Most companies understand the benefits that a newsletter can provide a business. These range from increasing brand awareness to driving sales. Email newsletters remain an important marketing tool. While this is true, many marketers and sales professionals struggle to continually produce engaging emails.
The following article will take you through Email Marketing Newsletter Best Practices.
What are good topics for newsletters, what methods do other successful brands use and are there certain topics or styles that you should avoid?
While we cannot answer all of these questions right now, we can look at some popular topics and newsletter styles that have always maintained a high open-rate no matter the industry.
These range from round-up newsletters, to reviews and editorials.
8 Good Topics for Newsletters
Using the right mix of informative and interesting email newsletter ideas will keep your audience engaged, allow them to share your emails and continue to grow your email list.
- How-to-Guides
How-to-guides are a great way to show your authority on a subject and provide your readers with valuable information that they can put to good use.
Depending on your industry you can use video, pictograms or written text to show readers who to use certain tools, wear certain items of clothing or steps to make the software you provide even easier to use.
We suggest making the information as concise and to the point as possible.
In that way, readers get the most value in the shortest amount of time.
Think of some email tutorials and how-to guides you found useful and incorporate some of these same methods into your newsletters and email campaigns.
- Repurpose Content:
If you are using emails strategically there is a good chance you utilise other content marketing strategies such as blog posts and guest posts.
You can send these direct to your email list, either as around up of multiple blog posts or freshly produced content.
Not only are you providing your email list with new valuable content, but you will also get eyes onto your site and gain a better understanding of what content your readers like to consume.
This approach allows you to combine multiple marketing strategies and get the best results from your work.
This can also be done with videos or older content that is still relevant to your audience also.
- New Product and Service Announcements:
Many emails list subscribers, join email lists as part of a promotion. Once on your email list, it is a safe bet that they will enjoy product and service announcements from your company whether they are B2B or B2C launches.
You can highlight new products before certain dates or sales. This builds an awareness level in your readers.
Finding promotions on your website or through different methods may take some time whereas an email will inform your readers ahead of time.
- Free Resources:
Another great topic for readers and a proven method to increase your email list is by providing free resources.
Any email that provides value to your readers is going to be of benefit to your also.
Link to resources that you have created or third-party resources that complement your products or services.
This may be videos, eBooks or short useful articles.
As a method to increase your email list, make it so that readers must provide their email to you before the resources are sent out.
Readers will value the time you have put into creating the products and lists and they will be able to put the information to good use should they choose to do so.
It’s important to ensure, that if you use third party sources that you have the right to do so and that you are not promoting any rival products or services.
- Meet and Greet:
Should you have accounts managers or employees with special roles or a unique history within your company then you can use email as a way to humanise your company.
A video Q&A or short bio will allow readers to gain a better understanding of your company and who and what it is that you do.
You may be able to follow this up with a series or develop it further with customer Q&As and customer reviews or testimonials of individuals and/or departments.
- Picture Emails:
A picture speaks a thousand words. In our busy day to day lives it may be the only thing your readers have time to digest.
You can have a picture series of your offices, employees, products, promotional graphics and much more.
A simple yet effective way to show off your company are pictures and infographics.
Of course, always add some content and information for your readers.
If you are short on time or if it is a hit with readers try to keep the same style and approach.
- Top 10 Lists
Top 10 lists are a great way to promote, content, products and services to your email list.
An easy to digest email topic for you readers, top 10 lists come in especially useful during sales periods. If you have an online store, it is quite easy to find your most popular products.
For services-based businesses, you can look at the most popular services and/or packages from your business.
To change things up you can also look for videos or off-brand topics to entertain and enlighten your customers.
Ensure links are working, and you will have customers embracing your emails even further.
- Customer Reviews/Testimonials
Who better to promote your products and services than happy customers? Word of mouth and recommendations remains one of the best methods to increase sales for your business.
Happy customers will often leave reviews and testimonials for your business.
You can combine these topics by first asking your audience to review products and services that they have used.
Then repurpose their responses into emails for your audience.
It’s important to segment these lists however, you do not want reviewers receiving the same emails again.
Use tools such as Groupmail to understand your audience and better adjust your email campaigns.
Conclusion:
These are just a few topics that you can look at using in your newsletters / next email newsletter campaign.
Remember to provide value to your email list through your email newsletters and test different methods and topics to see what works best.