A short exclusive article, originally published in The Executive Summary in October 2019 - now here for your long-term benefit!
Email newsletters have been used for a while, so companies can limit their potential to traditional uses, only emailing when they have something to sell.
A lot of people think the industry they work in is boring, so the content of their newsletters has to be, too.
No and no. Yours can be different.
Act like a media company.
Include sections that are not just about your company, but about the interests of the industry or the types of people within it. For example, Zembr offers 3 main products – helping you with telephone calls, managing the schedules and tasks of busy professionals, and helping with marketing strategy or tasks. However, a lot of our content is about things that interest you, the entrepreneur and intrapreneur – discussing common problems in the professional world and how to get around them. We like to include a recommendation of something free or low priced that we personally use, too.
You could include links to interesting articles you have found throughout the month and add your thoughts to them, such as major projects happening in the industry or industry trends to be aware of.
Talk like a person.
Go easy with the exclamation marks, people can tell you are not that excited and you’re actually just trying to sell them something. While we are on that note, maybe teach them about your services and then suggest they buy it from you, no-one likes to be constantly pitched.
Notice how when you read this, it’s like we are having a conversation, even though you aren’t talking back? Write like that. Somewhat relaxed, or the way you would one-to-one with a client. If you struggle to do this, start off by drafting your emails as a voice-note, then convert that to text and edit it. Conversational, that’s the word.
You want subscribers, but be picky and relevant from the beginning.
If you work in machinery hire but entice people to subscribe with an i-phone giveaway, they are likely not subscribing to read your content or click on stuff, they are here for the short-term and then will either unsubscribe or never bother to open emails. That’s a problem, because every time your emails go unopened, Mailchimp and the like will begin to assume you are spammy or annoying and send your hard work straight to the junk-box. That means less of the people who did want to see your content will get to.
Try to make giveaways relevant to what your company offers or your audiences’ life. If possible, make your giveaways a discount or piece of information that can help your ideal client tackle a problem in their life or business, rather than some fancy-branded item that every person everywhere would love to own.
To increase your open rates, experiment with the time of day/week you send, A/B test subject lines, and keep your list fresh – from day one. Better to have a slow-growing list that opens and forwards!
Did you know we have a team of email curators and writers?
They make email newsletters for businesses like yours, and we see some pretty cool increases in open rates. Find out more.
