Optimising your company’s newsletter is one of the most underrated but effective ways to build a relationship with your audience. Your engagement acts as a platform to increase your company awareness, position your brand and build your contact list.
But how do you ensure that you are maximising the potential to get the most exposure for your content while creating the greatest connection with your audience?
Here are four things to keep in mind when writing a top-notch newsletter:
1. Understand who will be reading your newsletter
How well do you know the audience you are trying to reach? This may sound like a silly question to consider but asking it can allow you to garner deep insights into the behaviour of your readers.
June Klepic, digital strategist at Huffington Post, says “Today’s consumers have changed dramatically in how they choose to work with the companies and brands they patronise.”
Ask yourself these questions:
- Is the content relevant to my audience?
- Does the content provide real value to my audience?
- Will my audience be able to engage with the content? And if so, how will they go about this?
media update top tip: You can learn more about your audience with useful tools, such as Google Analytics, to gauge what type of stories your readers are interested in.
A consumer-centric approach to your newsletter means understanding the information that your readers want and how they want to share it. Each time you publish a newsletter, you have an opportunity to reposition your company; to create awareness and to forge relationships with your audience.
2. Your newsletter needs a distinctive theme
What are you trying to deliver? Is your newsletter serious? Factual? Entertaining? Informative? The overall theme of your newsletter can be wrapped up by deciding on its true purpose. This will lend itself to steering core content, creating tone and establishing consistency.
Enhancing the consistency of your newsletter can be done by answering these questions:
- Does the content match the main mission, vision or values of the company?
- How consistent is the tone of voice?
- Do the design and the content reflect a harmonious identity?
media update top tip: Think about the kind if content your audience wants to read about. Then write that kind of content.
A clearly cohesive newsletter will create a good impression of your company in the mind of your reader. But, this can only be done by executing your theme to the same standard every time.
3. Make the design of your newsletter work for you
How can the look and feel of your newsletter enhance your message? The design acts as a direct reflection of your company’s image. “Design is thinking made visual,” says world-renowned graphic designer, Saul Bass. This is what you want your audience to know about your company without using any words.
Make most of your newsletter design by asking yourself:
- Is the layout simple to follow?
- Do I make use of the brand’s colours, fonts, logo and graphics?
- Is there a clear hierarchy of stories?
media update top tip: Remember to highlight your top stories in a way that makes them stand out – with high quality images and catchy headlines.
A thoughtfully designed newsletter allows you to present your content in a visually clear and intuitive path for your audience to chase, making the overall experience more impactful.
4. Choose a newsletter schedule that works for your audience
How often will you send your newsletter to your audience? Before you can answer that, consider how often your audience wants to read it.
In his article Daily, weekly or monthly: How to find the frequency that fits, Kris Sakaluk says, “Too often, we play the guessing game when it comes to our email efforts.
Rather than blasting out newsletters to a long list of subscribers, marketers need to understand the benefits of looking at consumer preferences.”
Understanding your readers’ preferences is vital in determining how often to publish your newsletter. Ask yourself:
- Do I give my readers a choice on how often I engage with them?
- Can they change their mind about how often they receive content?
- Is my audience engaging positively with the content?
media update top tip: Remember, it’s easier to decide what to put in your newsletter when you look at which content has performed the best. Only pick stories that have received the highest level of engagement, the most reads and that are the most topical.
An attempt to understand when and how to make your content available to your audience will reduce over- or under-mailing and ensure that you’re getting the most positive response for your well-crafted newsletter.
Creating content that your audience actually wants to read and share is vital to your company. Want to know why? Read our article, How original content and fresh angles drive audience growth.