The Newsletter Is Not Dead

So, if you are one of those thinking that newsletter is dead…It is time to reconsider. Newsletter is alive and when it is used properly is still an affordable and powerful tool to reach your prospects and customers and measure results almost immediately.

The newsletter as a tool has moved from a “plain template” to a more design and especially -call to action- oriented tool. Now using this tool with others channels can complement your marketing strategy. Measuring its impact is as well easier and more affordable than years ago.

How to create useful newsletters for your customers:

Forget the past: or better to say forget all you know and remember about the newsletter that you sent ten years ago. It’s is time to refresh your newsletter template and your way of managing this tool.  

Evaluate your audience: The newsletter is pretty much alive in many industries, however is it worth checking your audience before using this or any other marketing tool. Not all generations, consumers, industries are interesting in receiving newsletters too often. Check what your target group is? What do you want to achieve? Checking your audience might help you as well to find out what they are talking about and what they are interested in. Are you using other tools? Is the newsletter going to be your unique marketing channel? Or a complement to the other channels you use for marketing? How are you planning to combine different channels?

Inform, entertain and communicate sufficiently: check how much information you might have on regularly basis and how much you want to share with your customers. Be regular, even if you decide to create two newsletters per year, select coordinated time for it and plan it well. When deciding how many newsletters you need to prepare in a period of time, remember to be realistic evaluating if you have enough –fresh- material to create the newsletter as well as if you have the time and the resources to create it as often as planned.

Make your newsletter clear: both in terms of content as well as in terms of visual. Select three or four main topics to talk about per newsletter. Make the information easy to digest. Good visuals are mandatory. Also remember to consider different platforms when designing your content, specially now when many customers are reading your material from the phones and tablets.

Limit your marketing: Despite the newsletter being a marketing tool, you need to calm down. Instead of over marketing your products, use this channel to share your thoughts and train your readers. They are willing to get more value than a bunch of info about your products and services.

Localize:especially if you have a big database already, you might face that many of your customer speaks different languages than for example English. Check your main audiences and select the languages which you might use on your newsletter.

  

Follow-up, monitor and take actions: Nowadays, more and more you can find different ways to evaluate the newsletter performance: are people visiting the links, who are opening your newsletter, where are they located, which products or news are the most visited, are they going to your website, are they contacting you, etc. After you collect all the data and make the basic analysis, select the follow-up steps.

Clean your database:  If you are using a big database with customer info which has been collected over the years -many years, the newsletter is a good and frequent way to clean your database. At the beginning, you might get a lot of movement out there (e.g. subscriptions cancellations, invalid email addresses, people who are no longer in some companies, etc.) Do not be afraid of all this overwhelming data, this is a natural process and a perfect opportunity to take away people who are not interested in your products or in your company. Who wants to have thousands of email addresses without a real actions?

The point of the newsletter is to create quality content. A good newsletter will keep your good customer and your potential prospects coming back. Keep the content simple but useful and use the data obtained from it performance to follow-up. Invest the appropriate time and resources based on your company's situation. Whatever content you are delivering to your customer in the newsletter, make it relevant. Your newsletter might be your introduction letter to many new customers. Make this represents your brand well.