DO: Decide If You Really Need It

Is an email newsletter really the right decision? To start off, look into your industry. Are other companies sending them and are they successful? Look at your business goals. Good goals that this strategy can potentially help with include increasing leads and generating better quality, more targeted leads. Assessing your resources is also crucial. Can you pull it off on your budget and time constraints? Will you have any help? Answering these questions can help you decide if an email newsletter is right for you.

DON’T: Take On Too Much

Avoid jumping into an email newsletter without a set plan in place. This includes content, frequency and a landing page to encourage subscription. You also need to schedule time into your busy workdays to create, edit and send test copies out prior to deployment.

DO: Balance Your Content

A good rule of thumb for email newsletters is to stick to mainly educational content with a few promotions thrown in. While your products and services are important, useful and relevant information is much better received than constant self promotion. In this case, less is more when it comes to talking about yourself.

DON’T: Use Vague or Misleading Subject Lines

When it comes to the headlines, get creative. A great way to encourage readers to click, opt for engaging, humourous and attention-grabbing over more vague and repetitive options. Choose something different for each email. Keep it short and sweet and let the recipient know what’s in it for them if they click.

DO: Mobile Optimize

Mobile is getting bigger by the day and Google’s recent changes can attest to that. Many individuals use their smartphones to check their email, whether it’s during a meeting, while commuting or during downtime watching television. Optimizing your email newsletter for mobile is a great way to increase your readership. Click here for more tips.

DON’T: Send Without Doing a Test Run

Sending an email newsletter out to a subscriber base without first sending out a test email within your business is a disaster waiting to happen. A test deployment lets you in on any little issues that need to be fixed, from typos to broken images and links, defunct formatting, colour and design discrepancies and more. When in doubt, test and test again!

When it comes to email newsletters, these 6 dos and don’ts will help get, and keep, your company on the right track! To learn more, check out HubSpot’s round-up of 15 fantastic examples. Do you subscribe to any email newsletters? What are your likes and dislikes?

Vibrant Visuals

It’s all about the visuals, and Facebook itself has confirmed a decrease in the distribution of text-based statuses. Many social networks are encouraging businesses and users to embrace visual content, which, according to Social Media Examiner, receives an astounding 94 percent more views. The same article states that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text by the brain, making it no question why viewers prefer images. Visuals also contribute to brand growth (think logos and advertisements) and, in turn, a more widespread audience.

Living the Life

It’s time to shift focus from promotional posts for the sake of sales to touting how your products and services influence customers’ lifestyles. Selling what your business stands for, as opposed to the products themselves, engages users in a natural, organic way. Content can be more creative and rewarding, both for the reader and the writer. For example, why not start a blog series that offers readers a relevant freebie, such as Urban Outfitters’ #MusicMonday playlist downloads? That’s surely more interesting than another dress description.

Podcasts

Still an emerging medium, a podcast is a digital audio file made available for downloading. New and novel, they capture the attention of audiences in a genuine, engaging way, ideal for viewers who prefer listening over reading. Easy to digest, this tool is bound to become more and more valuable as 2014 progresses; according to Huffington Post, while only 5 percent of marketers are currently involved in podcasting, 24 percent plan to incorporate it into their strategy. Examples of businesses who have achieved podcast success include WEBS, Greenfeet.com and Copyright Clearance Centre.

Social media is here to stay, and we’re sure you didn’t need convincing. Staying on par with today’s trends, from visual content’s growing prevalence to audio files and a leaning towards lifestyle posts, is key to shining bright instead of fading into the background. Looking to learn more? Click here.

Image Credit: Miami Agent Magazine