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Without doubt the most successful e-marketing technique bar none is an email newsletter. Over the years we've seen many businesses turn around the success rate of their marketing campaigns with the launch of a regular e-newsletter. We’ve written about e-newsletters previously, but in response to demand we are revisiting the subject, this time focusing on launching an e-newsletter from scratch. In this article we look at some of the reasons why newsletters work and how to go about launching one...
Every business needs a boost from time to time – whether you need more leads, more sales, increased profits or bigger customers, a well implemented email newsletter can achieve the desired results. As any marketer knows these days, successful businesses of every kind are built on good customer relations. Email newsletters are the ultimate in relationship marketing. They enable you to connect with customers and prospects in a form that offers them the opportunity to engage with you and offers you the advantages of tracking and data collection. A newsletter establishes credibility as well as engendering a feeling of trust that, overtime, can be turned into loyalty and good custom. Why? Because the recipient of your newsletter actually wants to hear from you and, if properly conceived and implemented will actually look forward to seeing what you have to say. Email newsletters are far less threatening than a telemarketing call and more likely to be read than a traditional direct mail shot.
Newsletters are not an easy option however, and it takes time and effort to build a good subscriber base – but isn’t the thought of a genuinely interested and captive audience an attractive one?
Launching the newsletter
The first step to launching an email newsletter, as with any email campaign, is to consider your audience. Just as with any form of Internet marketing strategy the best way to get results is to decide what objective you are looking to fulfil and target your subscriber base accordingly. In many cases the best place to start is with your current customer base – after all you know there is an interest in your product or service and you will already have established some level of knowledge and trust. There are a number of ways in which you might choose to build subscriptions to your newsletter - techniques include:
- Positioning subscription details on your website
- Offer an incentive – dangle a carrot to encourage sign up, a White Paper or useful guide
- A telemarketing campaign
- Direct marketing campaigns designed to increase subscription – e.g. postcards
- Subscription information detailed in marketing collateral such as brochures or catalogues
- A print or web advertising campaign
- Press releases announcing the launch to trade press
- Post messages to relevant discussion lists with a link to the subscriber page on your website
- Invite a subscription with every email you send with a link in your signature
- Sponsor like-minded newsletters or websites
- Remind subscribers to forward to colleagues who may find the subject matter of interest
- Word of mouth – ensure that everyone in your company knows about the newsletter, what’s in it and how to join – and make sure they tell every customer or prospect who might be interested.
Some of these methods will work better for you than others and most companies use a mix of different techniques until they hit upon the most successful. It is often well worth gathering subscriber details ahead of your launch. A sign up box on a website can be added six weeks in advance, simply make it clear to recipients when they can expect to receive the first edition.
Content
The key to the success of your newsletter lies primarily in its content. Make no mistake – you are not the only organisation with a newsletter, these days there is a great deal of competition to contend with. Recipients may well be happy to subscribe to more than one list but will only continue their subscription if you offer them something of value.
So what makes good e-newsletter content? Well one thing newsletters are not about is the hard sell. Build a newsletter around sales speak and you’ll be doomed before you even begin. At least 80% of the content should be good meaty information delivered in a readable editorial style. If you don’t have the resources in-house to develop such content then get in an expert - paying for a copywriter really will be worth your while. If you do have writing talent in-house then use it wisely.
Plan schedules in advance and write about what your readers want to know about, which is not necessarily what your sales team want to tell them. Put yourself in your audience’s shoes and think about what valuable information you could offer them. At least one in-depth feature article per issue is important, this can be supplemented by other content sources such as an interview with an industry expert, a case study or FAQ. Be inventive and interesting.
Developing a personality for the newsletter is also a good way to make it stand it out from the crowd. Consistency is also important. Dependability is an important part of developing a successful newsletter – readers need to know what to expect and when to expect it. Which brings us on to another aspect of successful newsletters – delivery.
Delivery
How often you choose to deliver your newsletter will depend on its content and the audience, generally speaking once a month is about as frequent as most companies can manage. The important thing is never to promise something you can’t deliver. If you can only manage once a quarter then it is better to be honest with yourself and your readers and set this schedule than offer a monthly mail that will not arrive. Remember this is all about creating trust and fostering good customer relationships. The surest way to see a mass of unsubscribe requests and encourage negative feeling about your company is to fail to honour their expectations. If your content is good then not only will customers want to read what you have to say, they might well start to actually look forward to getting your emails.
Summary
With spam on the increase, the permission-based and value added nature of an email newsletter publication makes it an excellent way to build customer relationships. In the future emails must be more targeted, both because of changes to the law but also to make the impact marketers are looking for. With an average click through of 20% to 30%, the responses garnered from a good newsletter make it a valuable proposition for every type of business. | 
