An email newsletter can be a great way to stay in touch with prospects and clients. However, many of the newsletters I receive from professional services firms do little more than make we want to click the unsubscribe link. I don’t care that you hired a new vice president. Stop clogging up my inbox with “corporate announcements.”
Instead, follow these nine email newsletter tips to get the most out of your email efforts:
1. It’s about your prospects, not you. Stop including press releases about your new service launch or merger. Instead provide content that your clients and prospects care about, such as tips, articles, blog posts, or tools related to your service that can help them with their jobs and position you as an expert resource. If you are writing about this subject, you must know what you’re talking about. Save the “about us” content for internal email announcements to your company.
2. Publish regularly. A newsletter can be part of your ongoing touch plan. It keeps you top of mind with your prospects and clients. Commit to publishing on a regular basis. Monthly is a good frequency to start with.
Wellesley Hills Group's newsletter format
3. Promote sharing. Include an easy way for recipients to “forward to a friend.” Include buttons so readers can quickly share the content on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, delicious, stumbleupon, digg, etc. This will help you reach prospects you might not have been able to otherwise.
4. Hook the reader with killer headlines. The headline is the hook. If you don’t grab readers’ attention with your headlines (the subject line of the email and the headlines on the content pieces), your newsletter will end up in the trash. Don’t go with the first headline you think of. Brainstorm ideas and bounce them off people.
There are many headline writing tips and resources out there. (One of my favorites is 9 Proven Headline Formulas
That Sell Like Crazy from Copyblogger). Use them to create headlines that pop.
5. Tell them what’s in the newsletter. Include a table of contents / what’s in each issue near the top of the newsletter. This will promote scrolling and multiple clicks on the various pieces of content in the email.
6. Include a news section (this news is not what you think). This is NOT the section where you include an announcement about the vice president you hired or a new service. This is where you can build your authority by featuring articles you’ve published, upcoming conferences and events you’re speaking at, publications you’ve been quoted in, etc. This builds credibility through third-party testimony, showing how others look to you as an expert.
7. Don’t forget your contact information. I can’t tell you how many email newsletters I receive that don’t include basic contact information—email address and phone number. I’m forced to go to their website and search for it. Make it easy for prospects and clients to respond and contact you. Provide links to where you are active on social media.
8. Mix up the content with multimedia. Mix up the format of your content by adding audio, video, interactive diagrams, and PowerPoint presentations to your repertoire. This type of multimedia content is more engaging and perceived as more valuable.
9. Insert multiple links. The goal is to get people to click through to your website to read the content. Make it easy for them to do so by including multiple links throughout the newsletter. Link the headline of the content, include a short description, and include a link to read more. And if you include graphics such as photos and charts, link those to the content on your website.
Follow these nine email newsletter tips and rather than having prospects and clients clicking unsubscribe, you’ll get them clicking “contact us.”
