An email newsletter is a powerful communication tool.
A newsletter is a great place to showcase your knowledge of your industry and demonstrate your company's capability. It should not be a thinly disguised sales piece but should offer your customers useful information that will help them run their business more effectively. It's also a good way to maintain regular contact with your customers and build relationships. By including content that encourages interaction, you can acquire useful customer data as well as encouraging a sense of community.
Comment
By commenting on industry news and developments, you can show your awareness of the issues that are important to your customers. Comment on the latest research findings for your industry. Discuss the latest trends, and review any changes in legislation or government policy that affect your customers. Talk about the significance and impact of new product announcements. These are ways in which your company can demonstrate leadership and deep involvement in your industry.
Interviews
Publish an interview with a recognized industry authority. That will give customers an opportunity to read an objective view on important issues. Encourage customers to give their feedback on the interview and publish their views in future issues..
Tips
Encourage customers to share technical tips for making better use of products. Publish customers' technical questions, with answers from your team or from customers. Provide links to archived questions or more detailed technical support content on your website.
Profile
Ask your customers to provide a profile of their business and the challenges they face. This should not be a case study of a project that you have completed for them but an independent perspective. Profiling successful customers can help to build confidence in your company.
Updates
Provide customers with news of any changes in your company that will impact their business. Profile any new appointments of customer-facing staff or senior management. Give details of any changes to commercial or customer service arrangements. Provide information on new product announcements with links to more detailed product information. Include links to any new publications such as whitepapers or product guides.
News
Publish reprints from news items covering your company with links to the original publication. Provide a brief summary of any other industry news with links to the full item. Publish a diary of upcoming industry events such as exhibitions, conferences or workshops. If your company is participating in an event, provide details of your speakers and their content. Announce reader offers such as discounted entry to events or special prices on books or other high-value content. Include a call to action that provides useful customer data. Offer rewards linked to customer surveys in the newsletter.
Relevance
Making content relevant to your readers pays dividends. MarketingSherpa's 2010 Email Marketing Benchmark Guide reported that delivering content relevant to a segment requires a greater level of effort but is much more effective than other tactics. The 2006 Nielsen Norman Group's Email Newsletter Usability study cited readers' reasons for valuing newsletter content. Three of the most important topics were work-related news or company actions, news of prices and sales, information about events, deadlines and important dates.
