How do you keep in touch with your customers? Social media? Postcards? The occasional phone call?
It’s important to maintain contact with clients, both past and present, but it can be tough when we’re busy running your businesses and maintaining your personal life. One of the simplest ways to maintain contact with your customers is by sending out email newsletters.
Email newsletters are a common marketing device used to engage customers and sell products and services. When used right, they can be advantageous to your business; however, it requires plenty of time and brain power before you can build a successful newsletter.
When brainstorming, consider these 5 necessities for successful email marketing:
- A Purpose: What are your goals? Increasing sales? Improving the number of unique visits to your website? Building discussions on your blog posts?
- A Set Schedule: Your customers should know when to expect the next newsletter. Decide whether you want it to be quarterly, monthly, weekly, or daily, and stick to it. Make sure you can commit to this schedule and that other projects don’t get in the way.
- A Theme: The theme is two parts: content and design. I’d suggest designing your email newsletter similar to your website or your logo, that way the branding is consistent. As for the content, determine the topics you would like to focus on in your message (specials, promotions, new products, events, news, etc.) Always keep the content fresh, fun, and concise, and don’t forget to leave some sort of call to action so that your message meets your goals.
- A Way to Subscribe: If you use WordPress, there are several plugins you can use to add an email newsletter subscription box to your website. Just make sure that you aren’t adding people’s emails without their permission because that is illegal. Also, buying subscription lists is an easy way to build your list, but the search engines know when you’ve done it, and it reduces your rankings.
- A Mailing Program: There are many different programs you can use to send out your newsletter; some are free and some charge fees for different levels. Two of the most popular choices are MailChimp and Constant Contact. WordPress also has a plugin you can add called MailPoet that allows you to send newsletters directly from your website.
In the end, remember to have fun and be creative. Your customers will appreciate it, and you may find yourself enjoying it, too!
