E-newsletters are a great way to form and maintain relationships with your customers and prospects. You get to show your expertise in a way that fosters confidence in your company. Great newsletter content will encourage your readers to take action – call you for more info, book an appointment or visit your Web site – whatever action you tell them to do.



E-newsletters are gaining in popularity because they reduce newsletter printing budgets. You should still print some newsletters for customers that walk into your store, though, so you do not alienate those that do not want to give out their email addresses. You also will not waste paper, which is important these days when everyone is into being “green” – doing good for the environment.

To make a successful newsletter that people want to read, you must include relevant and interesting information in each one. If you do not know what to include other than information about your business (which will eventually be a real snooze-fest), read on:

Feature a FAQ or Q&A section. Ask readers to submit questions, which you will answer in the next e-newsletter. Select questions that are pertinent to all of your readers.

Expand on the Q&A idea by writing articles on topics that are frequently asked about. You are an expert in your industry, and a newsletter is the perfect chance to share your wisdom with your readers. If you are always asked certain questions that are too long for a Q&A format, consider writing an entire article based on the answer. Do not include the question, just write about the answer. The answer could be a solution to picking the healthiest dog food or how to prevent food stains in clothes. Offer a bit of free advice in each e-newsletter so people will build their trust in you and will see you as an expert.

People like to buy from experts!

Share other customers' success stories. You can either focus on stories that show how your business helped out a customer, or you can just profile one of your customers. Either option will help your company become more relatable and personable – you show you care about your customers by either how you helped, or just by acknowledging them with their own feature story.

Interview other experts. Highlight other pros who offer services or products complementary to yours. Make sure this content is related to your business and is relevant to readers. For example, a pet day care facility could interview a vet who gives tips on hot-weather health for pets.

Inject some fun facts. Include some trivia or interesting facts that are relevant to your industry or the regional area your business serves. You could even turn this into a monthly contest – ask a fun fact question and invite readers to email you with their answers. The prize could be a free product.

Talk about current events. Cover an event or news item that the media is covering and try to tie that into your business. High gas prices, election news and upcoming holidays are all topics that are ripe for discussion.

Include an online survey link in your next e-newsletter asking readers what kind of info they would like to see. Give respondents options of topics, and give them the chance to write-in topics. If they favor one of your given topics over others, include more stories about that topic. You will probably get story ideas you never would have thought of!

To know whether your newsletter is successful, keep track of your newsletter statistics. How many people opened your email and what did they click on? An interesting and relevant newsletter can be one of your most successful marketing tools.