How to Create an Effective Newsletter Strategy in 11 Easy Steps
Make sure your brand’s newsletters don’t end up in the dreaded DELETED folders of your subscribers.
Creating an effective newsletter strategy is a crucial aspect of every brand’s digital content marketing strategy. Long gone are the days of “spray away and pray for the best” when it comes to indiscriminately disseminating newsletters to those on your email list. Building a brag-worthy subscribers list for your brand is an admirable feat – and not an easy one. Don’t blow it by bombarding the inboxes of your busy subscribers with subpar pieces of content. Here’s how to do it the right way.
- Get Your KPIs in Order
KPIs (Key Performing Indicators) help determine what your goal is each time you send out a newsletter. Getting straight with your brand-building goals may take a little soul-searching in the creative department, but once you know exactly what you’re seeking to achieve when sending out each newsletter, you’ll pave a much clearer path ahead. Remember, you will have different objectives for different newsletters, so it will be important to set up a newsletter management system once you get rolling, but more on that in the last step.
- Who Do You Want Reading Your Newsletters?
Who is your target audience? Whose attention do you wish to capture when sending out a newsletter? Be as specific as possible. Also, know exactly what your audience wants to receive more of from you by simply asking them. Surveys are a great place to start.
- What Does Each Newsletter Contain? (Hint: Be Specific)
Craft newsletter content that is clever, compelling, concise, and indispensable. Tips, tricks, helpful hints, visuals, embedded videos/podcasts, and other eye-catching content is sure to inspire your base to keep sharing your stuff, further building your audience and boosting your ROI.
- Be Predictable
Decide on a newsletter send-off schedule and stick to it. Establishing a consistent pattern fosters trust, expectancy, and excitement around receiving your content.
- Master the Art of A/B Testing
Just like with all other areas of marketing, whether traditional, digital, or social, you’re most likely going to need to test out different strategies to see what works and what doesn’t. Always have multiple options for email subject lines, headings, CTAs, visuals, layout, etc., to test out.
- Grow Your Subscriber List
As mentioned earlier, ask your followers on social what they want to see more of. Trust us, they’ll be more than happy to engage with you and even happier to spread the word about your brand if you follow through and deliver the goods.
- Cross-Market/Pollinate
Expand your email database by cross-promoting your content (specifically newsletter content) across multiple social platforms, i.e., Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. And, don’t forget your website! Conversely, don’t forget to include the recognizable icon links to all your socials in your newsletter, so your subscribers can easily find and follow you in other places. Remember, successful digital marketing encompasses a diverse strategy of all areas, i.e., social, newsletter, website, podcasting, etc.
- Make it Personal
When crafting your newsletters, speak directly to the reader, as if they’re the only ones receiving your emails. Address their concerns and offer honest, effective solutions. Imagine writing to your best friend. What would you say? What would be your tone?
- Variety is the Spice of Life
Avoid getting into a routine as far as the types of content you’re crafting and distributing to the masses. Don’t keep the same type of content on repeat. Mix it up a bit. Break up the monotony with unexpected, fresh pieces of content your audience will look forward to feasting their eyes upon – and sharing!
- Make Your Newsletters Mobile-friendly
To avoid low click-through rates, optimize newsletter content to be readable from mobile devices and tablets. If a reader is unable to read the newest newsletter you worked so hard on, they’ll just send it to the TRASH bin. You want to make everything as effortless as possible for someone who has the potential to click the BUY button.
- Set Up Your Newsletter Campaigns with a Professional, Trusted Software Service
Once you’ve laid the groundwork for your email newsletter strategy, including your objectives, targeted audience, frequency, formats, etc., you’ll want to design, create, and manage all your newsletter campaigns with a trusted online software service that protects the integrity of your data. MailChimp is a widely popular, email newsletter site that provides a wide range of templates, user-friendly tools to design accompanying graphics/visuals, and offers analytical tools to measure A/B testing, measure surveys, and much more – all under one virtual roof. From your newsletters’ content creation to scheduling send-offs, MailChimp offers both free and paid options to fit your brand’s needs and budget.
Closing Comments
Follow these easy eleven steps to crafting a concise and compelling newsletter strategy that ensures your email content gets reads every time. Pro tip: newsletters should offer a little, something extra to your loyal subscribers without the constant product-pushing. Try coming from a helpful, “no strings attached” angle that aims to focus on offering useful and informative content that surrounds your product or service without the hard CTAs. An effective newsletter strategy will seek to build audience engagement and retain existing customers without ever coming across as pushy, annoying, or useless.