A regular newsletter is a great way to keep in touch with your customers and wider target audience. I don’t know about you, but I am constantly subscribing to new email newsletters to help me keep up to date and inspired. It can quickly become overwhelming, though. To ensure my email inbox doesn’t buckle under the strain, I am also constantly unsubscribing from newsletters that don’t have me hooked.
One of the biggest challenges business owners face when it comes to creating an engaging newsletter is what to write about.
If writing your company newsletter is a chore, here are 21 content ideas to help you make each newsletter a ‘must read’.
- An intro letter from the business owner. That might be you! Talk about some of the big news since the last newsletter or talk about things to come – but make it personal.
- Tips and hints to help your audience. Helping your readers should be at the top of your list so include some free advice in each newsletter.
- Industry news. When you keep your audience connected with what’s happening in your industry as a whole, you’ll become a valuable resource to your subscribers.
- Relevant blogs and articles. You aren’t the only source of information and sharing relevant and interesting articles from around the world will help boost your newsletter as a great source of information.
- Market analysis and reviews. Provide some insight or review products and tools that your audience might consider using.
- Coming events. If you attend regular events or you host regular events, your newsletter is perfect place to let your network know.
- Interviews and profiles. Interview leaders in your industry and share their thoughts with your newsletter readers.
- Profile staff members and departments. Help to put a name and a face to the team members in your business by including a profile in your latest newsletter.
- Link to recent blog posts. If you have a blog and a newsletter, include a roundup of your recent blog posts. This will not only help you reuse content, but also, you will drive traffic to your blog.
- Promote specials and deals. Reward your subscribers by giving them first dibs on any special deals you are running.
- Company news. This is further down the list than you might expect but your newsletter is a great place to share your triumphs including awards, new contracts, new staff and so on.
- Case studies. A case study talks about how your business solved a problem and it’s great newsletter content.
- Things you love/that inspire you. This goes back to adding a personal element to your company newsletter. You could include images, music, articles or stories that inspire you.
- Book reviews. Your audience have subscribed to receive your newsletter so they might also be interested in the books you’ve read recently.
- Spotlight on a product or service. This is a gentle way to introduce products and services to your readers, without a hard sell.
- Jokes, quotes, and fun images. Showing the lighter side of your business adds a quirky, personal touch to your newsletter but make sure any jokes are in keeping with your brand and your audience.
- Human interest stories. Share some personal stories – like births, engagements, marriages, retirements and holidays – that help your audience to connect with your team.
- Competitions and quizzes. This is a great way to keep your readers engaged. If you ask for responses to be posted on social media or emailed to you, you’ll quickly uncover your most avid readers.
- A frequently asked question. These could be questions from your blog or questions your customers ask, but you can share the answer in your newsletter and show off your business at the same time.
- Resources. Everyone is short on time so give your newsletter a short cut to resources they might find useful and tell them why.
- Where else you are. Don’t forget to include information about your social media pages, your website and anywhere else your business hangs out.
You don’t have to include all of these in each newsletter! Remember that your newsletter should be long enough to be valuable, but short enough to read over a coffee. If you’ve been putting off creating a newsletter, there are no more excuses.
