How to Start a Successful Newsletter
Starting a newsletter at this age and time is highly important. This is due to the fact that a newsletter is an effective channel for individuals and businesses aiming to provide valuable information and connect with a distinct or varied audience. It is also a direct way to build a loyal fanbase or customer base amidst the noise and competition online.
Thankfully, creating a newsletter is not rocket science, but you must follow certain steps to have a seamless and rewarding journey. Thus, we have provided a step-by-step guide to help you get started. Let’s get right into it.
1. Determine the Objectives of Your Newsletter
There are several things to consider before starting a newsletter, but one that tops the list is determining why you want to do it and what you intend to achieve by doing it. Do you want to solve a problem, promote a narrative, sell a product or service, educate people on a specific subject, or build influence?
Moreover, determining the goals of your newsletter helps you:
- Understand your driving force and the value you want to offer subscribers.
- Gain clarity on your niche and general content theme.
- Refrain from beating around the bush in your letters.
- Make the right decisions subsequently.
Meanwhile, note that you can have multiple goals for your newsletter. For example, you can have an educational newsletter and still provide readers with a link at the bottom to purchase a product or service. Nonetheless, unifying your objectives and creating a cohesive experience for readers is important.
2. Identify Your Target Audience
After determining the purpose and objectives of your newsletter, the next line of action is to identify people that will benefit from your content directly or indirectly. For instance, if you want to sell or create content surrounding hair care products or services, you want to target hair-based businesses and male and female demographics between 18 and 50 years.
So, to identify your target audience, analyse competitors or people sharing similar content as yours to see who they are reaching. Probe further to grasp these people’s pain points, interests, and other defining features. This may require a lot of work, but it is ultimately worth it.
You can also check your insights on various social media platforms where you’re active to understand your followers, who will most likely become your foremost subscribers.
3. Develop a Newsletter Marketing Strategy
Identify diverse ways to market your newsletter across different channels. You can leverage sponsored ads on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or pay influencers to promote your brand on their pages.
In addition, you can explore collaboration opportunities with other people or brands with similar target audiences. Cross-promote each other’s newsletters or businesses to your respective subscribers. Doing so can expand your reach, introducing your newsletter to a new audience that may find your content interesting.
Furthermore, when developing your marketing strategy, specify the frequency of your newsletter distribution—weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly by creating a content calendar. This will enable you to streamline your content strategy, urging your audience to build anticipation for each edition.
4. Build Your Subscriber List
Your subscriber list is a directory of potential customers or followers interested in reading your letters. To populate the list, create an intuitive subscription signup form to get subscribers’ basic contact information and explicit consent to send them newsletters. In the form, you can request name, location, age, gender, and interests to enable you to segment your list properly when necessary.
Encourage people to sign up by offering them something of value, such as a discount, free resource, or exclusive content. Likewise, share the link, add it to your bio across social media platforms, and encourage your existing followers or customer base to do the same.
You can also integrate a newsletter single or double opt-in message into your website or blog as a pop-up to enable your website visitors to sign up and join the ride easily. And if you must import your existing contacts into your subscriber list, ensure you have their full permission before doing so to avoid being flagged as spam.
5. Choose a Newsletter Platform or Software
Gone are the days when letters were sent manually. Hence, having a dedicated newsletter platform or software that simultaneously delivers your letters to your subscribers’ inboxes is essential. Research and create a list of top-ranked newsletter platforms and assess each based on the following:
- Scalability: Ability to function properly as your subscriber list grows without compromising quality and speed.
- Pricing: Signup fee, payment mode, and other financial commitments.
- Intuitiveness: Ease of use without requiring advanced knowledge.
- Template designs: If they’re customizable and aesthetically suitable for your content needs.
- Automation: Ability to handle bulk messaging effectively.
- Analytics and reporting: Availability of real-time reporting and analytics features to evaluate and reveal the performance of your newsletters based on open, click-through, and read rates.
These newsletter platforms creators can use have a myriad of features that allow for more engaging content. After making your pick, set up your account on the platform—following the platform’s on-screen, instructions and get ready to send your first letter.
6. Curate Your Newsletter Content
To many people, reading newsletters is one of the best ways to stay informed while unplugging their life. Thus, make it count for them through your content. Prioritize churning out quality, valuable newsletters that will inform, educate, or uplift readers.
- Be conversational but professional.
- Keep your content concise and simple.
- Proofread and check your content for errors, including grammar and punctuation.
- Use attention-grabbing headlines.
- Ensure your newsletter legally complies with all digital and regional laws and contains verifiable facts.
- Utilize visual elements like images, infographics, or videos to enhance readability and engagement.
- Add a closing remark and a call-to-action.
- Use headers to partition your content.
- Be unique, and don’t use the same content you share on social media as newsletters.
One more thing, you may not always be motivated to develop content for your audience. Hence, leveraging your light-bulb moments to bulk-create content or brainstorm newsletter ideas for “rainy” days is advisable. That way, you don’t have to starve your audience or feel overwhelmed. Your content ideas could range from how-to’s, trends, breaking news, and editorials.
7. Design a Newsletter Template
Besides your content, one of the best ways to stand out in your subscribers’ inboxes is to use a visually-appealing newsletter template. Fortunately, most newsletter platforms have a wide range of design templates you can tweak to suit your content style.
8. Preview, Schedule, and Send Your Newsletter
Once you have successfully created your newsletter template, the next step is to fill in the necessary fields and add your content—including all visual elements. Afterward, preview your newsletter to ensure everything looks and feels as intended.
You can also send it to yourself and a couple of friends to check how it appears on different devices. Then, schedule it to be sent to subscribers at a particular date and time. This ensures that your newsletter is delivered at the right time for maximum impact.
9. Evaluate Performance
Simply sending your newsletter and leaving it at that, hoping to return later to do the same, won’t suffice. It is essential to regularly monitor and evaluate its performance—using different analytical tools at your disposal.
Stay updated on your newsletter’s open rates, click-through rates, and overall engagement to understand its outcomes fully. Also, carefully review and analyse every data to gain insights into how to improve or refine your content and strategies accordingly. And if you’re unsure about how to go about it, do not hesitate to utilize the expertise of a data analyst.
In addition, you can assess your newsletter based on the opinions of readers. Encourage two-way communication by actively seeking feedback from subscribers about the newsletter. You can also send surveys or polls across channels where your subscribers are most active.
Build Your Online Presence With a Newsletter
Newsletters have become an integral part of today’s digital marketing mix. So, whether you’re a business owner or an individual trying to show authority in a specific niche, starting a newsletter will help you connect with your target audience.
However, consistency is key to building your online presence with newsletters. Regularly provide subscribers with newsletters that are worth reading to stay on top of your game. Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things as you advance.
