The basics of newsletter marketing . . .



An email newsletter is nothing but an electronic version of traditional newsletters, albeit with far lesser production and distribution costs. Email newsletters are not only a fantastic method to disseminate information but also serve as a great marketing tool. Along with other forms of internet marketing, newsletters help level the playing field between big companies with big marketing budgets and smaller start-ups or local businesses.

The first step to successful newsletter marketing is to build an email database of existing and potential customers. Use all your marketing efforts to solicit user email addresses for subscriptions. Ensure protection of their personal details via your privacy policy and also allow them the option of unsubscribing.

Once you have a good sized database, start targeting members with periodical newsletters that provide relevant and informative content. Most of us disregard the newsletters we receive in the email. Hence to be actually read or shared, your newsletter has to be eye catching in design and creative in the way it is written. Hire professionals to design the layout so that your newsletter is on par with those designed by professional marketing houses for larger businesses. Always end each newsletter with a preview of what readers can expect in the next edition. Basically, get your readers hooked on to your content because there is proven research to show that readers might convert into buyers after four or five contacts.

Also make efforts to constantly improve your newsletter, both in terms of design and content. Measure key statistics like click through rate, open time, time spent on reading the newsletter, forwarding rates, etc. This will give you a better understanding of what is working and what is not and then tweak the latter to gain better efficiency. Also try and engage users actively by allowing them to write in suggestions or including their comments as a part of the newsletter. With time, and an increased subscriber base, you can even contemplate creating separate newsletters based on content genres so that you can offer your users material that is even more targeted to their preferences.

You may also provide members the option of subscribing to an RSS feed of your website. When proper permissions have been taken, most users enjoy receiving free content that they potentially benefit from. In the end, the repeated contact with your customer base will gradually convert into direct sales or sales leads. At the very least, it will remind your customers regularly of your existence and will maintain your position as a 'top of mind' brand within your business category.