Just because your competitor has a monthly email newsletter doesn’t mean you have to follow their same formula. Creating a newsletter that your clients want to read is the important strategy that you should be figuring out BEFORE you publish even one issue.
1. Define the purpose of your newsletter. Do you want to direct traffic back to your website? Do you want to showcase your expertise by sending original, useful articles? Or do you want to sell seats to your live events? Make this purpose clear to those who sign up.
2. Create valuable content. Develop a relationship with your readers by keeping them up to date on what’s happening in your business or market. Share when you have a new event or service available. If people keep calling with the same question or complaint, address it in your newsletter.
3. Be consistent. Develop a schedule so you and your readers know when to expect your next newsletter. You don’t need to do what your competitors are doing. It’s always better to start off slowly and build up your frequency than to over promise and fall behind because you don’t have enough to talk about.
4. Analyze your statistics. All email marketing services offer some kind of metrics or analytics so you know exactly how many newsletters were sent and opened. You’ll know exactly which email addresses bounced and even how many people clicked on links.
5. Know your readers. Understand what type of information they need and don’t take them for granted. If you email them too frequently or try to sell something in every newsletter, they might label you a spammer. Email too infrequently and they might forget they signed up for your list.
The bottom line is to think of your reader first. That’s how you’ll build a successful newsletter.
