Your Newsletter Headshot


If you want to make a personal connection with your readers, and be remembered, you'll want to include a photo of yourself in your newsletter.

Here are some of the things to keep in mind, especially if you are planning to have new photos taken.
  • Your headshot should look like you now, not 5 years ago.
  • Wear similar clothes to what your ideal customer would wear.
  • The direction you're facing in the photo generally dictates where the sidebar will go in your newsletter. You don't want to be looking off the page. For newsletters, a right sidebar is more desirable, so a left-facing or front-facing photo is preferable. Of course, this is the opposite of how you want to be facing for LinkedIn and Facebook avatars.
  • Wide banner-like panorama photos are popular now across the top of website pages. An example might be someone standing on a beach with their head in the foreground and a slightly blurred background of the water and beach behind them. These panorama photos are also great across the top of newsletters as a nice alternative to the usual sidebar headshot.
  • Working your brand colours into your clothes or background is great, but only if you look good in those colours.
  • Consider your branding style when deciding on the background. For example, is being isolated on white important to match the rest of the branding? Are dark or bold colours needed? Or more subdued?
  • Have 2 or 3 different photos and change them out in alternate newsletter issues, or by season, to add variety.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Be the Customer You Want to Have

Image
We all have those favourite customers - the ones we’d bend over backwards for when they really need our help. Think about those things you most appreciate about your best customers and make a list. Draw a ‘picture’ of what your ideal customer ‘looks’ like. My friend and marketing guru Debi Hartlen MacDonald says that we should even ‘name’ our ideal customer. Get to know who they are and we will recognize them when we meet them. As small business owners, we tend to work a lot with other small business owners. If I can be an ideal customer to my suppliers, it’s beneficial to both of us. Best customer characteristics will vary depending on what you do. Here are some suggestions for how you can be an ideal customer: Make your requirements clear. Right from the start establish what your expectations are and develop a plan to work together to achieve them. Give specific and timely feedback. Be honest early on. And be as exact as possible. Use words that allow your supplier to
Keep reading »

Consistent and Repetitive

Image
Keeping a consistent schedule is something we coach our newsletter clients about. Over time, consistency will show up as loyalty - from both sides of the equation. You are demonstrating your loyalty to your readers by creating and meeting expectations. Your readers become more loyal when you do that. Being repetitive is also important. Sales gurus say it takes 7 tries to get someone’s attention . Of course, I don’t mean that you should do the same thing 7 times. Be creative and try 7 different approaches. Over time, repetition will show up as diligence and tenacity . The key words to note are 'over time' because neither of these strategies is instant. photo by an untrained eye Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

Do what Feels Right to You

Image
photo by tempophage I had what I thought were a couple of smashing ideas for the newsletter design for a new client. She politely declined. Of course, I asked, "Why?" (I must have been a real challenge at age 4.) The discussion that ensued was insightful and interesting and helped me to understand my client's brand, image and personality so much better. Sometimes 'bad' ideas lead to great things. The lesson here? When someone you're working with throws out an idea that they're obviously excited about, don't jump on the bandwagon if it doesn't feel right. Stand up for what's authentic to you , right there, on the spot. Also, embrace the opportunity to explain your position so that everyone can get on the same page. That is how relationships are built.   Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

17 Reasons to eMail Your Contacts Before Your Next Newsletter Goes Out

Image
NOTE! Don't jump directly to the list below. There's a caveat and it's an important one. While these are your reasons for emailing your list, you need to create value or point it out to readers. Frame all your messaging around the thought, "What's in it for my readers?" If you make it valuable to them, you'll feel the love in return. Here are 17 reasons to email your list, independent of your regular newsletter schedule: A new or improved product or service - highlight the benefits, not the features A demonstration of one way to use your product... and the fantastic results! A new article, video or audio file published online A customer success story - and how subscribers can enjoy the same success A customer question and your answer - useful information A cool tool you just tried  - how your contacts can benefit Comment on a common myth about your industry - why your subscribers need to know Announce a contest Request information (feed
Keep reading »

Your Brand is more than Your Logo

Image
I’m a visual person yet I find it hard to describe our own branding concisely: lots of white space, clean, bright spots of colour, fun but professional. If you came to me and said that, how would I design a newsletter (or website or blog) for you? Being able to describe your visual branding is important when you’re working with professionals such as designers and other consultants. How can they help you best if they don’t ‘get’ your brand? How do you describe your own visual branding? Write it out right now and be concise. Use lots of descriptive words - make up words if you have to. Can you get what’s in your head onto paper? Looking at examples is very helpful. Look at others’ websites and newsletters. Identify what you like and don’t like and put it into words on paper. Do you like curves or straight lines? Bold or subtle? Professional or whimsical? White space or lots of colour? Simple or busy? Keep going... don't stop here. It’s not easy to do bu
Keep reading »

CASL Basics for Small Business

Image
If you own a business and are using email, text messaging or social networks to promote products and services, you should know a bit about Canada's new anti-spam law (CASL), which comes into effect on July 1, 2014. The regulations, impact summary, bulletins and other resources are detailed and lengthy. I've been asked about this a lot over the past few weeks so I'm starting here with the very basics. First, determine if your electronic message is commercial in nature. The law applies to commercial electronic messages (CEMs) only. A CEM is defined as encouraging participation in a business transaction or activity, regardless of whether there is an expectation of profit. Many messages sent in the process of doing business would be considered CEMs. Here’s what you’ll need to do for those CEMs, starting July 1st: Get the consent of your recipients. The legislation requires obtaining "express" or "implied" consent. Express consent means that a pers
Keep reading »

Deciding to Delegate

Image
If you are a control freak like me, you’ll know that delegation is a BIG decision. There are lots of things to consider. The question of what to delegate should be easy but often isn’t. You want to delegate things that… you don’t like to do slow you down or sap your energy cause you to be disorganized draw your focus away from the things you’re really good at require a certain expertise to get quality results - and you are lacking that expertise can be grouped together for easy delegation So now that you’ve figured out what to delegate, how do you go about it? It’s all about finding the right balance between quality and cost. Quality Is the activity something that needs skill and experience to get a quality result? How do you perceive cost and quality? Higher quality usually means higher cost. What is the level of quality that you require and are you willing to pay for it? Cost What is your time worth? You really have to have a clear understanding of this befor
Keep reading »

Prezi

Prezi is a very different presentation software... I love it! http://www.prezi.com/ Check out this one I made to illustrate the newsletter set-up process: http://prezi.com/b0u1bxp8iywu/newsletter-campaign-creation-process/ Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

Perceptions of Value

Image
photo by Marcus Jeffrey Someone recently asked me if a newsletter is still a good marketing tool for small business. After all, we’re inundated with newsletters and stuff that people call newsletters. The person who asked me this has been actively unsubscribing from newsletters to reduce her inbox noise. I asked if she’ll stay subscribed to some newsletters and, of course, the answer was yes. What’s so good about those particular newsletters that you and I stay subscribed to, even when we’re purging? The answer is simple: we are getting some perceived value . It’s likely to be interesting, useful or timely information in some form or other. I used the word ‘perceived’ above because what is valuable to one is not valuable to everyone . It’s your target market’s perceptions that you need to be concerned about - not your best friend’s, not your mother’s, not even your own. A successful newsletter is about what your readers want, not what you want to give them. While the simple
Keep reading »

What is Everybody Searching For?

Image
Take a few minutes to refresh your knowledge about the most popular keywords in your industry and area of specialty. You can use this handy Google Insights for Search tool to find out what the world is searching for. Or you can narrow it down to country or province. Here is the link: www.google.com/insights/search/ . Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »