Publishing a newsletter can be a key component to increasing traffic to your website and increasing sales. If your content is relevant and authentic then people are more likely to forward it on to their employees or peers. Many times companies start putting out newsletters and one of two things will happen; one, it slowly gets taken of the priority list or two, they see good results, so they increase the frequency of newsletters but then the quality suffers. Each company will have it’s own timeline for publishing a newsletter. One company may send one each month while another company sends one each quarter. It all depends on the industry, the time and resources your company has to spend on the newsletter etc. . .
If you are planning to start publishing newsletters below are 3 very basic, but key elements to remember to create a successful newsletter:
- Content Outline – Create a content outline that is relevant to your company and to the industry as a whole. Make sure that the information you are writing about is going to benefit the reader. People are being sold to constantly and newsletters are definitely not the place to do it. Make sure that you are putting a variety of content in the newsletter such as one interview, one article, one question and answer section.
- Authentic Content – Make sure that all the facts and figures in your articles are backed up by proof. Make sure to credit all photos and statistics used to avoid legal issues. Nothing makes readers more angry when they read statistics that are incorrect or skewed. Try to make it so that the majority of the content ties back in with your own company to help increase credibility and trust.
- Updated Content – Keep your content fresh! No one wants to read the same articles over and over. People are more likely to delete your newsletter if they keep reading the same content. Make sure that the content is relevant with what is currently going on in the industry and your business. This part can be tricky because publishing dates can always get pushed back due to numerous reasons, so make sure to give your articles one last look to make sure nothing is outdated. A common mistake is writing about an upcoming event, but then by the time the newsletter is distributed the event is already over. In this case, you will have to re-write the article to focus on what happened instead of what is going to happen.
As you can read, there is a lot of planning and reviewing that has to be done before a newsletter can be sent out. There is nothing more harmful than sending out an outdated newsletter with tons of mistakes. It will make your company lose credibility and relationships. Take your time and double check everything.
Does your company have a newsletter? What is your best tip?
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