Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are a type of email that informs your audience of the latest news, tips, or updates about your product or company. They are one of the most powerful digital marketing tools since they allow you to connect with your audience on a deeper level. Email newsletters also give you the freedom to promote your products professionally, keep your subscribers engaged, and be up-to-date on your latest business trends.

So from this, the overall question is: How can I use email newsletters in the most effective way possible?

Well, this Byter guide will give you the breakdown on email marketing violations to avoid such as: “Blasting”, using the greeting “Hi friend”, and not segmenting your list. These always lead to the infamous “Mark as Read” situation, which only damages the growth and interaction of your business. As well as the ways you can become a practised email marketer, and bring your email newsletters to the next level.

4 STEPS TO MASTERING YOUR EMAIL NEWSLETTER SKILLS

Establish whether your company is a niche

If your company classifies as a niche then understand that you do not need to oversaturate your subscriber’s inboxes with content that may or may not be applicable to them. Instead, you need to be selective and specific. This means that you should be delivering content that only a particular audience will appreciate. You don’t want everyone, just the right people.

For instance, Gary’s guide is a New York-specific “digest” which has been considered as one of the best go-to sources for what’s happening in the NYC start-up scene. It has the most comprehensive list of events, classes, and job listings of anything on the internet. Now take New York start-ups as a niche, and consider how Gary’s methods are more structured and targeted towards an explicit audience. As shown below, here is an example of Gary’s email newsletters. But why do you think his strategy works?

These newsletters work because they cater to a small, specific group of people. Gary isn’t trying to please everyone, instead, he is trying to turn people off in the hopes that he will attract his community of loyal subscribers.

Keep your content valuable, thoughtful, and relevant

I bet you get sent a bunch of useless, annoying, and irrelevant emails every day which either gets deleted or “Marked as Read”. Well, this can be easily avoided by simply curating content that is careful, methodical, and thoughtful. Your subscribers will thank you for it! But how can this be done?

Well, the simplest answer for that is to gather a deeper understanding of your audience and what they care about. So ask yourself, ‘What are my brand values and my ethos?’

These are what form the foundation of your business, so these are the primary reasons why your audience likes your business. For example, if you have a skincare company that values making people feel beautiful then if you center your newsletters around making your audience feel beautiful then this is the content that will most likely be read. Your audience and yourself should share the same values.

Austin Kleon is the master of this! His links are thoughtful and relevant. As well as showing evidence that he’s actually read what he recommends. Here is an example of his high-quality curation:

     

Instead of using a baited headline, Kleon hyperlinks the hook: “Which contains his funny rant about the Broadway musical, Rent.” Who doesn’t want to read that?! Kleon knows what his audience cares about because it’s what he cares about. He’s built a career and a brand around creativity, the arts, and funny drawings. So that’s what he delivers!

Include context and personality

Sit back, relax and think for a minute. You’ve just finished a long day at work and your manager has been on your case all day. You get a phone call from your BFF, spouse, friend, or family member, so you spill all the tea.

Now, open your eyes! What would you be saying? And how would you say it? Maybe you’ll spill a few witty remarks, or you’ll disclose some background information that isn’t even about your day but it adds to the story, right? Well, this is the same thing.

The reason these “roundups” and “blasts” work is because they’re housed within useful context. They’re not actually a long list of boring headlines you skim.

Austin Kleon is another great example of this:

Kleon makes you feel like he’s writing directly to you

Hyperlinking context gamifies the context, you don’t know what you’ll get until you click

Kleon’s style of writing is unique and specific, so it is how he remains connected to his audience. He is known for being pragmatic and hilarious.

Create newsletters that are visually and aesthetically-pleasing

Finally, not only should your newsletters be crafted in an audience-specific way but they should also look clean, simple, and uncluttered.

     For example:

As you can see both examples are simple, yet satisfying. Design exists to serve content. The design showcases content, it is not the star.

Email Newsletters are an effective vehicle for communicating with your audience. However, email newsletters can only be successful if you are always mindful of what your audience wants to read, instead of what is important for your company. Refer to the Byter strategies and examples above for more guidance on mastering your email marketing skills. Once you feel that you are a professional, give us an update! We’d love to hear about it!

Are you looking for more guidance on Digital and Social Media Marketing? Do you need to strengthen your marketing techniques and your business strategies? Well, check out our other detailed and informative Byter guides.