Congratulations! You have created an opt-in or have started collecting email addresses from your audience and now have an email-marketing list. Now what? You need to start sending your audience emails on a consistent basis. This can feel overwhelming for a lot of people, especially when it comes to finding content and sticking to a regular send schedule.
The trick to successful email marketing is consistency. So, first things first create an email template that you can use time and time again.
What should my email template look like?
Headers: Your newsletter should have a header – think of it as an equivalent to a newspaper’s name on the top of its front page. The header should be visually appealing and have your company name and/or logo. You can create headers easily using online image design tools such as PicMonkey and Canva.
Colour Scheme: You should also have a consistent colour scheme – the colours in your logo usually dictate this. You can carry these colours throughout your email as link colours, heading colours, etc.
Subheadings or sections: Newsletters that are broken up by subheadings or section breaks are easy to read and are “skimmable” for those who hesitate to read long emails. You should also make sure your font is clear and the font size is easy to read on a computer as well as mobile device screens. Stick to standard fonts; don’t get too fancy.
Pictures: Break up the text by using pictures. You don’t necessarily have to create new images for your newsletter – instead reuse images from a relevant blog post!
What to say in a newsletter
Creating a content calendar is the easiest and most efficient way to ensure you have content ideas for your newsletter. You can create monthly themes that are relevant to what is going on in your business at that particular time and then not only plan to send newsletters surrounding that theme, but also create blog posts and social media posts around the same theme. You should also include any new products, upcoming workshops and relevant events.
How often should I send a newsletter?
At the very least you should be sending your audience a newsletter once a month. Ideally, you should be sending it once a week. The key is consistency and to not let too much time lapse between emails – after all, you don’t want your audience to forget why they signed up to receive your emails in the first place.
What day and time should I send my newsletter?
Keep your eye on the stats (your open rates and click through rates) to see when people are opening and engaging with your emails and don’t be afraid to experiment with your send times and dates to find a schedule that works well for your audience. Like everything else in marketing, finding just the right email schedule will take some time.