Effective newsletters

1. Know your goals. Is your newsletter designed to develop new business, or expand your relationship with existing clients?
2. Outline your plan. Decide on content that will help you achieve your goal.
3. Stay true to your brand. Incorporate your logo, colors, and fonts into the newsletter. Be consistent and recognizable.
4. Make your newsletter reader-friendly. Keep content short and concise, and break up copy with pull-quotes and bullet points.
5. Make it senior-friendly. Use a large font size and straightforward graphics.
6. Beware of the product push. No more than 5 percent of newsletter content should be product-related, if you mention a specific product at all.
7. Create a dialogue. Give your readers outlets to provide feedback with questions or comments.
8. Choose your words wisely. Don’t use obscure terms and don’t go overboard with exclamation points.
9. Have it proofread. Make sure someone else reads your newsletter prior to sending it out. A different set of eyes will catch things you miss.
10. Consider an e-mail marketing service. If you are sending an e-newsletter, these services have templates, list management and tracking features that can improve quality and save time.

Source: Adapted from “Create effective newsletters” by Carrie Le Grice, Dec. 2005 Senior Market Advisor.