How can I create a great newsletter to promote my business?

Answer 1

1. Get a Mailing List

If you have been in business for a length of time, you probably already have the workings of a mailing list through existing customers and prospects. If you are new in business, there are many suppliers of mailing lists in the marketplace. It’s a good idea to start small and test the receptiveness of your newsletter and your current client and prospect list is a great place to start.

2. Have a Newsletter Template

Microsoft Word is a very easy way to create a newsletter.

The mailing method that I recommend involves uploading documents to the United States Post Office website. This service requires either Microsoft Word documents, or Adobe Acrobat Reader documents. If you mail the newsletters yourself, you can choose any method you desire.

3. Get Some Articles

Where to Get Articles: “Where am I going to get the articles?” That’s always the question for small business owners. Generally, small business owners don’t have time to write the articles themselves because of the time demands of their business.

There are many great sources of free and low-cost articles that you can obtain the rights to re-print. One easy and free source is GoArticles (http://www.goarticles.com/) that provides free to re-print articles on a variety of topics. When you choose this approach, you will need to include a “resource box” with your article that contains contact information of the original author. For a start-up newsletter, this is a great way to go because it keeps the cost down, but be sure to read the articles closely—some of these articles are very good and some are not. Remember, it’s YOUR newsletter, not theirs!

Another free source is to network with a local college and offer unpaid internships for writing articles through the school’s business or journalism departments. You could also offer a stipend if it is in your budget. Many students will be happy to write for the experience and even more will write for a very small amount of money.

A third source is to hire someone to write the articles for you. While this is more costly, you will most likely get a better article. Part of the fee you pay will be that you own the “rights” to the article and do not have to list the contact information of the original author and it appears as though you are the author yourself. This is called “ghost writing” and it is very popular among many famous authors.

A fourth source is to contact your vendors. Often times, they have ready to print what are called “byline articles” that you can add in your newsletter.

Or, you could write the articles yourself. This is really not the preferred way for small businesses because of the time involved. However, it is an option and does bear mentioning. If you use a re-print service like GoArticles, you might want to have at least one of the articles written by you and two or three other articles by other people.

What Kind of Articles: Most of the time it makes sense to have the articles be about your line of business—for example, financial planners can create articles about financial planning. However, that doesn’t always have to be the case. I know of one financial planner that has a very successful newsletter that contains articles about health, spirituality, and career—but never about the finances!

Another successful music store added a feature to their newsletter—a calendar of music events in the area. This simple one-page newsletter had on one side the calendar of events of all music concerts and on the other side a list of every used piano and price for sale at the store. Every piano teacher in the state got a copy and kept it pinned on the wall next to their calendar all month long—it became a regular resource.

Here’s two more examples of off-topic newsletters: one very successful newsletter for an Italian restaurant contains articles about travel to Italy and Italian history. Another real estate agent sends out emotionally positive pictures of his family and local events. Great ideas, both!


4. Create a Schedule and Prepare Newsletters

How Often Do You Publish: This is up to you, but most studies show that a monthly newsletter works well. This keeps your business in front of your prospects and customers once a month in a non-threatening manner and at the same time allows for a month to prepare the publication.

Choose a schedule that works for you, but remember that it is far more important that you stick with that schedule! Creating a monthly newsletter for a few months and then stopping may have the opposite effect.

How Many Articles per Newsletter: A good and simple newsletter can work with three or four articles on three or four pages. In the sample I give, I use three pages and reserve the fourth page for the mailing information at the printer.

You don’t need to “cram” the newsletter full of information—just give a newsletter that is easy to read and has useful information.

Prepare Newsletters: With a proper template and Microsoft Word, you can just drop the articles in place using basic word processor skills. Once the articles are chosen and edited, a simple three or four page newsletter can be created from a template in a matter of minutes.

5. Send the Newsletter Out

I use the United States Postal Service website (http://www.usps.gov/) for uploading the newsletter and mailing. It is easy to register an account and upload not only the newsletter but also the mailing list. They print it, they send it.

I can even schedule when I want a newsletter to go out—with this tool, I can create three or four monthly newsletters all at once and schedule them to be mailed out several months in advance. This way, I don’t miss a scheduled mailing.

The cost? On Friday, March 03, 2006 (after a recent postal increase), I ran a simple quote of a 3-page newsletter in black and white on 8 ½” x 11” paper—the sample “Annuity Opportunities” newsletter. I can send this newsletter to 100 recipients for $43.30 or to 1,000 recipients for $433.00. That averages out to just over $0.43 per contact, including printing costs. I find that the print quality is very good.

There are other options with this service, including color printing, more pages, etc. The option selected is what they call “Flyer” or “Self-Mailer” and it is usually the option I use. Also, there are many fine mailing houses to complete your mailings for you—or you could do it yourself. The advantage of doing it yourself is that if you use a first class stamp, studies show that it is more likely to be opened.

Answer 2

if you want a free online newsletter check out http://www.merchantcircle.com

they are new and have a set of tools to help promote a business.

worth a look.

hope this helps.

Answer 3

If you mean physically, get a free copy of Open Office and a Template for newsletter also free and go for it.

Answer 4

The most important thing is the writing. Make it short and punchy. Most likely people will only read the headline and maybe the first paragraph so make sure everything you want to say is at the beginning.

On top of that make sure the layout is clean and organized, that the text isn't too small and include pictures with stories.

Answer 5

what kind of business is it? Do you want to do a paper newsletter or an enewsletter?

Answer 6

go to google.com and type in examples of news letters. search the results, you should be able to find something that fits your business. good luck.