Email newsletters & internet marketing
Email newsletters offer the most targeted form of marketing available and this has been proven by numerous studies and research. They are the most important tool to supplement your website.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/newsletters.html
- Newsletters provide a link with your customer
- They establish a relationship
- The information arrives in your clients inbox and (hopefully) contains news or information that is of interest to them
- It doesn’t disappear until the user physically deletes or files it.
Guidelines
There are a number of guidelines that you should follow when creating a newsletter as information overload continues to rise. For example the rise in unread emails from 2006 to 2010 was 300%, but don’t be deterred.
- Number one on the Must-Do list is to ensure that you have a clear “from” line and a clear “subject” line otherwise it will hit the bin.
- Second is a strong message preview because this is often all your client will read.
- Your best or most relevant content should be at the beginning of the newsletter and phrased in the classic newspaper pyramid style.
Inverted Pyramid Style
Start with the conclusion, give examples and conclude with a discussion. Journalists have long used this technique of telling the reader the conclusion, followed by the most important supporting information and concluding with the background. It is important for you clients because in a time-poor environment they can get what they want fast and move on, or continue reading for more information.
Social Media
Whilst the social media platforms can drive users to your site and generate interest, an email newsletters goes into the clients inbox and stays there. Unlike social media sites that replace old postings with new ones the email is always retrievable.
One last point. Your newsletter subscribers are usually your loyal customers (or friends and family), so it’s important to treat them well and to listen to what they want.
Number of Words
It is best to:
- keep to a limit of 50 words to summarise each article
- limit the number of articles to as few as two or three
- if you’re just doing one article, you can afford to go more along the lines of 250-300 words.
