No Love from your Newsletter? Here's Why


"My newsletter isn't doing anything for me."

Over the years I've heard many different versions of this same sentiment, usually accompanied by a big sigh. A month or so later, the newsletters stop.

A newsletter does not make a marketing plan. And sending out a newsletter is only a small part of a content marketing strategy. To be successful, there are other related things you need to be doing.

Here's a checklist to help you identify what actions to take to improve your results. If you're not doing these things, that's why success is eluding you.
  • Have a sign-up form on a landing page you can promote (i.e. with its own url) so you can actually get complete strangers as new subscribers.
  • Promote your newsletter on social media, your blog, your website and everywhere else, including not online. If you don't actively build your list, it will stagnate.
  • Actively share your newsletter issues on social media multiple times to extend your readership beyond your current subscribers.
  • Look at your statistics to see what people are clicking on. Pay attention to comments and shares on social media. Include more of whatever is working to get more engagement.
  • Have a blog and post your newsletter articles there. This is a good idea for many reasons - all will get you read more.
  • Keep refreshing your website content. Make sure all of the information, such as events, is current. Change the content so people have a reason to go there again.
  • Include more links in your newsletter to get more people to that awesome website you just updated. There's a simple relationship: more links = more clicks.
Instead of giving up on your newsletter, find one thing in the list that you're not doing and start it. Once you have that in place, come back here and pick something else to implement. Before long, you'll be feeling the love. Here's a recent story from a client:
I'm starting a new class. The one female in the class told me her father sends my articles to her all the time. He owns an IT company and he was encouraging her to get her PMP certification. He wrote to her last week with my newsletter and said, "FYI - Brenda is here next week." She wrote him back and said, "I'm already registered for the course." The power of newsletters!
There is a lot to be gained from an effective email campaign, including fans like this. Don't give up before you've fully implemented the strategy.

photo by Peter Hellberg / Flickr

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