8 Tips for Effective Newsletters

Newsletters are a great way to keep in touch with clients and to keep your name fresh in their minds. A good newsletter also builds credibility, image, and relationships. Follow these 8 guidelines to have an enjoyable newsletter for your clients.

1. Have a Plan

Your newsletter should have a purpose. Set objectives and have a defined audience. These will help you frame the type of material to include.

2. Stick to a Schedule

Decide how often the newsletter should be published. Be realistic. It’s better to increase the number of issues than to decrease it. It is wise to begin with a quarterly or bimonthly piece.

Stick to the schedule you’ve decided on. Set deadlines and make sure you hit them. Give yourself some cushion time just in case. After just a few issues, your audience will start to expect and look forward to your piece.

3. Choose Your Offering

There are two ways to produce a newsletter. You can produce it yourself, or you can hire professionals to do it for you. Doing it yourself of course gives you more direct control over content, but also takes up more of your time. You will need to balance the benefits of time saved using professional quality writing against costs.

4. Gather Information

If you are producing your own content, there are numerous sources for material. Solicit information from customers, suppliers, consultants, and employees. Look in business, trade, professional, and government publications.

5. Have Relevant Information

Don’t waste your clients’ time with puffed-up sales hype. Include useful facts and advice that will help your clients be well-informed consumers.

Things to include: case studies on clients using your product or service (get their permission first), trends in the industry, new product/service information, quizzes, humor or cartoons, quotes, quick tips and information on how to obtain a free consultation or more information.

6. Stimulate Feedback

The newsletter is a one-way communication tool. It is important to stimulate feedback to help make the piece more useful. Write about items that require people to call you for more details. Offer free advice. Make it easy for them to respond. Have an 800 number to call, an easy to use fax form, or e-mail and web addresses.

7. Keep It Friendly and Brief

Your writing style should be personal and relaxed. Keep stories short at less than half a page each. If the reading is easy and enjoyable, your customers will read the newsletter.

8. Make It Mandatory

Make sure any staff members read the newsletter. They need to be current with any information written, especially when customers may call for more information.

Newsletters are most successful when they offer practical information. They should not be viewed as advertising pieces. Keep the newsletter’s purpose in mind: building your image and causing people to want to work with you.

At Mail Print, we have several types of newsletters so you can decide the amount of time you want to devote to your newsletter. Our bimonthly Home Talk newsletters have an eye-catching design and content focused on home maintenance and beautification. We also have many newsletter templates that allow you to insert your own text for more involved newsletters. Please give us a call at 1.800.660.0108 for samples or more information.

Gina