6 tips to building the ultimate B2B e-newsletter
Newsletters are crucial for your online publication or business. Make one small mistake, and your database of subscribers will diminish. To prevent this, here are the things you need to know.
Newsletters are crucial for your online publication or business. Make one small mistake, and your database of subscribers will diminish. To prevent this, here are the things you need to know:
Content: Build a reader
Content is king. The most important element of a successful B2B newsletter is the material you’re producing. ClickZ recommends building up a reader, such as Digg, where it’s possible to subscribe to as many websites as you like. Tip: Don’t forget to add your competitors to your reader, and keep an eye on the content they are producing.
Numbers: Keep track!
For every newsletter you send, take a good look at its performance in order to learn about reader interest. If a particular headline caused open rates to rock, you can focus more on this next time. Find out what words and phrases people use to find you in the search engines. There’s so much data out there – just make sure you use it to your advantage.
Your Competitors: Keep an eye out
It’s a good idea to sign up to your competitors newsletters. If you monitor the other e-newsletters in your field to get ideas, you can adapt and apply them to your own publication.
Quality not quantity
Do not publish for the sake of doing so. If you’re struggling to produce engaging content, then change the frequency or length of the pieces you’re creating. If you’re not providing relevent material to people, that it’s likely they’ll lose interest.
Don’t oversell
Actually, there are two points here: Don’t overly sell because it will put people off, but also don’t send a newsletter full of fascinating content for free with no indication of the company behind it. Maintain a balance.
Make it look good
There are so many boring looking newsletters out there, most likely created using online newsletter building tools. A key issue is monitoring how the newsletter will look in the preview pane, before the images are loaded.
Hi, just my 2 cents: there’s nothing related to B2B in your article: it’s common sense for all newsletters. What about job title segmenting and addressing a certain position with specific information? what about taking into consideration timing and the fact that your newsletter is delivered to an inbox filled with job tasks? How to differentiate in the subject line? How to keep off the unsubscribing list? and so on :) The article would be valuable if it added something extra to all tips regarding B2C email marketing.
I tottally agree with you, Ioana. :)