e-Newsletter Essentials

We have been thinking a lot about e-marketing lately. Our e-newsletter was recently featured on www.campaignmonitor.com and just this week, we attended a great conference held by the IIA that addressed effective e-marketing. Here are a few useful tips that we picked up for anyone considering the creation of an email newsletter:

- Don't be afraid to start small: A text-only newsletter is not a bad way to start. You can always add design and marketing elements as time and budget allow.

- Personalize: An e-newsletter can be a great way to open up communication with your clients. Business thrives on the personal touch.

- Keep it short and sweet: Studies have shown that e-newsletters should ideally be kept to 500 words maximum or 4-5 articles (with links to read more if the user is interested). E-newsletters with too much content tend to overwhelm the user and make them more likely not to read any content at all.

- Prioritize: Users are only likely to click through 2-3 links so make sure that important information is displayed prominently and easy to access.

- Evaluate your objective: Know what it is you want your e-newsletter to accomplish. Are you trying to acquaint yourself with your audience, call them to action, or establish long-term marketing/brand promotion? Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your approach and modify as necessary.

- Make it relevant to your client: Don't make the newsletter all "ME, ME, ME", and risk turning away a reader. Provide something helpful and of interest.

-Keep it legal: Did you know there are regulations governing what you can and can't do with emails?

Hope you found these tips helpful. If you want to find out more about e-marketing, check out these two informative sites: www.newsweaver.com and www.campaignmonitor.com