Making that newsletter sing

The marketing newsletter—an effective means of communicating with your customers and prospects or victim of recycling container or the delete key? Here are some tips to help you turn your newsletter into a more effective marketing tool.

Set objectives

What do you want the newsletter to accomplish? Inform your customers and prospects of new products? Serve as a value-added source of technical information? Help your customers more effectively use your products or services? Establish a limited number of objectives, then execute effectively.

Visual appeal

Use color, art, white space, photographs to make your newsletter visually appealing. It should stand out among all the other communications your customers receive. It should be easy to read.

Reader-oriented content

Like your advertising, focus on the information needs of the reader. The newsletter will be read more thoroughly and you will gain credibility and respect.

Keep it short

Most of your readers are inundated with messages every day. No one has time to read everything. If your objectives require lengthy articles, be sure that they provide substantial reward to the reader for taking the time to read them. Brevity in e-mail newsletters is particularly critical. Publish a short summary of the article with a link to the full article.

Distribute it regularly

Repetition reinforces your message, consistency enhances your reputation for reliability, regularity satisfies the reader's demand for information, and frequency
supports your sales organization.

Adapt for the medium

Your printed and mailed version may not directly convert or adapt to your on-line version. Color's cheap on the Web, but 100K graphics chew up reader's valuable time.

Lighten up

Even the most technical newsletter should give the reader a brain break with a lighter anecdote or article.

Seek contributions

From your customers, from other company departments, from field sales. Involvement creates commitment and support. It even massages a few egos.

Proof, proof, proof

Typos and poor grammar cause breakdowns in communications and weaken company image.

With a priority commitment to excellence, your marketing newsletter can become one of the most effective tools in your communications arsenal. Use it wisely!

Michael T. Brandt
March 2003

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Updated:
15-Jul-2003