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10 Tips for a Great Multipurpose Newsletter

10 Tips for Great Newsletters

In a steady, pervasive way, our economy has shifted from one where the greatest value is produced in the manufacture of goods and services to one where the greatest value is mined from data, ideas and knowledge. In such an information age, being generous with your knowledge and expertise carries a great reward. Get that information, advice, data and news out to your public with a newsletter – one that is printed, mailed and cross-purposed into an e-mail resource. You can compile the newsletter from your online blog content, or work in reverse… build your blog with the information you have gathered for your newsletter communications. While information about sales, new product lines and commerce is important, the talent and technical education you and your staff have in your field is perhaps even more valuable to your clients. Sharing it with them will make you trusted and remembered.

Content is king

For sure, all of this can be time-consuming. As small business owners, that time is precious and often scarce both for you and your staff. To help, below are some helpful tips for gathering and preparing great newsletter content.

  1. Name your newsletter. You don’t have to be overly catchy or clever, but think of your newsletter as your own magazine, with a unique title and a clear editorial focus. A suitable, memorable name will allow it to stand out and be recognized once you have loyal readers.
  2. Share your personality. No matter how clinical or technical your field, relay your excitement and interest in what you do for a living in a human voice. Inject your personality into the copy and let readers feel there is a person behind what is being written. Consider including a photo of yourself or your staff as well to establish that human connection with your readers.
  3. Write what you know – use who you know. The information you already possess in running your successful business is your richest source for content. Write about your company’s mission, goals, decision making process, failures and successes. And be sure to rely on your staff as well. Every employee is a source for topic ideas and stories based on their unique experience and knowledge within the company. At the very least, require each employee to submit one story idea a month. Make contacts with other industry blogs online and ask to “guest-blog” an article for them in exchange for one of their own.
  4. Take lots of photos – use them wisely. While stock photography serves a great purpose, nothing is more authentic than photographs you have taken yourself of relevant scenes, people, and products. Since you most likely have a great camera in your smartphone, remember to use it throught your work day. They can be used to illustrate your articles.
  5. Establish serialized columns. Familiarity is an asset when you are vying for a reader’s time. Set up one or two features that appear in every issue of your newsletter. For instance, “FAQ’s” or “Did You Know….” or “Ask an Expert” are all regular column ideas that people are comfortable with and can easily browse.
  6. Write smart headlines. To catch someone’s eye, headlines and graphics are at the top of the list. But remember a good headline also needs to accurately describes the topic of the article. I notice many publications rely on an incessant use of puns, song and movie titles or catchy “plays on words” as headlines. For instance, a story wind velocity and roof repair gets called “Gone With the Wind.” Is it really that funny? No. Does it explain what the article is about? Well, beyond the fact that it involves wind, no. It’s clear an editorial choice has been made that requires each article use this device as a headline. It becomes tiresome and misleading. A great pun can work well as a headline – feel free to get creative – but straight talk can also do the job.
  7. Be accessbile. Use your newsletter to provide as many ways as possible for someone to reach you: phone numbers, web addresses and links, maps to your locations both online and in the real world. Let people know you want them to be in touch.
  8. Do not think of your newsletter as a piece of paper. Yes, you will want to print, mail and distribute physical copies of your newsletters to employees, current clients and the public. But begin to think of the newsletter as the information itself. It will take the form of a printed piece, but can also be repurposed into blog posts, e-newsletters, and website information. Just be sure to learn the rules for email marketing and don’t let yourself inadvertently run afoul of the CAN-SPAM act.
  9. Employ social media and the internet. Staying in touch with your industry peers online through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and relevant trade association or industry websites provides you with a wealth of topic information and inspiration for your content, as well as serving as an avenue to promote your newsletter/blog/website. Check out exmples of other newsletters and a plethora of blog posts like this one giving advice on how to write, design and distribute your newsletters. Stay connected.
  10. Be consistent. If you plan to publish a monthly newsletter, stick to your schedule. Do not miss a month, especially early on when you are hoping to gain reader loyalty. Also, be consistent in your editorial approach.

Rely on your printer for advice and direction in creating and distributing your newsletters, by mail or online. They should be able to provide you with everything from encouragement all the way to the complete design, layout, copywriting, production, multi-purposing and distribution of your periodic marketing outreach. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

 

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.
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Getting Ready for Big Data: Take a Look at Your Mail List

Mail Lists, Databases and Big Data

Our privacy is shrinking… or at least our concept of privacy is certainly evolving into something new in a world where just about everything we do, think, read, buy, eat, spend, or consume is digitally tracked. In such a world, your small business database of information on your customers is gold. It is not only how you stay in contact with clientele for invoicing, shipping, and marketing, but in the new world of “BIG DATA” it will increasingly define your profits and growth. Up until now, your data on each customer might be as straightforward as name, address and phone number or email. But as progress continues, you will be presented with the opportunity to gather FAR more data on individuals such as purchasing history, income, political and social affiliations, their avenues of consuming information and purchasing goods, their interests, dislikes, lifestyle and so on. Being able to organize, interpret and manipulate this data for more effective marketing will be at the core of your business’ success.

For now, even if your database is essentially a spreadsheet with customers and their contact information, spending the time to get all this information correct, organized, delimited and “usable” for various marketing efforts is time well spent. Standardization for every entry and every category of information is critical. If you have many folks all entering data into your system about customers or transactions, they all need to be doing so in the exact same way… the “rules” need to all be standardized so that, for instance Mary J. Sawyer, Mrs. MJ Sawyer, Ms. M. Jane Sawyer, Sawyer Mary J., and M. J. Sawyer are not all entered in your database like 5 different people! At a very basic level, that is an important first step.

We do mailings and variable data printing for many clients, and to receive what could be called “clean” data for a mailing is truly the exception rather than the rule. We have methods to “correct” and clean up data, but the sad part of that is usually clients do not want the “new”, corrected data back… so the errors continue to live and repeat in their database – a costly shame.

When you do a mailing, the USPS requires that the address information meet NCOA requirements. NCOA is the National Change of Address program that makes available to mailers the last 48 months of updated addresses where folks have moved or changed address. It flags duplicates and corrects out-of-date address information. Further sorting and certification software for mailing will standardize address spelling, zip codes, street numbers and other inaccurate information. But it is essential that once you have paid your printer or mailhouse to correct and use your database list for a mailing, that you recover that new information and reintegrate it into your database. It is the first step toward “cleaning house” and starting a good first step into the world of “big data” manipulation.

Be sure to ask your printer about how to best streamline the process of supplying your mailing list to them AS WELL AS them returning the corrected, updated list back for reintegration into your database. They will help you set up a routine that makes the file transfer flawless and easy. The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

 

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.
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How to Handle Spam and Email Scams

There is nothing more frustrating than a full inbox, especially when most of the emails are unsolicited spam from shysters overseas. Often times they will send professional looking emails, acting as a professional representative of a reputable company.

For instance, a company called Domain Registry of America (DROA) has been scamming for years. In 2003 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint on DROA for deceptive practices. Yet DROA and others are still at it, sending spam to the masses trying to gain control over domain names.

How Do I Combat Spam?

Mark as Spam in Your Email Program/Client

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to stop these emails from appearing in your inbox. The best way to handle these emails is to simply ignore them, mark them as spam in your email client, and delete them from your email completely. If you ever have doubt or feel you need help figuring out if the email is legitimate, don’t hesitate to ask a person who is more savvy than you are. Also, try a Google search for the company or the “from” email address and look for other people posting about the scam and their experiance with that particular company or email address.

File a Complaint to the FTC

If you wish to take action you can file an official complaint the FTC on their website. To file a complaint with the FTC, visit https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov.