We are continuing our series on the topic of newsletters and email marketing tips. Today’s episode is entitled “Potential Sections and Elements for Your Newsletter.”
I’ve had a lot of clients recently who just started a newsletter or just started an email list. And one of the things that they were unsure about was what to include in a newsletter. I knew from my experience that there were some common sections for a newsletter, such as a note from you, a section for new blog posts, a section for new programs and services, products, or events. But I also did some research to see what some other options and ideas are.
Newsletter Ideas
They can be a weekly roundup of blog posts. They could be upcoming events. But also you could include industry news. You can include quotes, behind the scenes, upcoming webinars or recordings of past webinars.
Important Elements
One is you have to have an enticing subject line. Otherwise, no one’s ever even going to open the newsletter.
Secondly, you need to have a compelling preheader copy. When you open your email and you see a subject line, you often see some smaller text underneath, which is called the preheader copy.
You also will want to have eye-catching graphics throughout your newsletter. If you’re like me, you don’t want to read through a bunch of text. You need something to break that up and catch your eye.
Organize Your Content
You want your content to be organized. Using a template can help you to do this. Most email marketing services all use templates that you can tweak to put in your branding colors and your look and feel. Then you will be able to use this template over and over again. Create these sections so that each time you email, all you have to do is put in your new information.
Minimal Promotions
You don’t want to be overly “salesy” in your newsletters. Always give subscribers 90% educational content and only 10% promotional content. At the bottom, add a colorful call-to-action button that stands out and directs your readers to follow through. Maybe you want them to follow through to your website and read the rest of a blog post. Maybe you want them to follow through and join your group. Maybe you want them to follow through and sign up for your next event. Whatever it is, having a clear call to action is super important in your email newsletter.
Social Media Links
Then, in every newsletter, you also want to leave links to your favorite social media networks, where you like to hang out and where you might want them to connect with you. You want to put these as icons at the bottom of your newsletter. You’ll be surprised how many people want to connect.
Unsubscribe Option
A final and necessary, but maybe kind of scary, element to include is the unsubscribe option. Many times, your email service will automatically put this in the footer, to allow readers to unsubscribe easily. And that is important to have because, as I shared in last week’s episode, you don’t want to have someone on your email list who doesn’t want to be there. And there is nothing more frustrating as a reader than not being able to unsubscribe and to continue to receive messages you really don’t want cluttering up your inbox.
I hope these ideas for sections and elements for your newsletter has been helpful, as well as this entire series. But if you have questions about email marketing or newsletters, be sure to reach out to us at alyssaavantandcompany.com. Thanks for listening!
STAY CONNECTED
I have a Facebook group for Christian authors, speakers, and coaches. It’s called The Christian Business Advantage, and each month I do a FREE training around the third Thursday of each month. Please come join our group, and you will learn tips and tricks for your business.
