This is very subjective – everyone has a different view of what they want in a newsletter, but we all get so many these days that those that are read consistently have to offer real value, consistently and repeatedly.
If you’re like me, you’ve signed up to various reports or giveaways at various times or given your card to people at networking meetings and now you’ve on their list. This means that you almost certainly get the occasional (or frequent) newsletter. If you’re not too busy and in a generous frame of mind you’ll probably read the first one you receive – but after that they simply get deleted if that first issue didn’t impress you with the value it provided.
You have a choice, you can find the newsletter’s ‘unsubscribe’ link and get off the list or you can just delete them as they come in. Most people I know delete rather than unsubscribe.
So what would get you to keep reading the newsletter, week after week, or month after month? For most of us it’s one of three things:
A typical reader does not want to know about you or your business’ progress; they want to know something that will help them to do something they can’t, or something that provides a solution for a problem. Information of value to the reader is right at the top of the list of things that keep people opening your newsletter. This means that you really need to know your readers very well indeed.
I read about ten newsletters reliably – these are some of my favourites:
Expert Gold by Gihan Perera Expertise about marketing online
The Media Coach by Alan Stevens Great entertainment and lots of useful tips on media interviews, speaking and social media.
Corporate Soul Tips by Molly Harvey Short tips that make you think about how you do business
Nigel Risner’s weekly newsletter Always manages to come up with an unusual spin on everyday ‘stuff’.
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox Tells you when Jakob has written another fascinating article
TGI Monday by Peter Thomson A short web-based weekly newsletter with a really clever viewpoint on how we behave – and how we could do better.
Whilst these are not the only newsletters I read, they’re a good selection of widely varying formats and styles. There is no magic formula, just great value issue after issue. Are you up to the challenge?
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