Publishing a newsletter is one of the smartest marketing strategies any company can use to build long-term, profitable customer relationships. But there is a secret to newsletter writing that helps to actually getting your newsletter read.

Let’s face it, you are the expert in your industry. Tell your customers about any new developments and introduce them to your new products or services. Give tips for using existing products or services. Offer them articles that help them learn.

Short, helpful articles about services you offer are the kind of pieces that generate pass-along referrals. Pass-along value makes your newsletter a great way for your current customers to refer you to their friends and colleagues.

If you run a house cleaning service, you know that your customers do some cleaning when you’re not there. Your newsletter should share cleaning tips your customers can use. That way your value goes beyond the cleaning you actually do. The chiropractor can do a short piece on back pain. The accountant can share Five Things Every Business Plan Should Have.

Readers love leadership-management tips. They love to read articles on saving money; in winter, for example, you might include the tips section Five Things You Can Do to Save Money on Your Heating Bill. Readers find such tips informative, helpful, and enjoyable.

Customers love stories. Don’t just describe what you do. There are certain times when you’re writing articles in your newsletter where you can be selling. After all, newsletters are sales letters in disguise. But there’s a way to do that so that it reads like a success story. Demonstrate your benefits for your customers by telling them a story about someone like them who succeeded because they purchased your product or service.

The real secret to writing customer newsletters that actually get read is writing from your customer’s point of view. Your newsletter must contain what I often refer to fun, entertaining, and informative content. You can learn more about this by visiting www.NoHassleNewsletters.com.

If you regularly publish a newsletter, the way that you write your newsletter is critical. Someone who picks up your monthly customer newsletter should be able to get the key points in any of your articles just by scanning.

Use simple subheads to highlight key points. If you have more than one key point in your text, you can use more than one subhead.  Use boldface to call attention to important words and phrases. Notice how your eye naturally is drawn to the boldfaced word in this paragraph. You want to stop a scanner dead in their tracks.

Because if a scanner scanning the newsletter doesn’t stop and read the articles, it’s not likely they’re going to get a lot out of it. The whole idea is you want them to read the newsletter.

There are also devices you can use to increase readability. Charts often make concepts clear. Bulleted lists are great for summarizing key points and make newsletters crisp, clear, and easy to read. I use all of these techniques when I design my No Hassle ‘done-for-you’ Newsletters.

The Secret to Selecting Typefaces

Headlines and body copy are the way that text is presented to the reader. You want your design to be both professional looking and readable. Start by fully understanding the following important terms.

A typeface is a style of type. This line is in a typeface called Times New Roman.

There are two basic kinds of typefaces that you’ll see in great newsletters.

1) There are “serif faces,” like Times New Roman. A “serif” is the little curl or footing on the letters. A book face is a typeface with both serifs and shading. Times New Roman is a book face.

2) There are also “sans-serif” typefaces. That means that there are no serifs on the letters. Arial, the typeface being used in this sentence, is a sans-serif typeface.

A font is the rendition of a letter or word in a typeface. This is Times New Roman 10-point font. Point is the size of the type. This is Times New Roman 10-point Bold.

Right now you’re probably thinking, “What does that have to do with me and my newsletter?” But this is important, so stay with me.

Pick up a major newspaper and look at it. You’ll notice that the newspapers all use similar typefaces. They use sans-serif typefaces for headlines. They use book faces for body copy. You should too. Sans-serif typefaces are good for headlines. The eye finds it easy to stop at the end of a line. Book faces are good for body copy. They encourage the eye to keep moving.

Read more about design techniques and strategies, and get some easy to use newsletter checklists in my book, The Magic of Newsletter Marketing – the Secret to More Profits and Customers for Life! It is available at Amazon.com or my Web site, www.NoHassleNewsletters.com.

Remember, newsletter writing is the most important part of great customer newsletters!

Is it your goal to write newsletters that touch your readers and help foster a sense of community?  No matter what business or industry you belong to these universal guidelines can enable you to produce content- and –context that make your newsletter an effective communications tool. 

Consistency

1)       Inform your readers that they can expect to receive your newsletter on a customary basis and that they can engage in open dialogue with you.  Your readers anticipate their copy of your newsletter as they would with any other publication they subscribe to.  A consistent delivery shows your reader you care and are informative with any up- to- date information. 

2)       Since your e-news does not require you to incur printing and shipping costs you should send it on a monthly or weekly basis.  You should keep your newsletter relatively straightforward and basic if you are sending it on a weekly timetable.  All your subscribers need is your informative content and nothing else. 

Let your newsletter play with the reader’s imagination

3)       It is imperative to keep your newsletter short and to the point.  Most online articles get deleted because they are too long and vague.  A good strategy is to post your link after the first few lines of your newsletter.  This strategy enables your reader to visit your website and raises the likelihood that they will learn from your newsletter and put a face (yours!) on what they just read.

4)       It is important to remember that your newsletters are not like traditional full-length books and you should dress them up graphics, boxes and sidebars.  These allow your readers to explore your newsletter and read their favorite parts.  Your layout should be simple to navigate since there are a lot of readers that like to skim around or read the last page of a publication first. 

Establish open dialogue with your readers

5)       Remember that your newsletter should convey a sense of community, so encourage your readers to engage you in open dialogue.  You can do this by inviting them to complete a short survey, a contest, a special offer, or to subscribe to your newsletter if they haven’t already.  You should have a sense of your reader’s interests.  If you don’t you should invite them to complete a short survey to find out their interests and what issues they think are important. 

6)       Get a sense of who your target audience is and write specifically to them.  Different audiences require different tones than others, so it is best to choose a tone that best fits your target audience.  The right tone enables your readers to appreciate your content and think that you care about them. 

Produce quality material

7)       Your work doesn’t have to necessarily be Hemingway, but make sure it is concise and easy to read.  Your newsletter should contain short sentences, one and two syllable words, and few or no subordinate clauses so your audience finds your content easy to read.  It is a good idea to use the spelling and grammar tool on your word processor to asses your reading level. 

8)       It’s important to proof read your work thoroughly!  I cannot stress that enough!  No matter what you’re writing or what your industry is, well tuned content conveys to your reader that you are responsible and care about your work. 

Jim Palmer is known internationally as ‘The Newsletter Guru’ – the go-to resource for smart, effective strategies that maximize the profitability of customer relationships. Jim is also the author of The Magic of Newsletter Marketing – The Secret to More Profits and Customers for Life. Get a free newsletter template at www.TheNewsletterGuru.com.

It’s summer and that’s usually a time when more reading is done. Given that I thought I’d depart from the topic of newsletter marketing to share some of what’s in my library. In no particular order, here are seven titles that have helped me grow both personally and professionally…here is what I am feeding my mind! 

1. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
2. The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren
3. No BS Direct Marketing by Dan Kennedy
4. Success Is an Inside Job by Lee Milteer
5. Raise the Bar by Mike Vance and Diane Deacon
6. Today Matters by John Maxwell
7. First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman 

Since I’m a little off topic today I also want to share with you something that has had perhaps the greatest impact on my business — joining a mastermind group. What is a mastermind group? It can best be described as one part board of directors and one part peer-advisory group. A mastermind group is a group of like-minded individuals who come together to contribute to each others’ success in a spirit of harmony and partnership.

The POWER of the mastermind experience is that it can lift your mind and vision to enable you to see things that you otherwise could not, most likely because you are too close to your business. Here’s the real secret — great minds don’t always think alike! That’s why the best leaders turn to mastermind groups. Just imagine sitting around a table with successful people from many different fields and walks of life, and having them freely, openly, and confidentially share what they would do to grow your business. My mastermind group is responsible for me starting my third business, which I will tell you about in the near future.

So what’s in your library that you’ve enjoyed reading? Drop me a note and let me know; I’d appreciate your recommendations.

            The best business newspapers consistently follow the same general layout, with the most important information in the same location every time. The Wall Street Journal is a worthwhile standard to follow because it always places the feature story in an easily accessible location. Subscribers do not have to search through the entire paper to find important information because it is reliably in the same position every time.

            Reliability entails more than just regular monthly delivery; it also requires reliable selection and placement of articles. Inconsistency creates unnecessary work for both the reader and the producer.

            Newspaper formatting should follow the grocery store format. The grocery store is reliable because a customer always knows where to go for his needs and wants. Just as it is inconvenient when the store changes the location of key items, it is also bothersome when a newsletter changes the location of certain articles. Therefore, it is best to maintain the same layout for a newsletter.

            Once the format has been finalized, the content of the newsletter can be selected. All great newsletters include a feature story and other regular features. Newsletters must also have content for the back page and miscellaneous stories of interest. Advertisements and a “letters to the editor” section are also necessary components of successful newspapers.

            In addition to a “letters to the editor” section, there should be a “word from the editor” section.  It only has to be a short composition that can include personal vignettes to give the readers a better picture of the person behind the paper. This section makes the paper more personal, as opposed to being strictly business. Many readers are attracted to the warmth of personality over cold, hard business.

            A successful monthly business newspaper follows the same format but continually changes content to remain up-to-date yet completely reliable.

Learn more newsletter marketing strategies by getting a copy of my book, The Magic of Newsletter Marketing – The Secret to More Profits and Customers for Life and by visiting No Hassle Newsletters.