, make the
most of it!
14. Checklists, Listicles, Anything with Numbers!
The goal of your newsletter is to bring links to the inboxes of readers that will
entice them to click through to your blog or website. People respond well to
numbers and know that they can quickly skim over articles to see if it’s
worth their time to read. Try creating a hurricane preparedness checklist, a
tax season list, even a household cleaning supplies list if it applies to your
client or company.
15. Interviews
Either interview someone in the industry to pick their brain about upcoming
trends or best practices, or interview an expert to teach readers how to do
something. For example, a smoke alarm company could interview a
firefighter about fireproofing a house for children or staying safe around the
holidays. Interviews don’t have to be with big names in the industry if they’re
helpful and educational to readers.
16. Resources
Consider adding a section for “Best X Around the Internet for Y” if you have a
monthly or quarterly newsletter. No matter your industry you can pick a
theme and link to tools, apps or articles that readers will appreciate. A local
gym could create “Best Apps to Track your Diet” in one newsletter and then
“Two Articles that Debate the Gym Etiquette of Cell Phones” in the next one.
17. Product Reviews
No, not just glowing reviews of your products or scathing remarks about your
competitors, review tools that your company uses, new analytics or third
party devices that relate to your product. Let’s use the smoke alarm
company from number 15 as an example. They could review the iPhone app
that creates sounds just like a smoke alarm. Is the sound the correct volume
and tone? Is there danger that this app is like screaming fire in a movie
theater? Give your two cents and review it.
18. Predictions
It might be a good fit for your company to have a regular “magic crystal ball”
column of industry predictions. A gutter cleaning company could predict
expected rainfall or number of hurricanes on the horizon while a car
company predicts the growth of electric car sales in the next five years. The
more data to back up your predictions the better, people aren’t going to tune
in just to here baseless speculations.
19. Instructions or How-Tos
One of the great things about newsletters is that they’re easier to save than
articles from a blog or on social media — readers can just let them sit in their
inboxes. By featuring instructions and how-tos (or lists, or resources) people
will be more inclined to save your newsletter and use it as a reference later.
Articles like How to Prepare for the First Snowfall will be helpful enough to
keep readers from hitting the delete button.
Hopefully these types of content will give you inspiration for your next
newsletter and beyond. If you struggle to keep coming up with new ideas,
pick a style from the list and try to build something around it. You never
know what fresh new ideas will pop up.
Top 10 article ideas for yourcustomer or marketing newsletterby David Kandler
Editor’s Note: The author of this article, David Kandler, is founder, owner and
president of CompanyNewsletters.com, an Internet firm that produces
newsletters for companies throughout the United States. Learn more about how
his firm can help your company produce printed and electronic newsletters.
With the right mix of article topics, your customer newsletter can be an effective
marketing tool.
If it’s difficult for you to come up with enough articles to fill your customer or
marketing newsletter, or if your publication is not getting the type of results that
you were hoping, consider the following “top ten” article ideas. These types of
articles are commonly found in the customer newsletters that Company-
Newsletters.com produces for its business clients, and the articles are always
well received by readers.
1. Current events and how they impact your business and customers: Let your readers know how current
news events are impacting your company and its clients. For example, a
company that builds or remodels homes may want to use a newsletter article to
warn customers that recent hurricane damage is causing increased demand for
lumber, so material prices are expected to climb higher. An accounting firm may
want to use a newsletter article to explain how recent changes in a tax law will
impact its customers. Chances are great that current events are impacting your
company’s business, so keep your customers informed through your newsletter
articles.
2. New or little-known uses for your products: Ask or survey your customers, and you’ll likely find that many
use your company’s products in new or innovative ways that you may not even
be aware of. If you discover and publicize new uses for old products in your
customer or marketing newsletter, you will likely increase sales of these
products. Plus your customers will enjoy reading about how your products can
be used in new and different ways that will benefit them. For this type of article,
interview a customer that uses your products in a new or different way, and
quote the person regarding how exactly he or she uses your product, how the
person benefits from the new use of the product, how the customer is impressed
with the quality of the product, etc.
3. Customer profile: This type of newsletter article is similar to a
lengthy customer testimonial that you might find in a marketing brochure.
Interview one of your best customers and quote them as to: why they prefer
your company’s products and services; the various ways they use your products
and services; why they remain such a loyal customer of yours; how they’d
recommend your company to others; etc. See a sample customer profile
article that CompanyNewsletters.com wrote for a client. If you feel
uncomfortable interviewing your company’s own customers and feel like you’re
“fishing for compliments,” consider having a third party, such as
CompanyNewsletters.com’s highly experienced business journalists, conduct the
interview and write the article.
4. Making a difference in the community: A good
corporate citizen always gives back to the communities it serves, through
donations and/or employees who volunteer for worthy causes. Publicize your
charitable contributions — whether they are monetary or product related — in
your customer newsletter. Also write articles about how your employees are
actively volunteering in the community. Your customers will feel good knowing
that they are doing business with a company that gives back to the communities
it serves.
5. Employee profile: This type of article is meant to inspire your
customers’ confidence in the qualifications of your employees, and thus your
business. An employee profile article is also a good tool to demonstrate how
your company is staffed by dedicated employees who believe strongly in serving
and pleasing customers. To write this type of article, interview a key employee
and the person’s supervisor. Quote them as to how the profiled employee has
gone “above and beyond the call” to serve customers. You could quote the
supervisor as to how dedicated the employee is and list all the positive traits
that the person brings to the job. Also, you can quote the employee as to the
person’s philosophy on serving customers, how the person loves working for
your company, etc. Employee profiles are also an excellent way to “personalize”
your company in the eyes of your customers. These articles show customers
that they are not just dealing with a sterile, faceless, large corporation.
Employee profiles demonstrate that they are dealing with a vibrant company
whose success is due to its many highly qualified employees who are dedicated
to uniquely serving each customer.
Readers love it when customer newsletters include helpful articles that give them
free tips and advice.
6. Tips in your area of expertise:Readers love it when customer newsletters include helpful articles that give them free tips and advice. Undoubtedly, your company has worked hard to establish itself as a leading, respected company in its industry. There’s no better way to capitalize on this than to give your readers free tips and advice related to your area of expertise. For instance, a security company may want to publicize personal safety tips in its customer newsletter. A car dealer may want to give general vehicle maintenance tips in its marketing newsletter. A shipping company may want to give guidelines on how to safely package flammable materials. A financial planner may want to give free tips on how to save for your children’s college education. A general law firm may want to give tips in its customer newsletter on how to respond to a police officer’s questions if you’re pulled over for speeding. These types of “tips” articles are usually the most-read stories in a customer or marketing newsletter.
7. Product or service profile: In each issue of your
newsletter, try profiling a different product or service that your company offers.
Your customers are probably not aware of all the different products or services
your company offers, so educating them about each one is a good way to cross-
sell your products and services. Also, if you have a new product making its
debut, you can use your newsletter to build excitement for the product and
announce the new offering.
8. Changes in your business practice that will impact clients: Use your customer or marketing newsletter to keep
readers informed of recent or upcoming changes that will affect them. For
instance, if your company’s prices are changing, use a newsletter article to tell
customers about it. If your company is offering new financing plans for its
customers, be sure to write about it in your newsletter. If your business is
changing its hours of operation, let customers know about it through a
newsletter article. These types of articles will help your readers stay informed
about your company, and can be a strong component of your newsletter.
9. Positive customer letters: Companies that receive
complimentary customer letters should reprint them in their customer
newsletter. You could call the section “From the mailbag,” or something similar,
and reprint several positive customer letters in each issue.
10. Deals, specials, coupons and discounts: Although customer and marketing newsletters are
traditionally thought of as providing a “soft sell” to readers, there’s no reason
you can’t directly promote your products and services in your newsletter like
you would in any other advertising medium. Many businesses run coupons or
product or service specials on the back page of their newsletters. Another good
tactic is to tie in these deals and discounts with a product or service mentioned
in an earlier article within the newsletter. For instance, if you have one article
that is promoting a new use for one of your products, put a sentence at the end
of that article saying, “For a limited time special offer on this product, see the
coupon on the back page of this newsletter.” Tying in a special offer with an
article about a particular product or service is an excellent way to generate
customer interest in the product and increase sales.
So when it’s time to plan your next set of newsletter articles, consider these 10
types of articles. They are staples of the customer and marketing newsletters
that CompanyNewsletters.com produces for its business clients, they get results
and readers love them.
Read more newsletter ideas, tips and “how to” articles from
CompanyNewsletters.com.