How to Write a Great Newsletter
Communicating with your customers and potential customers is important. Email newsletters are a great way to do just that. But more often than not, people will open those newsletters and not actually read them.
This means that all of that content that you worked hard to create is ignored and doesn’t help further your business goals. Getting people to read the newsletter is the missing link. Newsletters help people stay connected to your brand and give your brand a platform to speak from.
There are a few tips and tricks to creating a newsletter that people will open and read. Here’s how to ensure that people not only open your newsletter but actually read it.
Curate it to the extreme
People like it when newsletters find their niche and stick to it. Too often, people are inundated with content and they get overwhelmed. This leads to them not reading anything and your newsletter falling to the wayside.
Chose the topic of your newsletter carefully. For instance, if you are a brand that sells house inspection services, choose one house inspection service to highlight in your newsletter. Then, add maybe one other relevant piece of information that dovetails that that service.
People want to read your content, they just don’t have time to read a lot of it. When you are creating your newsletter, remember that less is more.
Put your personality on display
It’s tempting to slide into the carefully curated brand voice that you have developed. When it comes to newsletters, the more personal and personality-filled, the better. Your customers want to feel the personality of your brand shine through. Don’t bury it under jargon and sterile marketing-speak.
Be a little quirky in your newsletter. Write it from unique perspectives. Don’t be afraid to let the unique parts of what makes your business special come to life in your newsletter. Your readers will thank you (and be more apt to read your newsletter in its entirety).
Make your newsletter valuable
People don’t want a lot of clutter in the newsletters they read. They also want to get something valuable out of the newsletters they choose to actually open. Make the time your readers spend on your newsletter worth it.
In your newsletter, tell people a story, tell them why it’s important, and tell them why they should care. It’s that last part that is the most important. People want to know the “so, what?” of your content. Give it to them.
Always do something new, but keep it focused
Don’t be boring or highly predictable with your newsletters. People who open your newsletters want to get something new each time they open it. Make that open worth their while.
Keep your content and perspective fresh, but make sure you are staying focused on your niche. Going back to the home inspection example: you want people to know that they are getting a newsletter about home inspection, but deliver new things each time. Some examples: a checklist for spring cleaning, a guide to cleaning your pool, how to tell if your windows are losing heat.
Keeping your content fresh will keep your current readers invested. Keeping that fresh content focused on your niche will ensure that they keep opening and see your brand as an authority.
Keep the writing pure
Web writing has gotten a little convoluted lately. What with SEO, keywords, and click-bait headlines, the actual writing can get pushed to the back burner and the point of the content can be obscured.
Your newsletter audience is a captive audience. They opened the newsletter so they want to read it. This is your chance to communicate with them open and honestly without all the keywords and click-bait.
Keep your newsletter writing straightforward and to the point. No SEO here. Just good and solid content worth reading and sharing.
If you want to learn more about how to write great newsletter content, check out my done-for-you system today!