Considering using an electronic newsletter (ezine) to keep in front of your clients and prospects? Well, welcome to the digital age! What you may not realize is that the ezine is more than just a newsletter sent by email. There’s a whole suite of best practices that will set you up to have the best experience possible in a format that can sometimes seem challenging.
Here are nine elements you need to have in place to get started:
1. Contact list of at least 25 permission-based emails. Permission is required by spam regulations. Don’t assume that you have permission just because people give you their business card or you belong to the same organization. You must ask folks if they want to be included.
2. Email service provider (ESP). This is a company (such as Constant Contact) that sends bulk email on your behalf. Don’t attempt to send ezines through your regular email program, such as Outlook, or you may be flagged as a spammer. Plus you will not have access to the host of excellent measuring
3. Professionally designed ezine template. The design requirements of an email newsletter take into consideration how to make a newsletter look right in a variety of email programs. It’s not just like designing a web page. Make sure your web designer has experience in ezine best practices before creating your e-newsletter. Many a beautiful newsletter has gone to waste because it does not show up properly when received by the people on your contact list.
Many ESPs have pre-prepared templates you can choose from, but these are second best unless you are allowed to customize them with your own images, such as a header with your picture and other branding. The more your ezine template coordinates with your branding and website, the better.
4. Sign-up form on your website. This is where visitors to your website can enter their name and email address in order to receive your newsletter. (This constitutes “permission” for you to send it to them.) These days, people are usually unwilling to give their contact info unless you’ve made them a compelling free offer (report, assessment, download, etc.) in exchange for it. This free offer is sometimes known as a “pink spoon,” referring to the ice cream sample spoons at Baskin Robbins.
5. Basic understanding of email marketing terminology (opt-in, double opt-in, autoresponder, etc.). Without this, you’ll be utterly lost. The info isn’t hard to find on the Internet, but if you’re new to email marketing, it may still seem like reading Greek.
6. Basic understanding of email metrics (open rate, bounce rate, click-thrus). Knowing what these mean and where your ezines rank with them gives you a wealth of information that can positively affect your business development.
7. Basic understanding of spam regulations. Mainly you’ll need to understand the regulations around permission and the informational items required to be in each issue.
8. Consistent publishing date, at least monthly. An ezine needs to be sent more frequently than a print newsletter. That is, if you want to avoid having to re-introduce yourself to your audience every time you send a newsletter! Because of its more ephemeral nature (as opposed to the more tangible nature of the print newsletter), the generally accepted frequency is “no less than monthly.”
9. A clear idea of the issues and problems of your audience. When you know this, you’ll know what kinds of articles to include in your ezines—whether you write them, have a ghostwriter write for you or purchase pre-written articles that give you the license to use them as your own. However you develop it, your content will be relevant to your audience’s needs and they’ll be hungry for your ezine to arrive each month.
I’m often asked whether you have to have a website in place in order to start an ezine. The short answer is no. It’s far better to have an ezine and no website than to not have a newsletter at all because you don’t yet have a website.
However, one of the best things about ezines is that you can include links to your website. With one click, readers can go to your website to 1) learn more about you, 2) explore the services and/or resources you offer, 3) view a specific offer or 4) buy a product. If you don’t have a website, you’re shortchanging yourself.
Just as with print newsletter, you’ll be best off if you plan your ezines in advance, preferably for the entire year. And you’ll want to commit to (and stick to!) your scheduled publishing date.
If all of the above seems too overwhelming to tackle on your own, you’ll need someone with expertise to do it for you. The most important thing is for you to have a newsletter. With it, you’re connecting with those who may need your services. You’re establishing yourself as an expert and developing trusted relationships with people that may last for years.
Linda Claire Puig is a newsletter-marketing expert and a writer with 25 years’ professional experience. She is president of Claire Communications, which provides newsletter solutions to busy coaches, therapists and other professionals who want to keep their name and expertise in front of the communities they serve. She also leads the Earlybird Ezine Telecamp, a comprehensive five-week training program that teaches EVERY aspect of planning, writing, designing, sending and
measuring ezines, as well as attracting new readers to it. The next one starts Jan. 27, 2009.
