Today we are wrapping up our series on email marketing for beginners, and we’re going to be talking about newsletter content ideas.
I think the reason why most people get bogged down on doing an email newsletter, even though it’s highly recommended, is because they don’t know what content to put in the newsletter.
I can’t tell you the number of clients who’ve come to me who knew they needed to do an email newsletter and wanted to, but they did not know where to start or what to put inside. And so they got stuck.
I made it one of my goals to find newsletters that I thought were both good and interesting, and I started saving them to a folder in my inbox.
I did that to share possible newsletter content ideas with my clients, and also to share templates because many times people say they don’t know what it should look like or how it should be laid out. Newsletter templates help you to do that. I can recreate these templates that other people have used and customize them for another person.
I have made it my mission to save some of these so that I can share with clients and help with this particular problem that people have with creating newsletters.
However, I want to say that this is not an exhaustive list. There’s probably lots of other ideas!
Below are some I have seen in newsletters that I like and newsletters I’ve helped my clients create. Some are self explanatory while others need more explanation.
Remember, this is going to vary based on who you are, what your business or your ministry is, or what your writing is about. Obviously if you are an author or a speaker who talks about gardening, then your newsletter would be a lot different than if you were a business owner who specialized in financial planning.
Since I mostly work with authors and speakers, these are coming from that area of expertise.
#1 – A Note From You
This helps to personalize your email newsletters and gives your readers a peek into your life and business. Therefore the very first thing I always put is a little note from the author or the person sending out the newsletter.
#2 – A Regular Feature
A popular newsletter content idea is to include a regular feature such as one of your blog posts. If you write blog posts on a consistent basis, you should include your blog posts in your email newsletter, but don’t include the entire post. You only put a snippet of the post, and then have your readers click through to your blog to read the rest of it. That gives them the opportunity to go to your blog which you want!
A second possible idea is to feature your podcast. You’d simply place an image or a description of your podcast into the newsletter and link to it.
#3 – Inspiration and Encouragement Section
Recently, I started an inspiration and encouragement section. Mine is usually spiritual in nature, but yours doesn’t have to be. For example, I have people whom I’ve worked and helped with their blogs that add a recipe.
#4 – Book Recommendations
I’ve had people who offer book recommendations in their newsletter content. So if they’re an author, sometimes they might recommend other people’s books as well. Insert an image or a thumbnail of the book, create a short text snippet about the book and then add the link to Amazon.
You can use Amazon affiliate links so you can earn money if people buy what you’ve recommended. The same is true for a recommended resources section. I did this years ago when I would recommend resources that other virtual assistants might need upon starting their business. And a lot of times I would use an affiliate link.
#5 – Upcoming Events
Create an upcoming event section in your email newsletter for things you recommend. If you’re a speaker, do an upcoming event section of places where you will be speaking. Make sure to link to where your readers can sign up so they can go see you speak!
#6 – Life Updates
This is similar to the Note From You content idea. I’ve seen authors that do life updates about themselves, where they’ve been, and what they’ve been up to. These can certainly vary from person to person and you have to do what feels right, comfortable and acceptable to you.
If you have a ministry, you can do a ministry update and even share how readers can contribute to your ministry. I know people who have ministries related to being an author speaker, and sometimes they talk about fundraisers and things like that.
I would encourage you to create a template and put these newsletter content ideas in a specific order and repeat that same order every week or every month because people get used to that. Soon they’ll expect it and look forward to those particular sections of your newsletter!
Create and customize a template, use these sections and be consistent.
If you’re struggling with email marketing, I want to help.
I have a free resource that I would like to give you. And it is called How to Market Effectively With Email today. And I will put it in the show notes so that you can go over and sign up for this free guide that will help you so much with getting started with email marketing and creating your newsletter. I hope that this has been a helpful.
Questions? Join the Group!
If you have specific questions about hosting a virtual summit, I’d love to get those because that would help me to make sure that I’m covering everything that you’re interested in knowing during this series on the podcast. You can submit your questions inside The Christian Business Advantage Facebook group. I look forward to seeing you there!
