It amazes me how many organizations do not have a regular company newsletter.
B2B companies can reap many benefits from email newsletters for both prospecting and for staying top of mind with existing customers. The biggest issue is often how to get started. We have a recent blog with a number of great email newsletter resources.
Once you get started, here are more tips for delivering a great email newsletter experience.
1. Create an Interesting Format
Provide interesting content in a consistent manner. You can use blog summaries, great third party articles and events as part of your content.
2. Follow a Regular Schedule
Find a consistent schedule and stick to it. Having a schedule makes it easier to organize the activities required to get the newsletter ready and also sets an expectation for the recipients.
3. Use a Web Sign-Up Form
One of the best sources of inbound leads is an email newsletter sign-up. Make it easy to opt-in to your email newsletter by having the sign-up form featured prominently as a call-to-action throughout your organization’s website.
4. Share Analytics With Sales and Marketing
The analytics generated by email newsletters is gold for your sales and marketing teams. The sales team can see which contacts have clicked on specific articles and when a contact’s email bounces back. These are both great sales triggers. The marketing team can see how the newsletter is being used and can make updates to the format, content, and subject line to maximize engagement.
5. Comply With Anti-Spam Legislation
On July 1, 2014, Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) will take effect to regulate a broad range of activities including the sending of commercial electronic messages. Although this will impact many companies, the legistation isn’t something that organizations in Canada should be afraid of. Having an opt-in sign-up and unsubscribe features are the best ways to ensure you are compliant with CASL for future newsletters.
Here is a video that highlights the take-aways from the new legislation from a Miller Thomson presentation at MaRS.
6. Use an Email Marketing System
I have seen organizations send PDFs as newsletters or just emails with blind copies. Email marketing solutions like Constant Contact or MailChimp are cost effective, make it easy to design, are quickly updated, and provide valuable analytics.
Looking for an example of a newsletter? Sign-up to the monthly VA Partners Newsletter for great sales, marketing, social media, and inbound lead generation information.
