| If your newsletter, like mine, is an | | | | interests and points of view and needs for |
| important piece of your marketing plan, I | | | | information. It's fine to give some tips or |
| encourage you to give it the time and money | | | | advice, but get some human interest in there |
| it requires, because I know it will get read. | | | | too. Report on an interesting recent event in |
| Your readers will comment on it and, when you | | | | your personal life, or offer an opportunity |
| offer an item for sale, they'll place orders. | | | | for your readers to engage with you, perhaps |
| | | | enjoy a discount or enter a fun contest. |
| Now, my business is very small, and my | | | | Offer several "flavors" in each issue. |
| mailing list has not yet reached 200. The | | | | |
| advice I'm offering is not for large | | | | 6. Use color photos! Not clip art. Or at |
| companies that print 1,000 or more | | | | least use a combination of the two. Take |
| newsletters and have them mailed by an | | | | pictures of your customers' grand openings or |
| administrative assistant who doesn't know | | | | successful installations of your equipment. |
| half the people who will be reading them. | | | | Feature casual photos of your staff at work, |
| This advice is for the small business owner | | | | or picture a recent fund raiser for charity |
| wanting to deepen relationships and create | | | | or your latest representation in a trade |
| some buzz around a young, growing business. I | | | | show. Pepper your page with interesting |
| take time with my newsletter and treat it | | | | photos, not just text or a mixture of text |
| with respect, and I always follow these ten | | | | and clip art. |
| rules: | | | | |
| | | | 7. Create a document that is both readable |
| 1. Keep the publication schedule fluid. Send | | | | and appealing. Avoid goofy fonts that call |
| a newsletter when you have something to say. | | | | attention to themselves or are hard to |
| Don't lock yourself into a monthly or | | | | decipher. Keep your layout clean and neat, |
| quarterly publication schedule and then | | | | with some white space. Jazz it up with line |
| scrounge to find newsworthy material to fill | | | | and color-and those important photographs! |
| the space. Sometimes I mail a newsletter two | | | | |
| months in a row; other times I have a gap of | | | | 8. Copy in color! And on decent paper! The |
| three to four months between issues. Do you | | | | finished product must look and feel appealing |
| think our readers keep track? I don't. | | | | if it is going to be read. Find a printer who |
| | | | will provide clear, clean copies with good |
| 2. Send it by snail mail, not email. An | | | | photo resolution and color reproduction at an |
| e-newsletter can (and will) be deleted in one | | | | affordable price. You might consider saving |
| mouse click, perhaps read first, more likely | | | | money by printing the front in full color and |
| skimmed, very possibly ignored because this | | | | the back in black and white, but don't cave |
| is not the right moment to stop and view an | | | | in to all black-and-white copy. It's just too |
| e-newsletter. A paper copy, though, if not | | | | dull. |
| read immediately, will hang around, waiting | | | | |
| to be read. You'll see your newsletter on a | | | | 9. Personalize every copy-by name. I leave a |
| friend or client's desk. Sometimes, during a | | | | bit of space (truly just a bit) for a |
| phone conversation, an individual will say, | | | | handwritten message, and every newsletter |
| "I've got your newsletter right here in front | | | | gets a few words from my pen, even if it's as |
| of me." The difference in delivery method | | | | simple as, "Just keeping in touch, Chris." If |
| represents a huge difference in cost; I think | | | | you're not going to make it personal, it's |
| it's worth it. | | | | not worth the paper and ink you've paid for, |
| | | | and it's surely not worth the next and final |
| 3. Change your newsletter every time. Tinker | | | | tip. Read on. |
| with the layout, even just a little, but | | | | |
| especially change up the content. Again, | | | | 10. Send it in an envelope-First Class. What |
| don't lock yourself into a book review each | | | | percentage of the mail you receive these days |
| time or a recipe corner or "Ten Tips of the | | | | comes to you in a sealed, First Class |
| Trade," because you might not have anything | | | | envelope? Not much, if your postal mail is |
| really powerful to fill that particular space | | | | anything like mine has become over recent |
| next time. Besides, the routine gets old-hat | | | | years. And how many pieces of First Class |
| after awhile. Present the news of your | | | | mail do you open in a month (in a year... in |
| business, however it might play out in this | | | | a lifetime!) that have all of these |
| particular issue. Don't worry about | | | | qualities: |
| standardizing it. (Even if you use a | | | | |
| template, which I do not, change the material | | | | - Attractive, appealing and readable material |
| substantially.) | | | | |
| | | | - Offering interesting, useful or |
| 4. Make your newsletter a celebration, not a | | | | entertaining reading |
| sermon or warning or reference guide. | | | | |
| Showcase your customers and clients. Focus | | | | - Bearing a handwritten message to you, |
| the spotlight on members of the constituency | | | | personally, from the sender? |
| that will be reading the mailing. In that way | | | | |
| you build anticipation: Who will be in the | | | | Do you see now why my newsletter is special |
| spotlight next time? Might it even be me or | | | | to the 150 readers who receive it? There's |
| my business? | | | | nothing else like it in their pile of |
| | | | mail-ever! Follow my ten self-imposed "rules" |
| 5. Vary the material in each issue, not just | | | | and you too can send out a newsletter that |
| from issue to issue. Appeal to divergent | | | | gets read and even anticipated. |