As is customary this time of year, people EVERYWHERE are questioning what and where to allocate their time, energy and business resources. I asked the question a few days ago in some of the Facebook groups I’m a member of Do people still send email newsletters and if not why what was their reason.
- Did they feel that time was an issue,
- content creation which covers topics-ideas-monthly themes etc. and I also left a spot open so they could offer feedback and their own thoughts. Everyone gave me responses on this poll.
- One person said she didn’t see an ROI on the time she invested in publishing a newsletter, someone else said as a professional organizer part of her job is to help clients unclutter and sending a newsletter was counterintuitive of her mission. She refers people to her blog (more on that later)
- Others said that newsletters did wonderful things for her business and someone else said she didn’t know what to provide her audience as far as content.
- Overall though people had the same feelings they need time and content ideas for their email newsletter.
Just so you know a little bit about me and my background if you don’t by now. I’ve been in the world of journalism and marketing for a long LONG time. Even when I didn’t know I was in the industry I was in the industry. From high school through college to my days at the Inquire and magazines I have had a hand in creating newsletters and content for someone. So newsletters aren’t hard for me. It’s all about themes. Look at EVERY January magazine you have in your home or on your Kindle.
You’ll notice the overarching theme is
January
- self-improvement
- fitness
- organization
February
Love
March
Spring/Tax tips
April
TAX time
You get the idea. So now apply this philosophy to your newsletter planning, what themes can you incorporate into your workflow? In addition to this, you can share a funny quote, a promotion or any more collaborative events that you have coming up, you can even share what you’re reading. Don’t worry about length this is your newsletter it doesn’t have to be long and lengthy it can be short and sweet. I want to encourage you to find a platform that you enjoy. Every social media platform has their pros and cons I’m an advocate for always having your own list, and your own web presence. You don’t own your Facebook or Instagram page you just rent them and if anything ever happens and those companies disappear you still want a way to engage with your audience. A way to talk, sell and communicate. Starting now even if you have just 10 people it’s a start and that list is your list. These people have said YES to you. So spoil them by creating amazingly awesome content, content they will want to share. Look at magazines, books other newsletters and implement those ideas into your newsletter.
Just remember to incorporate a few key points
There are a few things you need to remember though, you need to have a way for people to sign up for your newsletter, I am loving SUMO and I pay for the upgraded account so I have a few more features than the free version. I have a sign-up pop up that shows up on my sight and I also use it in my regular email that goes out. But here’s the thing you need to have an active website for this to work. You can’t just write something monthly and then complain that your list isn’t growing! You don’t need to produce content daily if you have a nice inventory you can reshare post that you have already written with your audience via your newsletter :0)
Not everything needs to be a promotion either think of this as a way to share what’s going on with you. Kita at It’sreallykita does a great job with her Talk Tuesday newsletters. They are not only conversational but they are informative and FUNNY! She shares about her life as a single parent, a widow raising 2 children and her my favorite her crazy neighbors. She also does a great job sharing her services and what she’s good at and what she isn’t. I look forward to her emails.
I want you to share with me what your favorite newsletters are, even if it’s your own! Comment below and leave a link I want to read andbe inspired!
I hope this helps.
Love and Lattes,
Wanda
