Take the News out of Newsletter

I'm campaigning to rename 'newsletter', but I know it will take Google forever to catch on.

Do you sign up for newsletters in excited anticipation of getting company news? I didn't think so. Granted a newsletter can be a great source of industry news if it's timely. But that's only one strategy.

The main goal of your newsletter strategy should be to provide value.

 Useful + Interesting = Value

No 'news' in that equation. How about... ?
valuemail
infomail
infoletter
useletter

Whatever you call it, don't make it all about your company news. Give people a better reason to subscribe.

Click to Tweet this Article

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Home Office Holiday Party

Image
In preparation for our office party this year, I wrote a poem. Then I gathered together the things I would need to have a party with Romeo and Danielle. (The Temptations were for Romeo, the phone for Danielle, and the coffee for me.) Romeo, my cat, is used to hearing me talk out loud as I proofread and he was unusually excited about hearing the poem. Danielle, who lives several time zones away in Saskatchewan, also works alone (and helps me out lots) so I invited her to my office party by phone. It was a good move because she's a master at rhyming words. After much anticipation, I started to read the finished poem aloud to them. As you can see in the photos above, I had their full attention. Ode to a Midnight Blog Silent night, late at night, I've still got my blog to write. My laptop propped up on my bed, I'm hoping ideas will fill my head. Yawns escaping, eyelids drooping, Neck is stiff, my thoughts are looping. My brain is sore, I th...
Keep reading »

Newsletter Example: Local Restaurant

Image
Sometimes I can be quite judgmental of others' newsletters, and most of the time I keep that to myself. Being a critic means I can also appreciate good examples of newsletters, and email marketing in general. Have a look at this one which arrived in my inbox recently from a local restaurant with the subject line: Seasons Greetings from all of us at Finbar's . The content in this email is just right for several reasons. The subject line clearly said what is was - a holiday greeting. If I wasn't in the mood for holiday cheer, I could have deleted it with little hassle (but stayed subscribed for future news). I was feeling cheery when I received Finbar's email. A good overall balance of images and text - and not too long. It looked like it wouldn't take much time to read. A colourful photo of the young kids dressed for the season - you won't find this on shutterstock; it connects on a personal level. A funny personal story - curiosity got me reading the ...
Keep reading »

Boost Your Expert Reputation with an Evergreen Series

Image
Writing a series of articles is a great way to connect related content together . It is also an attention-getter, encouraging readers to subscribe or return for the next installment in the series. And it can be a showcase for demonstrating your expertise on a particular topic. A topical series of blog posts should be planned in advance to maximize its effectiveness. Here’s why: The finished series will flow more easily from one post to the next when you’ve created and edited a bullet outline of the entire series in advance. You can determine your link strategy and execute it seamlessly. You can promote the upcoming series in advance to generate interest and anticipation. Suggested Workflow to Create Your Series Determine your topic and create your series outline. Create and post some teasers on social media with a call-to-action to subscribe. Determine your link strategy and gather all relevant links. Paste them into your outline or create a separate text doc to put...
Keep reading »

A Different Kind of Feedback

Image
Most of us would agree that feedback is generally a desirable thing and necessary for continuous improvement. Yet there seems to be a whole area of performance that gets ignored due to little or no feedback: internet marketing. If you are ignoring your feedback (in the form of statistics), you’re missing two important things: Without a baseline to measure ongoing performance against, how will you know if you’re getting better or worse? Without feedback about your performance and information about people’s interests, how will you know what to do to improve? Below are some suggestions to help you get the feedback you need. They can all be applied to an enewsletter campaign but certainly have broader applications. Tracking codes Online bulk email applications will have this built in. You can also use services like Bit.ly and other URL shorteners. Within the application you will be able to view overall statistics and trends. Plus you’ll get more useful things, like how m...
Keep reading »

I Want to Start Blogging: Now What?

Image
Think of it like learning to drive a car. You’ll need to learn how to drive and you’ll need a car to drive. Which comes first? Some of the learning… the theory part. You can learn about both driving a car and blogging easily enough online. That theory might consist of strategic information, tactics and instructions. Now, it’s hard to go any further without a vehicle. You can borrow a car from a friend, you can rent one, or you can buy one. Likewise, you have 3 options with blogging: Write guest posts for other people’s blogs. You’ll be limited in what you can share, subject to others’ approval and schedule. This option is quick and easy but unreliable as a long-term strategy. Use Facebook Notes or LinkedIn Pulse to publish your articles. You don’t really own them but you can pretend you do. If you can’t yet afford the effort and cost of getting your own car, err blog, this is a great alternative. You can immediately start putting what you learned into practice. Get a blogg...
Keep reading »

3 Reasons Why Businesses Should Be Podcasting

Image
(guest post by Mike Tanner) To suggest that I’m a big fan of podcasts would be… a bit of an understatement. In addition to being the host of 3.5 podcasts (it’s a long story), I provide podcasting consulting, speak on podcasting panels and once had a dream that I was the host of a potato chip podcast called “Chip Off The Old Block” (That podcast should be coming out in the fall.) I started podcasting because I enjoyed it. But what I’ve discovered about podcasting as it relates to business has left me realizing that I made the absolute right decision when I decided to start broadcasting my thoughts on an audio medium. So here are three reasons why businesses should be podcasting. Passive Advertising I am a big fan of social media advertising. The targeting options available on major platforms are outstanding and things like analytics and retargeting make it a no-brainer to use social to promote your business, whether that’s through the use of paid ads or just a solid soc...
Keep reading »

List Building Using Social Media

Image
Wouldn't you like to be getting a dozen new subscribers every day? I've been doing small business email marketing for a lot of years and have a pretty good idea of what will work and won't. I'm rarely surprised but this week has been the exception - building a list from zero to 68 in five days using social media almost exclusively (no paid advertising). This is even more surprising because the Facebook and Twitter accounts started at zero, too. Now I didn't do this on my own; in fact my part was quite small. I've got two partners, Anita of Twirp Communications and Tina of Lift Communication, and we're launching the Social Media Day Halifax 2018 marketing conference. Here are the success factors that have gained us this great momentum: Synergy : The social media networks that each of us have been building for our businesses and ourselves have paid off in spades when we all started promoting at once.  Messaging and Visual : Taking time to craft c...
Keep reading »

REAL Twitter Users Don't Schedule Tweets

Image
PHOOEY on that, I say! I’m tired of hearing that to use Twitter ‘properly’ you have to be there to have conversations. Apparently some people have no problem being there 16 hours a day. Those are the Twitter divas… the ones who look down their noses at the rest of us who can only spare a half hour a day from our busy schedules to have these deep conversations. They’re also the people who have found a way to make money by being on Twitter. Or they’re unemployed and have nothing better to do with their time? Anyone with a REAL job surely can’t spare all that time. These Twitter divas assume that the rest of us are there for the same reasons they are. And if we’re not, maybe we’re supposed to be somewhere else? See, not everyone I want to connect with is on Twitter during that specific half hour I can spend there every day. Even if I spend 2 half hours, I’m still not going to reach very many people. Let’s get real. How many people can you have deep conversations with in a half hour ...
Keep reading »

Don't Leave Them Wanting More

Image
Whenever you or I read something that we like, often a “What’s next?” comes to mind. I’m frequently cautioning about using calls to action strategically and not having so many that they become distracting. The other end of the spectrum would be not having a call to action at all. When someone is done reading your newsletter, make sure to give them something that answers the “What’s next?” question. Our planning worksheet can help you prioritize your calls-to-action. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

10 Signs this is Your First Newsletter

Image
photo by photosteve101 I'm such a newsletter critic. I think it makes me better at what I do - learning from others' good and bad examples. Here are the things that often stand out during my critiques: You didn't use a bulk email application. This is such a big mistake, it deserves its  own post  to list all the reasons why! You didn't include a  link to subscribe. If your newsletter is good, your readers will share it with their friends. Don’t make those friends have to hunt for your  sign-up form.  Not everyone is tenacious. You used a misleading  subject line. Perhaps you felt that you had to trick people into opening your newsletter. Don’t do this! Readers will feel like they've been duped if you don’t deliver on the promise in your subject line. I see  obvious errors. There are spelling errors and, oops, a hyperlink doesn't work. Always get another set of eyes to check your newsletter. Don’t forge...
Keep reading »