Getting a following can be one of the most difficult parts of starting (and maintaining) a business. The flood of social media posts, the constant sharing with your friends and family, and all the encouragement to share, share, share! That’s only the beginning, though. What do you do once you have a substantial number of people listening?
Newsletters are a bit of a mystery in the online commerce world – how much is too much? When does a weekly email become less informative and more obnoxious? How do we avoid becoming an email that gets instantly sent to trash, or even worse, to the dreaded spam folder?
A Few Tips for Distribution
Learning how and when to distribute new information through newsletters can feel overwhelming at first. That’s why we recommend starting out with a mailing service like Mailchimp that can help keep you and your email list organized.
Don’t jump straight into bombarding your audience with content. If there’s anything we’ve learned during this pandemic, it’s that information, when taken in at a rapid rate, can be TOO MUCH. Take some time between mailings to generate newsletters that are actually beneficial to readers so that they will want to keep receiving them.
What to Say (And What NOT to Say)
Keep things nice and simple with these emails. No one is opening up your newsletter to read a 15-page monologue on your newest body fragrance line. And in case they are looking for a longer read, link them to an article through the newsletter instead of putting all of the material on the same page.
The more clickable your newsletter is, the better. Give the people a place to click, even if they click something by accident, because you’re significantly more likely to get meaningful participation, at least eventually.
Somewhere on the newsletter, you should include a way to share with friends. Word of mouth is the most powerful method of learning about new organizations and products, so use the heck out of your social media tags!
Remember to keep the media diverse in anything you post or in any newsletter you send out. Include pictures of people wearing different styles, quotes from customers from different backgrounds and careers, and connections to local/national movements that your organization supports. Take time to tell your story while allowing readers to feel the connection to their own. When consumers can see themselves using your product, they will feel infinitely more comfortable purchasing the product, and they will feel more confident interacting with you.
The 3 C’s
At the end of the day, the three most important words to consider when sending out your newsletter are Consistent, Concise, and Creative.
Keep It Consistent: Plan out your newsletters and email campaigns so that they will fall once a week, every other week, or on some similar schedule so consumers can know when to expect new information.
Keep It Concise: Again, nobody is here looking for a four-hour one-woman monologue. They just need the most important facts, newest merch, upcoming events, etc. Stick to the basics, and let the rest be clickable links to your site.
Keep It Creative: These email campaigns are yet another way for you to express yourself and your brand. Let the creativity flow! Use whatever sparkle led these followers to you in the first place, and work from there. The more image-driven, visually appealing newsletter you can develop, the more likely people are to keep opening those emails instead of sending them straight to trash.
Take your time with these messages, and prioritize quality over quantity to get the most genuine readership of each newsletter. We wish you all the best, as always!
