How to Create a Simple Monthly Email Newsletter
A form of direct marketing, a monthly email newsletter enables you to quickly communicate information on your company to your customers as well as announce product launches and sales. You can create a newsletter on your computer. They're inexpensive to distribute and a cost effective way to advertise, compared to other methods. According to the Direct Marketing Association, organizations in 2009 realized a return on investment of $43.62 for every dollar spent on marketing through email.
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Instructions
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Production
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Compile a distribution list by asking your current customers and contacts to sign up to receive your newsletter, or buy a distribution list.
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Sign up for an email marketing program to use to distribute your newsletter. Multiple email marketing programs are available. Review their features and costs to determine which one is the best solution for you.
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Write the newsletter articles in a word processing program or in Notepad. Catch the reader's interest with quotes from experts within your organization and unusual facts about your product. Keep the articles brief and easy to read. Link articles to your website so the readers can go there for more information.
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Create a template for your newsletter in your email marketing program. A simple, readable format will increase the number of recipients who read your newsletter.
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Upload your articles into your email marketing program. Add images that relate to your articles. Use consistent formatting for article titles and links throughout the newsletter.
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Email a test copy of the newsletter from the email marketing program to yourself. Check the overall appearance of the newsletter in your inbox as well as the formatting of the individual articles.
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Ask someone to review the final version of your newsletter. He will catch formatting mistakes and typographical errors that you missed.
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Upload your newsletter's distribution list into your email marketing program.
Distribution
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Schedule your newsletter for delivery, using the tools in your email marketing program. Pick a day of the week and time for delivery when recipients are likely to open your newsletter.
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Download reports from the email marketing program to track the number of times recipients opened your newsletter, who opened your newsletter, which links generated the most interest and how many times recipients forwarded your newsletter to others.
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Remove email addresses that bounce, as well as the addresses of people who ask to unsubscribe, from your distribution list.
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Tips & Warnings
Define the purpose of your newsletter. Strive to provide information the reader wants and can't find elsewhere.
Using an email marketing program will help you comply with laws governing online marketing.
Use the data on who opened your newsletter and when they opened it to determine the best day and time to send future issues of your newsletter.
The Federal Trade Commission requires you to remove individuals who ask to unsubscribe from your distribution list.
While HTML newsletters are more visually attractive than a plain text newsletter, they take longer to download and many email programs allow the user to block HTML content.
References
- DMA: What is the Direct Marketing Association
- U.S. Small Business Administration: eMarketing
- "Direct" magazine; E-mail ROI Still Stunning, Still Slipping: DMA; Ken Magill; October 2009
- Business.gov: Getting Started with Email Marketing : The Most Powerful Tool in Your Relationship-Building Toolbox
- Federal Trade Commission: "Remove Me" Responses and Responsibilities
Resources
- Photo Credit lovely business woman 1 image by Paul Moore from Fotolia.com
