Your A-Z Guide For Creating Free Newsletters
Described as a printed report of the news, when it comes to marketing, email newsletters build trust and connection.
While it’s currently the most common type of serial publication, newsletters have been exchanged since the time of ancient Romans.
A direct-to-consumer advertising technique, email newsletters can improve engagement, brand loyalty, and more when strategically developed.
Even though social media is alive now as ever, electronic newsletters via emails are a good way to supplement sales campaigns.
Read on to find out all about the meaning of the email newsletter, its importance, and steps to produce one on your own.
What Is A Newsletter And What Can It Achieve?
With 3.8 billion people using email across the globe, there’s no better way to reach your customers precisely.
Moreover, with newsletters, you can accomplish that and so much more.
An email newsletter is a periodic online message sent to customers to alert them about new product launches, changes to the brand, or other notifications on behalf of the company.
They are typically tailored with different objectives in mind.
For example, while a boutique brand might send weekly updates highlighting top fashion ensembles to encourage users to try new styles, a cooking blog might use newsletters to engage such as with a ‘free weekly seasonal recipe’.
Take a look at the top benefits of sending a newsletter below:
- Promotion of products/brand/services
- Build brand exposure, recognition, and loyalty
- Reach target audience, engage, and convert
- Updates and notifications about the latest launches
- Create recurring traffic to blog/ site
- Personalized branding by factoring-in customer behavior
- Generate trust and credibility by becoming an authority in your niche
The Steps Of Creating Your Newsletter
Did you know 83% of B2B companies use email newsletters? On top of it, over 40% of marketers consider newsletters an indispensable element within their marketing strategies.
Take a look at the following three steps to get started.
1. Define Your Goals
The first step towards sending a professional newsletter is defining your aim of the campaign.
Instead of haphazardly sending emails at any time, it’s best to develop a well-structured strategy that takes the prolonged success of your brand or products and services into consideration.
For starters, identify answers to the following questions.
- Who is the reader/target of my email? For example, ‘females aged 45-65 interested in healing crystals.’
- What do they expect from reading the email from my brand? For example, learn more about my healing crystal techniques.
- What is my email aiming to provide? For example, insightful and actionable information on healing crystals, or updates about new crystals on my site.
- When should I send the email? For example, daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and so on.
2. Build Your Contact List
Building a strong and committed community of subscribers is possible with the strategic steps outlined below.
Create Opt-In Forms
Strong opt-in forms, preferably double opt-in with an irresistible CTA and clear and concise content drives conversions.
Placement Of Forms
Without pestering or annoying the reader, you need to place the signup cues across the website to gain attention.
Sign Up Reminders
You can proactively encourage readers to sign up for email forms when they’re reading back-to-back articles or spending above-average time on products.
Promote Form On Social Media
You can schedule posts in advance via Facebook or Twitter to promote your newsletter form among your social media followers.
3. Make Your Newsletter
The third step is to optimize your newsletter to ensure it reaches the audience and resonates by personalizing the newsletter.
Typically, most email newsletter templates will show the logo on top of the content in the center.
You can decide on the right placement after A/B testing different versions.
To increase visibility and brand recognition, you need to let the subscriber know that the email is coming from you.
The brand logo atop the email clearly conveys this. All you need to do is upload the logo to a default template and tweak the content with the theme colors of your brand.
Some Important Tips
When it comes to newsletters, there are many types and formats that you can decide between based on different objectives.
If you’re using such an email campaign, take note of the following tips to help you deliver great results over the long-run.
Add A CTA
A call-to-action sentence or button draws the attention of the reader to the exact action you want them to take.
It drives the traffic to your site, increases purchases, and boosts the number of social shares.
Accordingly, you need to up the ante by choosing an eye-catchy color with actionable words that are positioned strategically within the email to convert subscribers.
You can also modify the font color, size, and style around the CTA.
Add Links For Social Media Profiles
Given newsletters are sent to global contact lists, you can encourage readers to explore your brand by adding social media icons into the mails.
Use The Inverted Pyramid Method
This is a journalism-based technique whereby the conclusion or summary is delivered at the beginning of an email and followed by insightful details.
It’s recommended to improve engagement among users with short attention spans.
Simply put, place the vital information and actionable steps such as the CTA above the fold of the email.
Bottom Line
Newsletters are a form of regular emails sent from organizations to subscribers to keep them connected with the brand.
Moreover, it can drive traffic and boost revenue.
To create one, you must specify your goals and that of the target audience first before moving onto building the contact list using sign up forms.
Finally, add your logo, CTA, and other important links like social media icons to amplify your reach and conversion rates.
