We all do it. The days when your inbox is so overloaded you get the greatest satisfaction from a mass ‘delete’. Or you fervently unsubscribe to all your sign ups at the start of the New Year – it’s so cleansing, right?

But then something catches your eye when you’re trolling the interweb. You read about some cool project, a company you love, a product that’s a ‘must-have’ and before you know it, in a FOMO flurry, you’ve hit ‘subscribe’ or filled in that form.

They gotcha.

Email marketing continues to be a vital communications channel for all businesses in the days when inbox competition for attention from email subscribers remains fierce.  There’s plenty of newsletters that don’t hit the mark, that’s for sure. But every now and then, we get a newsletter that’s so good, not only do we read it, but we click it, share it, and recommend it to our friends.

So you want to be that winning newsletter

SMB’s are stepping up their game in the email marketing world. Focus on email marketing should be in your content marketing strategy for 2018 because it’s such an important strand in your multi-layered business growth strategy.

Think about it. You’ve got a potential or existing client who has already engaged with you to the extent that you’ve got their contact details. They’re willing for you to send them stuff they want or need to know, or want or need to buy (you get the drift).

So don’t stuff it up. Planning and good quality content is KEY to success. You want this to be a long-term relationship not a quick fling.

The ‘how to’ newsletter

Take ‘How to Dad’. He’s built a trusted brand by saying it like it is, with a good dose of Kiwi humour. He’s real. He’s so real and trusted a local electricity company has brought him on board as their brand ambassador to peddle a ‘good cause’.

So, back to your ‘how to’ newsletter.

Keep it real. Don’t be one of those automated email newsletters that just give us another morning task – deleting or marking as read (not read).

Exceptional newsletters or email marketing campaigns need to be cleverly written to attract attention. They should be personalised, filled with interesting graphics or images, and designed for mobile and desktop.

Above all, newsletters must contain a meaningful call-to-action. Every message must have a point to it.

And we do that how?

Try awesome subject lines and preview text. They’re always short and punchy, and they’re consistent and logical. BuzzFeed does this exceptionally well – they know their market.

Keep it simple. If you’ve got a deal or promo on the table, give it a brief initial description paired with a very clear call-to-action. The ‘skimmer’ subscribers can get the basics in a matter of seconds, while those who want to learn more are treated to a more detailed (still pleasingly simple), step-by-step explanation of how the deal works. Uber is a master at this.

Be consistent with your branding. Look at your website, social media photos, your app or other parts of your visual branding, and make sure your newsletter’s singing from that same songsheet. All communications and marketing assets should tell your brand’s story, and it makes your newsletter stand out from the inbox crowd.

What’s working and what’s not

There’s a few ways to measure what’s working and what’s not. Use your analytics, look at clicks etc. For relatively straightforward newsletter templates and measurable campaigns use something like Mailchimp to see how you’re going. Try sending out newsletters on different days of the week, different times, then look at which gets the most opens or clicks. Which parts of your newsletter are being read? Ask for feedback on content or timing – you can easily incentivise that. Keep changing and evolving and most of all, keep it real.

Regular, consistent and relevant communication with current clients is a crucial tool. Know the importance but stuck for words? Let us help, we’re wordsmiths after all.