A great email newsletter builds trust between you and your readers by delivering high-quality content that your readers find helpful. Here are 7 steps to create your small business email marketing strategy.

Step 1 – Competitive Analysis

Before you start publishing your small business email newsletter, do some research on what your competitors are doing. If they already publish a newsletter, join their mailing list to keep tabs on them. Some of the things you will want to monitor include:

• How often do they send the newsletter?
• What types of information do they include?
• How relevant is their information is to their niche audience?
• Is the content valuable and easy-to-read or is it jargon-filled and primarily self-promotional?
• Have they missed any relevant topics you can cover?
• Do you see any opportunities for improvement?

Step 2 – Target Market Analysis

Next, decide who you want to reach with your newsletter, such as your current clients, prospects or the press. What are their demographics and psychographics? What steps must they take to make a purchasing decision? What do you want readers to do when they read your newsletter. Here are a few examples:

• Current clients – For current clients, you might want to upsell or cross-sell them on additional products, send you referrals, or renew their subscription to your services. You can use your newsletter to build client loyalty or promote additional products and services they might not be aware of. You can also remind them that you value their referrals.
• Prospects – For prospects, you might want to generate leads for your business. If you market a complex service that usually takes a few contacts before prospects are ready to buy, you can provide them with useful information that will help them make a better purchasing decision and encourage them to contact you when they are ready. If you sell products, you can also promote and sell those products through your email newsletter, thus encouraging prospects to buy from you directly.

Step 3 – Create Your Newsletter Format

When you create your newsletter, you want to make it a quick-read for subscribers. Don’t overwhelm readers with too much information. Decide what types of sections you will include in your newsletter, such as an introduction, a main article or editorial, case studies, featured products and services, upcoming events, or promotional offerings. For newsletters with many sections, add a table of contents at the top or on the left side so subscribers can preview your content.

Step 4 – Creating Content

Once you’ve decided on your newsletter’s format, it’s time to either pay someone to create content for you or to write the content yourself. Here are some ideas for generating content for your newsletters.

• Case studies – If you have a few great client success stories, write up case studies around the strongest ones. Case studies can be used again and again to promote your services in numerous ways and make a compelling case for why prospects should consider your products and services.
• Articles – If you choose to use articles in your newsletter and don’t want to write the content yourself, you can hire a freelance writer from a service like elance.com or find content from one of the major article directories on the web like ezinearticles.com. Article directories often will allow you to publish their articles in your newsletter for free as long as you include a blurb about the author of the article.
• Industry experts – A great way to generate content for your newsletter is to interview other industry experts about their tips and best practices. Additionally, you can ask industry experts to submit articles to your email newsletter. Make sure the articles are relevant to your subscribers’ interests and provide informative information rather than a sales pitch for their services.
• Customer feedback – You can ask your clients for feedback such as success stories or do a Q&A where you answer reader-submitted questions. You can also conduct polls and surveys to ask your readers what they think.
• Short tips – Not everything in your newsletter has to be article length, so consider adding short tips and quick takeaways. Quotes also work well if you can find one that is relevant to your newsletter content.

Step 5 – Mailing Your Newsletter

Email service providers like Aweber.com make sending email newsletters easy and cost-effective. Not only do they let you set up and schedule your broadcast ahead of time, but they will monitor who opens and clicks on links in your emails so you can measure your results.

Step 6 – Commit to a Publishing Schedule

Decide when and how frequent you will publish your email newsletter. Frequency can make or break your email marketing success. If you publish too frequent, your newsletter may be perceived as spam. If you don’t publish enough, your readers won’t remember they subscribed.

How frequent you publish your content will depend on

• Content type – Readers are more tolerant of helpful editorial content than a barrage of promotional content.

• Content length – The longer your email, the more time it will take for subscribers to read it. If you send daily emails, keep them shorter. Monthly emails can be longer.
• Timeliness – How relevant is your newsletter content to current events in your subscribers’ lives? When are prospects likely to make purchasing decisions – for instance, is it seasonal or following a specific life trigger?

You may find it is best to let subscribers choose how often they receive content from you. For instance, if you offer a daily email, you may want to also offer a weekly digest that highlights the best content sent over the course of the week.

Step 7 – Test Your Results

As with any marketing campaign, testing is crucial to your success. You should monitor which days get the best open rates and which subjects get the best responses and sales. Specifically, look at:

• Your delivery rate – How many active email addresses do you have on your list? Email addresses become inactive over time so at any given point, only a percentage of your list will receive your email.
• Your open rate – How many people open your email? Open rates are estimations of the number of people who at least skim your email. They aren’t 100% active because email service providers often can’t track every possible way someone might view your email – such as on a cell phone or in your email reader’s preview mode. It is also virtually impossible to tell if your email ends up in your reader’s junk mail folder, so the open rate will give you an idea of how active your list is.
• Your click-through rate – How many people click the links in your email? Do certain offers get more clicks?
• Your sales rate – How many sales can you attribute to your email newsletter?
• Your list growth – How fast is your list growing?

Your small business email marketing strategy is a work in progress, so make sure to set benchmarks and monitor the success of your campaign. As you learn more about what your subscribers want, you can incorporate those changes to improve your success.

What is an opt-in mailing list?

An opt-in mailing list is a database of names and email addresses of your prospects, customers, and clients. When someone visits your website, you have a short form with text like “To receive updates by email, please enter your name and email address below.” Web visitors who are interested in hearing from you will enter their information, thus opting to join your email list.

Many email service providers add an additional layer of protection called “double opt-in.” With double opt-on lists, once web visitors enter their contact information into your form, they are immediately sent a message telling them to confirm they want to receive email updates from you.

Why choose double opt-in?

The short answer is that you only want prospects who want to receive your newsletter on your list. If you don’t send them an email asking them to confirm their subscription, you don’t know if they requested to join your mailing list themselves or if someone signed them up.

How to start collecting prospect information

When visitors come to your small business website, you only have a few seconds to capture their attention before they leave. If they leave without giving you any information, chances are, you’ve lost them. They won’t be back. However, if you encourage them to join your newsletter, you get them to raise their hands and tell you they are interested enough to learn more.

Here are three tips to start capturing names and email addresses from your small business website.

1. Sign up with an email service provider. Services like Aweber or Constant Contact offer reasonable rates for small businesses. Both companies provide you with HTML email templates, autoresponders, and detailed statistics showing who opened your email and who clicked to your website. They also automate the process of having people subscribe or unsubscribe to your newsletter.
   
   
2. Place a form on your website. Both Aweber and Constant Contact give you a snippet of code to copy and paste into your website’s design. Place your opt-in form at the top of your page in a prominent location. If your box is buried, your visitors won’t notice it and you won’t get subscribers. Consider placing it in the upper right-hand corner of your site.
   
   
3. Give people a reason to opt-in. A good way to increase the number of prospects who subscribe to your newsletter is to offer them a free special report about a problem or frustration they might be having.

By following these small business email marketing tips, you will dramatically increase the number of website visitors who subscribe to your opt-in mailing list.

Building a subscriber list takes time. You might be tempted to gather all the names and email addresses of people in your contact database, from business cards you collect during networking events, or even from email lists you purchase or rent, but I strongly encourage you not to do this. There is a much greater possibility that people who have not directly opted in to your mailing list will perceive your newsletter as spam if you do these activities.

Using Your Small Business Website To Build Your List

A better approach is to include an email subscription form on your website that allows site visitors to enter their contact information if they would like to receive more information from you.

To maximize the number of visitors who subscribe, place your subscription form in a prominent place, such as on the top right-hand side of your page so visitors see it without having to scroll.

How to Build Your List with Incentives

Next, create an incentive for people to subscribe. Many people are initially skeptical about parting with their contact information. To encourage them to sign up, offer them a bonus that gets them to take action. Common incentives include:

• Weekly newsletter – Create a weekly newsletter filled with practical tips, articles and advice your subscribers can use immediately.
  
  
• E-Courses – A free e-course delivered as a series of lessons can entice people to sign up. Consider delivering at least seven lessons over the period of a few days, and throughout the course, subtly promote the products and services you offer.
  
  
• White papers – People are always curious about what their competitors are doing, so if you have insider information about how competitors have solved key problems your subscribers are facing, they will want to know more.
  
  
• Free e-book or special report – A free special report delivered as an e-book can be a great way to give prospects a sample of your services. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, but it does have to provide valuable information. If your free sample stinks, people will wonder if your paid services are just as shoddy.
  
  
• Free membership site – Offer special content or a free trial membership to people who subscribe to your newsletter. This can serve as a way to upsell them other products or other levels of membership with more resources.
  
  
• Sign up bonuses - If you sell a product, consider giving email subscribers a coupon or discount if they purchase your product in the next few days.

No matter how you collect email subscribers, always give people a way to unsubscribe. If you do offer incentives, some people will sign up just to receive the free report or coupon and will immediately unsubscribe. That’s OK. You only want people who genuinely want to receive information from you on your list. By following these small business email marketing tips, you can build your mailing list quickly.

Define Your Newsletter’s Goals

Before I talk about content, the first step to creating an interesting small business newsletter is to put together an email marketing strategy. Why are you publishing your newsletter? Here are three things to consider.

1. Define your newsletter’s purpose. What type of results do you want? Are you trying to drive product sales, generate leads for your services, or follow up with prospects?
   
   
2. Decide how you will measure results. Will you measure open rates, click-throughs, number of leads generated, product sales, or replies or questions you receive?
   
   
3. Commit to a regular publishing schedule. How often will you send your newsletter – daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly? Stick to a schedule and deliver the newsletter as advertised.

Creating Compelling Newsletter Content

Your small business newsletter should be a combination of informative articles and tips and sales promotion. If you solely use the newsletter to tell subscribers “what’s new” with your business or the bulk of your newsletter is a sales pitch for your products and services, you will lose a lot of subscribers. A good newsletter offers a delicate balance between informative content and promotion. Here is a sample outline of how you might structure your newsletter contents.

1. Welcome message. Include a personalized greeting (“Dear John,”) and a short paragraph welcoming your readers to this month’s newsletter. Your paragraph can mention something new that is happening within your company or give readers a teaser about the newsletter content that will follow. If you have any major announcements or events coming up, include those here.
   
   
2. Main article or tip. Write a 250-500 word article or tip related to a topic your readers care about. This might be industry news, how-to advice, a top ten tip list, or other informative content.
   
   
3. Recommended resource. Recommend a resource such as one of your products or services that directly relates to your main article’s subject matter. Experiment with this resource’s placement. For instance, you may get better results putting it before the main article or in your sidebar.
   
   
4. Closing message. If you want readers to respond to the email, provide a call to action telling them what to do. For instance, you could ask them to reply to the email with questions, visit your blog to post comments, or fill out a short survey. Then, sign your name and include your company information.

Think of your small business newsletter as a client engagement tool that builds rapport and facilitates your sales process. It may not produce instant sales, but over time, you will develop a loyal subscriber base who are much more likely to buy your products and services.

1. Craft a compelling subject line. Your subject line determines whether or not your recipient will open your message. It is, essentially, the teaser copy for your email, so it should intrigue and spark curiosity. Tell the reader what they will find inside, but don’t reveal too much.
   
   
2. Personalize your greeting. Start each email with “Dear [Name].” By personalizing your message, you help build credibility and rapport.
   
   
3. Create a compelling offer. In order to get readers to take a specific action, you need to clearly explain how they will benefit from your offer. How will your offer solve their problems or make their lives easier? One way to do this is to offer a bonus or special offer such as a special report, a trial, a discount, tips and advice, or the latest news about your industry. Focus on what prospects want to know.
   
   
4. Keep your email short and easy to skim. Don’t write lengthy paragraphs. Bullet points and short sentences are easier to read.
   
   
5. Provide a call to action. Tell readers exactly what they must do to take advantage of your offer.
   
   
6. Sign your name. Make your email credible by signing it with a title and your company’s address and phone number.
   
   
7. Add a one or two sentence “P.S.” Summarize the one key reason why readers should take advantage of your offer now and repeat your offer and call to action.
   
   
8. Include an opt-out link. To comply with CAN-SPAM Act laws, make sure you give readers the option to unsubscribe if they no longer want to receive email from you.
   
   
9. Consider A/B split testing. If you have an email list larger than a few hundred recipients, divide the group in half. Next, change one element of your email such as the subject line, the offer, or the call to action. Send version A to one half and version B to the other. Then, compare the results. Which version got more responses? Use that as an example of what to send in future emails.

By testing your subject line, offer and call to action, you can dramatically increase your small business email marketing response rates.

1. Create a throwaway email address. Yahoo Mail and Gmail are both great alternatives to using your work or personal email address on the web. Both have “junk mail” or “spam” folders that catch a considerable portion of unwanted messages. I’ve started forwarding my work email to my Gmail account because the spam filter is so much better than what I was previously using.
   
   
2. Create email filters. Virtually all email applications have an option to create filters that automatically send email with subject lines like “make money” or “viagra” to the trash. While you won’t block all of them this way, you can cut back on subject lines you get repeatedly.
   
   
3. Use “block sender” filters. Microsoft Outlook allows you to click on an email and set up a filter to block the sender. This can be effective if you repeatedly get spam from the same email address.
   
   
4. Never post your email address online. Avoid posting your email address on websites, message boards, blog comments, guest books, and social media sites. Spammers use software programs to extract email addresses from millions of websites. If you really want to display your email address, type your email address into an image design software program like Photoshop and save it as a gif or jpg. Spammers may be good, but they usually can’t extract email addresses from images.
   
   
5. Try Spam Arrest. For a few bucks a month, you can sign up for Spam Arrest. The service provides you with a special email address to use that blocks virtually all automated emails. You can protect your existing accounts by forwarding them to your Spam Arrest email and eliminating about 90% of your junk mail.
   
   
6. Never respond to spam. Some spam message provide you with a link to opt-out or reply to the email to “unsubscribe.” Don’t respond. Spammers use these techniques to check if the email address is legitimate.
   
   
7. Never open attachments. If you receive a file with the spam message, don’t open it. Most times, this is some type of virus that can harm your computer. Even if you receive an exe or zip file from your friends or business colleagues, make sure to scan the document with your anti-virus software before you open it. If you have a Yahoo or Gmail account, they will automatically scan attachments for you.

Blocking spam is an ongoing task. Every time you think you’ve made progress, spammers come up with a new way to get around filters to deliver unwanted junk mail. By following these seven steps, you can dramatically cut back on the amount of spam you receive.

Generally, firms are looking for one of two options:

1) to buy already published articles – perhaps written by a trade organization
2) to pay someone to research and write articles for the firm on an ongoing basis

The advantage of the first is that it’s cheap and fast. The advantage of the second is that you are paying for unique content.

The problem is that by outsourcing your newsletter, you are missing a great opportunity to show your prospects and clients who you really are.

Professional services firms have a hard enough time differentiating themselves from everyone else. By publishing a newsletter, you have the chance to humanize your firm. A good newsletter is relevant to your readers’ interests while demonstrating your expertise. And it lets prospects and clients see who you are through your writing style and opinions.

The truth is that people do business with people they like and trust, not because your firm has over 100 years of experience or that you provide the highest level of customer service at affordable prices. That’s just marketing hype to them.

And they don’t have time to read something unless it is relevant to them. Sure, staying on top of the latest news in the industry helps you showcase your expertise, but readers don’t care unless that news impacts their business.

A great newsletter can show prospects and clients that you understand their concerns and can help them solve their problems. And your firm is in the best position to know what content is relevant to their needs. What questions keep popping up? What issues are they concerned about when you talk to them? Those issues are where your articles should focus.

Yes, if you were to pay an outside marketing firm or freelance copywriter to look into these issues, they’d probably uncover them – but it would take time. You already know what they are and can easily address them.

Yes, writing a great newsletter takes some effort. But it can be much more effective and rewarding than the alternatives.

Over 80 percent of e-mail users believe the parties most responsible for spam are product vendors who employ spam advertising tactics and Internet service providers. However, only 26 percent of e-mail users believe ISPs have been effective at addressing the spam problem; 11 percent believe vendors have been effective, the survey found.

Respondents, however, didn’t simply blame only vendors and ISPs. Almost 70 percent of people surveyed assumed personal responsibility for stopping their spam problems, more so than their company employers (62 percent); the federal government (45 percent); or state or local governments (32 percent).

According to an article today on Clickz.com:

The FTC shut down six businesses and froze the assets of five individuals this week. All were behind the sending of sexually explicit spam. The sleaze factor is what made the headlines. What should make all you marketers, affiliates, e-mailers, and business owners sit up and take notice is what was buried several paragraphs down. Of all the individuals named in the suit, only one actually sent any spam.The others landed in legal hot water because they paid him to do it.

“It’s not just people who push the button to send the spam who can be held liable,” said Eileen Harrington, associate director of the FTC’s Marketing Practices Division.

Add that to the recent lawsuit filed last week:

The men allegedly set up a number of Nevada-based shell companies to distribute spam, according to the suit. Together, the companies made up the fourth largest illegal spam operation in the world, according to a statement by the Texas Attorney General.”We’re very excited by Attorney General Abbott’s action,” said Aaron Kornblum, internet safety enforcement attorney for Microsoft. “This set of defendants sent out tens of millions of illegal messages through our Hotmail (free Web-based email) system to our customers.”

Kornblum said Microsoft worked with the Texas Attorney General’s office for almost one year on the case.

And the AOL statistics through November 2004 that report

according to AOL members, spam has been drastically reduced in the past 12 months by over 75 percent.

and we may win the war on spam yet!

Average open rates for house lists are running in the mid-30s (34.3 percent, according to DoubleClick). The range I’m seeing, based on public sources and my clients’ performances, is the mid-20s to just over 50 percent.

Average click-throughs for house lists (calculated as a percentage of messages delivered, not the percentage opened) are running in the high single digits (DoubleClick reports 8.2 percent); the range I’m seeing is just over 1 percent to just under 20 percent.

The latest metrics confirm something I’ve seen throughout my career: Third-party lists don’t perform nearly as well as house lists. The gap in e-mail lists is very pronounced, with third-party lists seeing open rates of one-half to one-third less than house lists (less than 20 percent on average, often less than 10 percent). Click-throughs on these rented lists are also lower, with a range of zero to just over 2 percent.

From my own experience, I’m seeing similar results with the average open rates (the number of unique users that open your email / everyone you sent the email to). I’ve even gotten as high as 55% on a few emails!

In terms of click-throughs (the number of unique users that click to your website / everyone you sent the email to), I’m seeing closer to 15% to mid-20% for a number of highly targeted lists. I’ve found that the less targeted the list, the lower the click-through rate.

Checking Your Own Metrics

Just because you send an email newsletter doesn’t mean people are actually reading it. Email metrics give you hard data to analyze whether people are even opening your email and which links and features are most popular.

If you’ve been running an email list for any length of time, you’ll have a great source of data to look at trends. I find that it’s always interesting to analyze the email contents if I get extremely low open rates or extremely high click-through rates. Often the low open rates seem to correspond to the date/time when I sent it. High click-through rates are great real time data to judge what readers are interested most in.

How Can You Check Metrics?

If you’re still sending email through Outlook, it’s probably time to try an email hosting provider that offers metrics as part of their services. I’ve been using Aweber, though there are a number of others.

There are a number of benefits to using an Email Service Provider including:

• Ongoing monitoring of email metrics
• Automatic management of any unsubscribe or contact information changes
• Automatic management of any bounces (and I’ve been seeing about 4-7% per emailing, so it adds up)
• CAN-SPAM compliance to meet government and industry standards
• Setting consecutive autoresponders for automatic follow ups