Creating a Company Newsletter

ByLanee’ Blunt

Havinga professional looking newsletter is an excellent way to promote your smallbusiness. It is a very effective public relations tool that helps to marketyour product or service, by drawing attention to your small business.  Publishing a newsletter is a big commitmentin time, but it also helps you keep in touch with prospects, generate trust anddevelop brand awareness.

Thesize of your newsletter should depend on the amount of information you want toinclude. Most newsletters are between four and eight pages long. The typical newsletteris four pages long with the back used as a self-mailer.

Concentrateon your audience when writing the articles. Know your audience and what isimportant to them. There are three or four feature articles included in thenewsletter. Give the reader important tips and information that they can use.

Writethe newsletter in a desktop publishing program. They are very useful fornewsletters. Some programs are easy to learn and inexpensive. If you arecreative you can create a professional looking newsletter in full color foryour company. “Initially, it might take several issues for you to produce thefinished product with relative ease. Your desktop skills will improve withevery newsletter you produce, so practice is essential,” according to LoriannOberlin-Hoff in her book Writing for Money. The publication frequency of thenewsletter depends on your commitment, if it will be published weekly, monthlyor quarterly.

Reference:

RalphF. Wilson; Planning Your Internet Marketing Strategy; Wiley

LoriannOberlin-Hoff; Writing for Money; Writer’s Digest Books

Advantages of a Small Business Newsletter

By Lanee’Blunt

Manybusinesses publish newsletters monthly to their prospects, clients, employees,and customers.  Newsletters are publicrelations material and are used by big corporations to help them promote theirown activities and carry out their missions.

Manysmall businesses want to use newsletters but they don't understand how they canwork for their particular business. Newsletters are not just forsupercorporations and nonprofit organizations; if it is written and producedprofessionally it will benefit your organization. Having a newsletter is a big commitmentin terms of writing and producing, so make sure you have enough material.Decide how often you will publish your newsletter. 

Newsletters Build an Image

Yoursmall business will have the opportunity to build an image with a prospect orclient.  You don't have to cold call ifyou have a client that was unable to make their mind up to order from you. Sendthem a newsletter it helps you keep your business name in front of the client.Over a period of time newsletters are able to help build a reputation with aselect group of prospects.

Gives Credibility

Thenewsletter is less credible than a story appearing in the newspaper or a tradejournal because it is produced by your small business. But the newsletter is arespectable medium and is highly read when you offer information that isinteresting and informative.  They tellus when the next meeting will be, who made partner, they give us financialplanning information, diet tips, and tell us how to remodel our kitchen.

Reference:

HermanHoltz; Great Promo Pieces; Wiley

RobertW. Bly; The Copywriter's Handbook; Owl

Read This Next

Create a Brochure Online


Five Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Brochure


Advantages of Marketing Letter for Consultants

Start a Small Business Newsletter

By Lanee’ Blunt

Newsletters are publicrelations material. Newsletters help to remind customers about your companywithout being too pushy. They are a great way to follow up on a direct mailpackage and when the customer is ready to buy they will think of your productor service. Newsletters are a great way to remind customers to buy from you. 

Start building a list foryour newsletter by putting your current customer’s names in a special file, andall of your prospects that showed interest in your product or service. Yourhouse list consists of people that have bought from you in the past and is thebest list to work from.

Give the prospect a lot ofuseful information in the newsletter.  Itis not the place to be boring.  Writehelpful articles and interview some of your employees. You can get a lot ofinformation into your newsletter, far more than you can a brochure.

Use a newsletter as an offerin a direct mail piece.  Capture thesubscribers email address on a reply card and send your informativenewsletter.  Make the content fresh andenjoyable.  “Newsletters are one of themost popular uses for permission marketing. You can ask visitors if they would like to receive notification of newproducts, updates to your site, relevant tips, advice, industry news, and soon-whatever might be of interest to your target market,” according to SusanSweeny book, 101 Ways to Promote your WebSite.

Reference:

Susan Sweeny; 101 Ways to Promote your Web Site; 2001

Read This Next

Advantages of Marketing Letter for Consultants

Four Types of Marketing Channels

How to Make your Own Business Cards Online

How to Create a Newsletter

By Lanee’ Blunt

Creating a companynewsletter will build future business, brand awareness, and helps to generatetrust from your prospects.  It is a greatway to promote your small business.

Any typical desktoppublishing program will do the job. Some programs are easy to learn and are inexpensive.  A full color newsletter can be created onyour computer and printed with a laser or regular color printer.  It might take you several issues before youproduce the finished product with ease. Your desktop publishing skills willimprove with every issue that you produce. 

Determine how often you willproduce your newsletter, weekly, biweekly, quarterly, or annually. Take intoconsideration, the time it takes to write, the artwork, and printing becauseyou will have other duties in your small business. Most newsletters areproduced every other month or every quarter.

Produce your newsletter on agood laser printer using glossy paper. You can also just print your newsletter on color stock and use a regularblack printer.

Get your newsletter printerprofessionally by saving your work on a PDF file and take it to a professionalprinting company.

Newsletters tell us when thenext meeting will be, who made partner, they give us financial planninginformation, and they give us great diet tips, and tell us how to remodel ourkitchen.  If your company has informationto offer you should consider writing a newsletter

Reference:

Loriann Oberlin-Hoff; Writingfor Money; Writer’s Digest Books

Read This Next

How to Write a Newsletter

Benefits for Newsletter Marketing

How to Write a Newsletter

By Lanee’ Blunt

Writing a company newsletteris a big commitment and requires a lot of time by publishing it weekly,monthly, or quarterly but it’s one of the best ways to keep in touch with yourprospects. It will build future business, brand awareness, and helps togenerate trust from your prospects.

Determine your page lengthand size. Most newsletters are at least four pages but some are longer betweeneight and sixteen pages. If you don’t have a lot of time to spend writing thenewsletter, don’t choose a sixteen page newsletter, because you may be tooambitious. The size should depend on the amount of information you want toinclude.

Decide what content toinclude in the newsletter by knowing your audience. What articles would be ofinterest to them. There are three or four feature articles and the text shouldbe in three columns. Try to give the reader information that is interesting andtips that they can use. For example, an accountant can write an article about “5Tips for Receiving a Bigger Refund”, or a neighborhood supermarket may write,“Healthy Foods that Aren’t Fattening.” You can also write about general advice,how to information, or employee news.

Reference:

Ralph F. Wilson; PlanningYour Internet Marketing Strategy; Wiley; 2002

Read This Next

Benefits for Newsletter Marketing


How to Get Leads for your Newsletter


How to Promote your Newsletter

How to Get Leads for your Newsletter

By Lanee’ Bunt

Make it easy for people to sign
up for your newsletter--
Sqback

Keep your business name infront of your prospects. As a small business you also have to get formercustomers to use your business again and give you repeat business. Although coldcalling is an effective way: by calling the prospect and asking if they areready to buy—it is not for everyone. If you don’t like cold calling there areother alternatives like sending prospects your newsletter.

Buy or rent a mailing List. Makesure that all of the subscribers on your mailing list have opt-in to receive anewsletter from you.  You must havegained their email address by their permission or by signing up for yournewsletter, or subscribing to receive updated information, and they have takensome kind of action to indicate they’d want to receive information fromyou.  Provide a way for recipients tounsubscribe to your email, so make it easy for them to opt-out from your emailprogram.

Make your website easy foryour prospects to sign up for your email newsletter.  Create a way to capture the email addresseson your website. Make sure that all of the subscribers on your list have opt-into receive an email newsletter from you. “The most important thing to rememberis that all subscribers on your list must take some type of action to indicatethey would like to receive email communications from your company,” accordingto Simms Jenkins, in his book, The Truthabout Email Marketing, (FT Press, 2009). You can sign up for anautoresponder service. This service will collect subscriber’s email addressesfrom your website, manage your newsletter account by sending it to people thatrequested it.

Give your prospects anincentive for signing up for your newsletter by giving them a special gift. Forexample, free downloads of your ebook.

Reference:

SimmsJenkins; The Truth about Email Marketing;FT Press; 2009