How To Create Marketing Newsletters People Will Actually Read
Amongst marketers, there is a consensus when talking about the distraught feeling of when so much effort and time is put into a piece of work, only for it to be put in the bin or not even looked at for more than a second. Marketers would much rather have bad reviews than no reviews, implying that their piece of work acknowledged.
If the thought that marketing newsletter aren’t important, well- reconsider. Marketing newsletters are great for readers, updating them on current trends and announcements, promotions or any tips and tricks. Allowing marketers to focus on niche content, further enhancing engagement and knowledge of viewers.
However, the content isn’t the issue- well, sometimes. It’s jumping over the hurdle of viewership, what drives a person to want to open and read a newsletter once they received it.
What is a Marketing Newsletter?
Marketing Newsletters are ways companies distribute information and product-oriented content via e-mail, this is comprised of existing customers, subscribers or those that would be interested.
The focal point is to continue educating and updating consumers, by providing entertaining and engaging content, which compels them to further read.
First things First…
Before I get into ways to make effective marketing newsletters, hear me out. Let’s be honest, a lot of marketing newsletters are simply not engaging… boring if you want to phrase it bluntly.
What exactly makes marketing newsletters join the long list of unopened emails?
Most marketers forget the newsletter is not a diary, going from one topic to another, and even if it is just about the one topic, it’s way too long. In other words, GET TO THE POINT.
The newsletter should be fun, insightful, engaging, and spontaneous, not, well- anything except for those four. Trying to balance too many things at once never work out, even if you are the great marketer of all time.
Don’t be afraid to spice it up, make the newsletter as carefree and enjoyable as possible. Remember, you are demanding for the viewers time and effort, the least you can do is make it worth every minute of their time.
Finding your niche
When writing your marketing newsletter, what is the one important thing you are trying to give to the reader? What do you want them taking away from the newsletter?
The desire to delve deep about the intricate details behind a product is known, but people don’t simply have time for that. The average attention span of a person ranges from 8-10 seconds, so if you can’t grab the reader’s attention within that time, I think we all know how that goes.
A great way to find your niche is ensuring your content is relevant, ensuring you’re incentivizing the viewer for reading from start to finish. Speaking of incentives, we’ll go into that very soon.
It really comes to this, what message are you trying to convey, how does a new or existing customer benefit from this, and what can they do with this new piece of information… it’s as simple as that.
Consumer Value
Marketing newsletters are great for consumers who want to remain updated on relevant news, or products. It’s a great way to expand and personally reach a larger audience. They’re a great way to put a company’s flare into the text, showing the effort to detail and desire to inform the consumer.
As previously mentioned, most people just type up a page of nonsense that ends up in the rubbish, correct? These letters provide no value to the consumer, and even if they did, you failed to intrigue the consumer.
Demonstrate the reasoning behind creating the newsletter- why you decided to send the mail to them personally, what you want to achieve out of this. It may not be the best, but anybody can appreciate the value behind anything that’s personalized just for them.
Format
Remember who your audience is, if the demographic is of much older age, then don’t put in hundreds of Gifs and colors in the middle of your text, you’re appealing to nobody.
A key balance between humor, formality and just the right amount of color will do you justice. If you are going thoroughly into a product or other related news, remember to break it up, make it as easy of a read as possible
Mobile Formatting
There is no excuse as a marketer to not be aware of mobile phone web traffic, however, if you don’t know, that number is nearly reaching 90%.
Ensuring your newsletter is accessible on multiple devices, predominately mobile phones is a MUST if you want to increase viewership.
Call-to-Action (CTA)
You ever heard the saying don’t put all your eggs in one basket? Remember, you have already done a great deal of work creating a newsletter for the viewer. Give them a reason to sit on the edge of the seat, something to further investigate.
Using a CTA at the end of the newsletter is a great way to achieve this. Not only has the viewer gained what they needed but prompt them to go explore more products/services on the site.
Remember the incentives we mentioned? Another great way to generate more traffic, offer a discount or early access code for new-line products. In doing so, you have managed to inform the viewer around a topic, encourage them to go into the site rewarding them with something intangible. There is 100% the next marketing newsletter you publish and send out, they will have never of clicked on an email faster in their lives (Don’t be afraid to tease).
All in all, if you want your marketing newsletter to be read by people, then you need to reconsider quite a bit. Remember to keep your newsletter centralized around a theme, keeping it concise, fun, and spontaneous. In addition to this, incentivize the viewer for reading the letter- with both discounts and knowledge.
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