CREATING EMAIL NEWSLETTER CONTENT: TIPS FROM CONSTANT CONTACT

Creative Times #29 A Newsletter for Artists & Entrepreneurs

Recently, I made the jump from sending my Creative Times email newsletter (see above banner) from my AOL account (I know, I know, I am behind the times), to sending it out via Constant Contact.

I must say, I was impressed that they instantly had a customer service rep. get in touch with me via phone to answer any questions I had about getting my email newsletter account launched. Their tech support is super-friendly, too.

Here's an email I received from Constant Contact about Creating Email Newsletter Content.

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Dear Eleanor,

One of the most common questions we hear from people who try Email Marketing from Constant Contact is "Help! What do I write about in my email communications?" While you're the expert on what your customers and members want to hear, we've got some ideas to make that empty space in your copy blocks less intimidating—and instead make them a great opportunity to create messages that really resonate with your customers and members! You can do this!

1. Remember, you can always add or remove copy blocks from any of Constant Contact's email templates. Unlike a regular print newsletter that typically runs four or more pages, you don't need a lot of news to send out an email newsletter campaign. You can build an effective communication around just one or two items (and these stories can be short--only a couple of paragraphs long).

2. Remember, too, that your customers and members want to hear from you. So there are many topics that would be interesting to them—topics, by the way, that spotlight your expertise. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to help you generate content ideas:

• What are the top five questions that customers or members ask you?
• Who are some interesting customers, members, volunteers or employees? What makes them interesting?
• What problems are your customers facing? What will you be doing to help them solve those problems?
• What information do you have that would help your customers and members see you as an expert?
• Have you been to any trade shows or conferences lately? What were the big news or trends?
• Have any customers said nice things about you lately? (Get their permission to use their praise first!)