An online newsletter is the perfect way for a company to increase its brand awareness. Customers receive this online marketing tool on a regular basis and are thus confronted over and over again with the products or services a company has to offer. A newsletter can also help a company’s image and reputation with existing customers and prospects. In short: it’s a great and effective online marketing tool.
A Successful Online Marketing Tool
Writing a newsletter can be a successful online marketing tool. The internet provides companies with thousands of addresses of potential clients who are only a click away. Marketing by email has become very popular over the last few years. Companies who send their newsletter by email can reach thousands of people all at once. With the right images, teasers and articles, a newsletter can boost business like no other marketing tool.
Marketing by Email
When writing a newsletter it is important to create a solid content that will grab reader’s attention and that will incite them to take action; for instance giving the company a call for additional information or surfing to their website.
What can be included when writing a newsletter? The list below gives some ideas that work, but remember not to give everything away in the newsletter. Keep some exiting news or information out of the newsletter and provide a link to the website where they can find this information. Marketing by email works differently than marketing by mail: people don’t like to read big chunks of texts and they like looking at pictures. It’s thus wise to keep it fresh, short, to the point and inspiring!
Newsletter for customers
• free tips and advice
• product/service of the month
• future events, seminars, workshops
• interviews
• ‘how to’ articles (for instance: how to decorate your living room)
• customer of the month
• book reviews
• awards or prizes
Internal newsletter
• company news
• company figures
• introduction of new employees
• reports about team buildings, sales meetings, trade fairs...
• interview with an employee (for instance: a day in the life of our Sales Manager)
• general tips of employees (books, restaurants, events...)
• new products/services
Writing a Newsletter Regularly
There is no point in writing a newsletter only once. In order for the newsletter to be a successful online marketing tool, it needs to become a constant in people’s lives. Decide how many times a year the newsletter will be published and stick to it. It’s easy to get tied up with other tasks and neglect the newsletter, but try to publish as much as planned. Otherwise, the newsletter will lose its effectiveness. Publishing 4 to 6 times a year is a good idea.
Of course it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. Don’t send out a newsletter every week because this will cause customers to get annoyed by the amount of mail they receive from your company. Make sure you balance your publications well.
A Professional Newsletter Scores
Make sure that your newsletter contains no mistakes. Also double-check the spelling of people’s names and contact information. Neglecting to do this, will not result in a professional looking newsletter and this can affect the reputation of a company in a negative way. Creating a newsletter does not need to take a big chunk out of the company’s budget, but just make sure it looks professional and contains no typos. Look at the newsletter as an investment in the future of the company.
A Newsletter as an Effective Marketing Tool
A newsletter can be an effective online marketing tool. It can reach thousands of people all at once who might be interesting in buying the products or using the services from the company that sent the letter. Don’t make the newsletter too long and include pictures or people will easily lose interest. Try to publish the newsletter on regular times and make sure it contains no typos.
Further reading:
BLY, Robert W. The Copywriter’s Handbook. New York, 2005.
