Newsletters have been around for centuries, their popularity fluctuating along with the state of the media as times change. While a company newsletter might seem like a marketing artifact of the past to some people, newsletters continue to be a great option for communicators who wish to control both the narrative around their organization and how it is distributed.
Smart brands know that an engaging email newsletter can help them connect with today’s consumers more easily and for less cost than many other modern methods of outreach. The members of Forbes Agency Council understand how valuable a company newsletter that is conceived and executed well can be to a brand, and below, they outline 16 important things a brand can achieve.
1. Positioning Your Firm As The Industry Expert
Demonstrate your expertise by including a valuable tip, a “Did You Know?” feature or a “Dear Abby” type of Q&A section run by an expert in your company to provide advice on challenges your readers may have, allowing them to submit questions to be addressed. Providing real-world, helpful information positions your firm as the industry expert. – Eyal Danon, Ignite Advisory Group
2. Maintaining A Buzz
For companies that want to maintain a buzz, dedicated and consistent outreach is critical. Newsletters, however, need a focused effort to maintain their value. Does the content focus on the right audience? Is it valuable information or is it losing steam? Make sure you’re not sending them too often, and keep them brief with snackable content. Then the engagement will continue to be strong. – Leeza Hoyt, The Hoyt Organization, Inc.
3. Achieving More Sales
You can actually achieve more sales through an email newsletter. Your email list offers another touch point that can help the sales team tremendously. Make sure to share helpful and valuable information with your newsletter audience and correlate any related messaging that your sales team has. – John Sammon, Sixth City Marketing
4. Activating Your Expertise To Become A Thought Leader
It is easy to demonstrate your expertise as an individual online, but activating that expertise is what makes you a true thought leader. With a newsletter, you have the opportunity to demonstrate this expertise in the inboxes of your ideal clients, current clients and others in your community without any additional barriers. Share a weekly newsletter and ask current clients to refer people to it. – Vix Reitano, Agency 6B
5. Building Customer Trust And Brand Loyalty
Email and text are being more broadly used in marketing to help build deeper customer trust and brand loyalty. Newsletters are a great way to provide personalized value to your customers and audiences. Not only can you provide value to them by way of sharing content that matters to them and gets them engaged, but you can also use newsletters as a way to garner feedback and spark conversation. – Ashlee Piga, Lotus Digital
6. Staying Top Of Mind
Email marketing can remind consumers of a business while also sharing the business’ latest news. Consistency is key when it comes to the schedule for distribution. This way, your subscribers aren’t being overwhelmed and know when to expect the emails. E-newsletters could be sent weekly, monthly or quarterly, depending on what works best for the company and its audience. – Durée Ross, Durée & Company, Inc.
7. Targeting And Engaging Future Customers
A newsletter helps target and engage your future customers. Brands spend a lot of time focused on converting prospects but very little on engaging and nurturing those who might not be ready to buy yet, but will be in a number of months or years. When you build a brand program that nurtures future prospects, it makes converting them far easier (and less expensive!) in the future. – Chris Toy, MarketerHire
8. Highlight How Your Brand Solves Customers’ Problems
You can use your newsletter to highlight how your brand solves your customers’ problems. Whether the advice takes the form of a proper case study or a more casual story or interview, show your readers on a regular basis how your product, service and team provide thoughtful answers and real-world solutions. Be sure to include detailed feedback from any customer featured in a newsletter article. – Scott Greggory, MadAveGroup
9. Becoming More Knowledgeable Of Your Industry
Not only can your brand reach a larger audience and create engagement by starting a newsletter, but it can also lead you to become more knowledgeable about your industry as a whole. The more knowledgeable we become, the more likely we are to become experts, which enables us to create content in a way that provides real value to those who take the time to read it. – Russ Williams, Archer Malmo
10. Nurturing Your Existing Audience
Newsletters allow you to nurture your existing audience and get them more engaged with the brand and the content you produce. To make sure your newsletters connect with your audience, you need to be able to offer them something. From educational tips and advice to entertaining content, exclusive offers and deals, you need to entice your audience with what your newsletter offers. – Lisa Montenegro, Digital Marketing Experts – DMX Marketing
11. Letting Customers Know What You Believe In
A newsletter provides a lot of text-heavy real estate where you can share a lot of information. It can serve as a great vehicle to really let consumers get to know you and what you believe in. Think about those things that your brand stands for—charitable organizations and social issues you support and more—and inform consumers about why these issues are important to you and how you (and they) can offer support. – Lori Paikin, NaviStone®
12. Maintaining An Up-To-Date Customer Database
While it may not be the most immediately obvious use, newsletters can be a valuable way to maintain an up-to-date customer database. You can use the data they provide to regularly remove unused email addresses, send re-opt-in communications and narrow your focus on the most highly engaged accounts. – Chris Martin, FlexMR
13. Introducing New Offerings
When pushing new products, services or merchandise, a newsletter can be the perfect introduction to your potential customer. Push notifications and intrusive alerts can often lead to page blocks and fewer subscribers, but a well-put-together email newsletter can convert a potential customer or reengage an existing one. – Jordan Edelson, Appetizer Mobile LLC
14. Collecting First-Party Data From Customers
Newsletters are an efficient way to collect first-party data from customers. As third-party identifiers are phased out, finding the best ways to collect the right information from consumers should be priority No. 1. The acquisition of first-party data is becoming the most effective way for brands to gain an advantage over competitors, and a newsletter is a valuable tactic to help with these efforts. – Annette Sally, Blue Sky Agency
15. Weaving An Effective SEO Strategy
SEO does double duty in newsletters that use backlinks to services or future events. A newsletter helps to increase your keyword presence and drive readers to your site by offering an interactive, clickable link. Keep a list of target phrases and links to choose from handy when writing anything, from social updates to thought leadership pieces. – Evan Nison, NisonCo
16. Generating Analytics To Improve Future Communications
One benefit of an e-newsletter is the analytics it generates, which can help improve future communications. Email software allows you to see not only whether your recipients opened the email but also what actions they took. This allows companies to refine their messaging to specific audiences and nurture them. The content in your newsletter or e-blast can provide thought leadership, educate audiences or be promotional. – Michelle Abdow, Market Mentors, LLC
