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08/08/2012
Newsletters are a great way to keep people interested in your brand. They allow you to reach your audience where they are (their email inboxes) as opposed to where you are (your website/social media page/ect.). You can't put a number on that sort of value, especially if people are eagerly anticipating the arrival of your newsletter.
Unfortunately, if your subscribers are like most subscribers, half of them aren't even opening your newsletters. Many of the ones that do are just skimming for key information, and then going on with their busy day. That leaves only a minor percentage that are actually reading them, top to bottom. If you're using newsletters to keep people interested in your brand, you need to do better than that.
So, how do you create a newsletter that people can't wait to read? Offer more than just useful information. Tell a story. Add in some entertainment. Get creative. Give your readers something that they just can't find anywhere else.
Talk to your reader. Keep a positive, upbeat style, and don't take your topic too seriously. If people were looking for specific facts only, they could search Google. When you send out a newsletter, you're being invited into their homes (inboxes). Make sure they want to invite you back.
Entertain your readers. Create a niche-specific comic, and feature a new mini-story in each newsletter. This doesn't take any impressive artistic skills; you just need a sense of humor, a bit of imagination, and the ability to draw stick figures. Include a humorous anecdote or a funny quote that relates to the rest of your newsletter. Give people something to look forward to at the end of your emails that isn't available on your website.
If humor isn't your area, you might want to offer something else that makes your newsletter worth opening. Offer results of some recent research or a breakdown of the most important news in your niche. If you offer web design advice, and there's a new plug-in or feature that people are excited about, be sure to mention it. It's easier to read one newsletter to catch up on the big news than it is to track information down across the internet. Offer your readers an easy way to keep up to date. It'll keep them coming back for more.
The purpose of a regular newsletter is to remind people of who you are and what you offer. To do that, you don't need people to open up your email and then rush off to order something (although, that's good too). What you need is something that people look forward to receiving. It keeps your business in their thoughts. Then, when they are ready to make that purchase, your website will be the first place they go.
Do you subscribe to a newsletter that you just can't wait to read? In what way does that newsletter stand out from the other newsletters you receive?
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