An email newsletter for customers and prospects is among the best and most cost-efficient ways to grow a business. Businesses have a wide variety of content marketing tactics at their disposal; but few are quite as powerful and versatile as email newsletters, according to the Content Marketing Institute. Yet marketers dismiss it, ignore it, or use it poorly.
“With a strategy, with a simple methodology, they become one of the most effective tools in your digital toolbox,” says David Hieatt, co-founder of Hiut Denim Co. “They build community. They build your brand. And they relentlessly build long-term growth. They are pure and utter gold.”
Most brands publish some form of newsletter for customers. But many place more emphasis on promoting subscriptions than giving customers a reason to sign up, notes Tom Fishburne, a cartoonist and marketer. Hiut Denim’s Scrapbook Chronicles is an exception. Rather than focusing exclusively on denim, the newsletter concentrates on creativity.
“They think about their jeans as the ‘uniform of the creative man and woman,’” Fishburne says. “So their newsletter is ultimately about helping those creative people be more creative. And in following that goal, over time the newsletter helps them sell more denim.”
A Media Monitoring & Measurement Newsletter
In producing its weekly Media Monitoring and Measurement News, CyberAlert seeks to help its customer base of public relations and marketing professionals become better at what they do. The newsletter is designed to provide a well-rounded educational service to make them better all-around PR and marketing professionals.
About 15% of the newsletter articles focus on media monitoring and measurement, but it also features articles on writing techniques, media relations, press conferences, content marketing, social media marketing, and other subjects that will help CyberAlert’s customers and prospects do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. The newsletter articles do double-duty as blog posts on the corporate website. Most are “how-to” articles. The newsletter also includes special offers from CyberAlert, including a free monitoring and measurement trial.
A high percentage of the 100,000+ subscribers open the email and scan the article titles each week. Many read one or more articles in full. The newsletter competes effectively with subscription publications in the PR and marketing fields.
“The newsletter helps us establish long-term relationships with our customer base,” explains William Comcowich, founder of CyberAlert and editor of the newsletter. “When they want to purchase media monitoring or measurement services or change service provider, they are much more likely to give us an opportunity to earn their business.”
Expert Tips for Successful Newsletters
Hieatt and other newsletter experts offer these tips for producing successful newsletters.
Research. Conduct research to determine if you should produce a newsletter in the first place, advises Ginny Mineo, Hubspot manager of content marketing strategy. Find successful email newsletters in your industry. Study what’s in them. Consider if you can produce a successful newsletter with the resources available to you, including budget, time and internal support.
Focus. Email newsletters are often cluttered and unfocused — filled with promotional hype, and random musings. Narrow your focus. Aim content at a specific vertical or audience.
Educate. Share what you think about the world, and not just what you have to sell, Hieatt says. Hubspot recommends 90 percent educational content and 10 percent promotional content.
Be brief. Get to the point quick. People are busy.
Optimize for mobile. That entails tailoring design elements for small screens, such as large buttons and limited amount of text. Depending on your audience, mobile email will account for 15 to 70 percent of email opens, according to Mail on the Mark.
Set expectations. Tell potential subscribers exactly what will be in the newsletter as well as how often they should expect to hear from you. In addition consider including a preview of the newsletter on the subscription landing page.
Get creative with emails. Many marketers embrace familiarity by sending the same subject line. Subscribers become bored. Instead, try different, subject lines for each newsletter issue. Many newsletters including CyberAlert’s use the headline of one article as the email subject line.
Avoid clutter. Concise copy and sufficient white space helps avoid a cluttered appearance. Concise copy offers just enough information to motivate readers to click on the article. White space is especially important to decrease the cluttered feel on mobile devices.
Get personal. Try to go beyond using their first name and consider other places where you can add personalization. B2B marketer might include the recipient’s company name, if available. A retailer could try inserting information about a recent purchase.
Remember the unsubscribe option. An obvious unsubscribe link and clear unsubscribe process helps maintain a healthy subscription list and helps prevent your emails from being marked as spam.
Bottom Line: Research recognizes email newsletters as one of the most effective ways to build awareness, create a long-term relationship, acquire leads and convert prospects. However, producing a high-quality newsletter that subscribers open and read is challenging. First-class newsletters call for careful attention on design, personalization and offering valuable, educational content.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
