The top 4 reasons to start an email newsletter

I have met a handful of business owners out there for whom a website was not an absolute necessity. It happens occasionally. But every single business owner and nonprofit out there can benefit from running a consistent email newsletter.

Let’s take a look at four great reasons to start a newsletter.

Demonstrates Good Communication

First, a newsletter demonstrates good communication. That assumes it is published on a regular, consistent schedule with good writing. How often depends on your audience and your business, but I generally recommend anywhere from once a month to once a week.

My potential clients are people looking for a website, help with social media, or some other online marketing assistance. They are frequently business owners or executive directors for nonprofits. Their online marketing is only one of many things they have to think about. So we send out our newsletter on a monthly basis.

Someone who provides ongoing training for salespeople has a target market who lives and breathes sales day in and day out. That audience is much more likely to want to hear tips more frequently. So for our client who provides such training, we send out a newsletter on a weekly basis.

Shows Your Expertise and Professionalism

Second, an email newsletter shows your expertise and professionalism. This takes both a well-designed newsletter and well thought-out content.

Your newsletter may be the main way a prospect hears about you and your business on a regular basis. So you’ll need to put your best foot forward. Since a newsletter is design plus content, make sure you put a lot of thought into both.

Although you may come up with more than one design for different purposes (announcing new services, event invitations, etc.), in general that is a one-time effort and expense. Your content, on the other hand, is not.

You do need to spend some initial time making a plan for your newsletter’s content, so that your subscribers know what to expect from email to email. But then you have to maintain that consistency over time.

Establishes Trust

Which brings us to the third reason, a good newsletter establishes trust. And really, that’s a byproduct of the other things we’ve talked about.

In your newsletters, you should demonstrate good, regular communication, consistent professionalism, and dependable expertise. And over the course of time, that establishes trust.

But do as much as you can up-front to help that trust along. Provide clear unsubscribe instructions and contact information. That’s not just a good suggestion, it’s the law.

Reminds People of Your Presence

Finally, the fourth reason is simply to remind people of your presence. Although social media is another fantastic way to do this online, nothing replaces putting a regular reminder directly in the inbox of someone who actually wants it.

If you look at those four reasons and think that you could benefit from just one of them, then it’s time for you to start an email newsletter. If you’d like help from us at T&S Web Design, contact us today.