FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
Now, you are almost ready to start to go into production of your very first newsletter. But there are still some practicalities for you to take on board. After all, preparation can be king, so plan carefully to get the maximum exposure and success from your newsletter.
Timing:
The timing of your newsletter can be critical. Good times to send out a newsletter are when things are a little slow and when you have the capacity to deal with any customer feedback or queries that arise from your newsletter. But there are lots of bad times to send out a newsletter as well. This list is not exhaustive, but covers the worst times for you to launch a newsletter onto your customers:
· Immediately before a busy holiday time, such as Thanksgiving or Christmas. Customers will be busy with preparations, perhaps they will be traveling to spend time with their families, and they will simply not have the time or the inclination to read your newsletter. · During a time when your business is very busy. You will generate some interest from your newsletter. But imagine how your customers will feel if they take the time and trouble to contact you after they have received a newsletter, but you are too busy to reply to them. Does this generate a trusting relationship? No, it certainly does not, and people will simply feel that you cannot be bothered to follow through on your newsletter, and you will simply lose business as a result. · Mondays are always very busy. No matter what planning and careful preparations everyone made on Friday, upon returning to work on Monday, everything seems to have just gone silly. Even if your customers are ordering from home, if they work, then they will come home tired on Monday night. Will they be likely to read your newsletter? No, they will simply let it languish in their inbox.
So there are definitely times that are better suited to sending an email out. These are generally:
· Midweek, when things tend not to be too hectic. · When you have the staff available to deal with any feedback or any questions that people want to ask, or, perhaps most important of all, when you have the staff and the resources to deal with the increased sales that will arise from your newsletter.
It is important that you plan ahead for the year. If you think that you will send out a newsletter quarterly, then look at the peak times of your business, look at when holidays are due, and then pick the optimum dates to send out your newsletter!
Give something for nothing:
One great way that you can dramatically increase interest in newsletters is to have some kind of free ‘giveaway’ on your official website. This could be a little e-book, a collection of tips, or even something that is not obviously connected with your business. Usually, an e-book is the most successful because it is something that is not too expensive for you to produce, and once you have the e-book (with circulation rights), then you have no further costs.
Then all you have to do is to offer to give this e-book away, but when people come to sign up to get their freebie gift, then you can get them to sign up for your newsletter.
People usually love the idea of getting something for free, so you will generate a lot of interest in this way, and it need not cost you a fortune.
Learn from reading good newsletters:
Possibly the most practical way that you can learn how to write a good quality newsletter is through signing up to a few before you actually publish your own. In that way, you will be able to see what works and what doesn’t. Find out from real experience what you find to be a turnoff and what elicits your attention when you read the newsletters. This is important; after all, you wouldn’t start to write a newspaper or a magazine without reading a few first, would you? So treat your newsletter with the same kind of respect.
Read a few, get a feel for what is required, and your task will quite simply be so much easier! In particular, pay close attention to the style and formats you like and then try to recreate these in your newsletter. It can also be interesting to see what kind of graphics are used and how these complement the written words. You may even like to make a note of the kinds of fonts that are used and how these help to create a professional style!
Your newsletter is not an email attachment:
If you send out your newsletter as an email attachment, then you will be destined for failure. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have a tendency to block any emails with large attachments, since they think they are spam or a virus. So be sure to send out the newsletter as it is, not as an email attachment.
Good Luck!
You don’t actually need anyone to wish you luck now on the subject of writing your first newsletter. You have all the tips, tools, and knowledge that you need, so simply enjoy the increased sales that your newsletters will bring, and perhaps more importantly, enjoy the continued success!
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