What Is a Newsletter?

Do you think that mailing is an ineffective marketing technique? If so… read on and see how much you lose when you don’t use it!

A newsletter is an inconspicuous but potent tool. Cleverly used, it will make you build a much better relationship with your customers, and as a result – you will gain in every respect. And what is a newsletter, and how to use it?

What Is a Newsletter?

It is an email message sent regularly to a specific group of recipients. The idea behind this tool is straightforward: to keep clients up to date with your business and share information about your niche.

You may be wondering what for? There are at least a few reasons why newsletters are sent.

• Staying “in touch” with your recipients

It is crucial to constantly remind them of your brand’s existence and provide information about its activities. Establishing and nurturing customer relationships is a critical component of the contemporary marketing approach. Of course, social media is the first channel that comes to mind. But not all of your customers are there – some may prefer checking correspondence in their inboxes than looking for it on your social media profiles.

A newsletter is a convenient tool for sharing news about upcoming promotions and a great place to present new products. Your subscriber list may also be the first to know about approaching sales and other attractive offers, thus encouraging them to open the email and interact with its contents.

• Strengthening your image

It is especially true if the newsletter is informative and provides valuable content. Then there is a greater chance that your audience will treat you as an industry expert. Sharing knowledge is the best way to get to and maintain this position longer.

Newsletters are often used to present new case studies and guides or to promote company ebooks with industry tips. You can use scoops from your company blog – for example, most-read posts from last month. Blog roundups are also an excellent way to drive traffic to your site. Email marketing doesn’t have to direct always to a landing page.

• Improving communication with customers

By sending one newsletter to your subscribers, you can effortlessly expand its outreach to hundreds, thousands, or even more recipients, thus maximizing its impact with minimal effort and financial resources. The purpose of sending emails regularly is to support your other content marketing strategy actions.

Keeping in touch – through a newsletter – helps gain trust and benefits your sales team too. The content you send is always a good conversation starter.

If you want to personalize the message

Using advanced marketing automation and similar tools, you can adjust the message to each recipient or individual group (person) – to ensure even greater interaction efficiency.

Depending on the tool used to prepare a newsletter, you gain a wide range of data allowing you to verify the effectiveness of the mailing campaign.

By launching the newsletter, you can also use data collection tools and obtain precise information about, for example:

• how many people have read the newsletter,
• how many clicked on the link from the message,
• how communication translated into conversion.

Knowing the click-through rates and bounce rates allows you to build the best email marketing strategy. It helps understand what subscribers check out in your email and what you should improve to run an effective campaign.

How to Prepare a Newsletter?

Now you know what the purpose of a newsletter is and perhaps are thinking about creating a strategy for email marketing. But you still need to decide what information should be included in the newsletter. The is no rule for this because a lot depends on the industry and what is the business’s overall communication strategy. Nevertheless, before you start thinking about what to write to your newsletter subscribers, think briefly about why you are doing it. Remember that:

• the newsletter is sent to people who have given their consent. These people have already become your customers or are interested in maintaining contact with your brand.
• your goal is, first of all, to maintain good communication with your audience and provide them with additional content – the kind that will benefit the customer. This can be various types of information or exclusive discounts on your products.

What Can Be in the Newsletter?

What is the most common newsletter topic? You can start and create content and interest the audience with these:

• what’s new in your business

Has your business opened a new branch? Has developed a machine park? Or has introduced a new product to the market or participated in prestigious trade fairs? These are just a few categories of news that can make quality content for your subscribers – regardless of whether you operate in the B2B or B2C model.

• new promotional campaigns

In promotional emails, you can inform about this fact in advance or prepare special discounts for subscribers. This is an additional argument for both subscribing to receive it and actually opening an individual email. And don’t forget to track these with your chosen marketing tool!

• information about new blog entries

If you run a corporate blog, combine communication through both channels as part of one strategy. Inform the community related to your brand about the new post. It is good to focus on the most valuable content and invite the audience to your website.

• industry news

They are especially good if your company operates in the B2B model. Your business partners might find the news interesting. You can share lists of engaging analyses and forecasts and share your thoughts about what makes them so important for your niche. Email newsletters are also an excellent place to inform readers about upcoming industry fairs and conferences.

How to Create Engaging Mailing and get the reader’s attention?

First things first – delivery rate and open rate – on average, 3 out of 4 marketing emails end up in the trash without reading them. You probably also do this with many newsletters you have signed up for… So what to do to be in this 25 percent group of emails, which will be opened and read? The results of your email strategy will depend on:

• a creative, engaging title – one that will stand out in the dozens of other emails. This is where the clickbait strategy or title personalization can work – for example, using the subscriber’s name. The subject line is THE place to make a good impression on your subscribers. Without the correct title, you won’t be able to get the reader’s attention.
• regularity – if the subscribers get used to the fact that your content comes with a relatively repeatable frequency, e.g., once a week or once every two weeks, reading them may become a habit. But be careful! Sending the newsletter too often, e.g., daily, may hurt your marketing campaigns. If you can produce so much engaging content, give your audience a choice of how often they want to receive news from you.
• an interesting, helpful content – the recipient must somehow benefit from the fact that they devote the time to open and read the newsletter. Prepare it considering the substantive content of the message you want to convey. Your audience signs up for a newsletter with “top-notch” news, so avoid repeating content that belongs to other channels.
• clear Call To Action – line of text that prompts to take action, such as “Check now!”, “Must-see!”, “Get a discount!” or “Read more,” etc.
• clear layout – a newsletter with a wall of text or looks just like an ordinary email will not attract attention. Make sure the subscriber can scroll through the essential information in a few seconds and decide if they want to dive deeper into the content. Use all types of text to differentiate your newsletters, for example – catchy headings, clear paragraphs enriched with lists, or bolded text.
   A successful newsletter should also be in line with other company marketing materials. Keep your logo, colors, and other graphic elements similar across all channels.
• responsiveness – an email with the newsletter has to display seamlessly across the vast breadth of mobile devices,
• appropriate length – too long text in the newsletter may scare off. So focus on the essentials. And if you have a longer message to send – treat the newsletter as its announcement and encourage the recipient to click on the link.

To a recipient is crucial to keep in mind various essential components, such as:

• a button to cancel the subscription – it is important both from the point of view of the recipient’s privacy and due to legal restrictions,
• a “disclaimer” – information explaining why the user received the newsletter and how this data is used,
• contact details for the sender – to give the customer a chance to stay in touch/ express an opinion. Adding an image of a contact person can help you strengthen human connection.

Is your newsletter looking too weak? Jump to the next level with these tools!

What is a newsletter without a great tool to create, optimize and send it with almost one click? Choosing the right help is essential for delivering content and building trust in your company.

Check out the benefits of using proper tools for email campaigns in our blog post – “7 Popular Tools for Newsletters“.

Conclusion:

These are, of course, the absolute basics of the rules governing the world of newsletters. It is always challenging to drive traffic to your site, but by choosing the subject line and style of communication, your company can build a great relationship with subscribers.

It’s time to start working on the best content to land in your customers’ email boxes!

If you want to explore this topic, follow our blog or contact us to exchange information on how to use mailing in your marketing strategy.