E-newsletter content ideas that work

In my previous blog post I discussed some practical ideas for sending out e-newsletters. Here are some ideas for creating compelling content.

Here’s the premise of my suspicion that any marketer who works in a business is perfectly capable of writing an endless stream of interesting and engaging newsletter (or blog) articles:

“I have never come across anybody who new enough about a particular industry or topic to start a business in it, who didn’t also have a nearly endless supply of content to choose from” (Michael Katz – E-Newsletters That Work)

So, you work in a company within an industry that you happen to know quite a lot about – that’s what you do for 35 or more hours every week. Let’s see what you already have inside your head that you could write about.

Now I’m a teacher. I’m not going to give you the answers (at least not this week) but in true active learning methodology, I’m going to facilitate you to find them yourself. So sharpen your pencil and get ready for a one person brainstorming session.

Write a list of all the questions you are asked about your business on a regular basis:

• How do I…?

• Should I…?

• What do you think about…?

• How do I know if…?

• Is it worth spending money on…?

• Do you know where…?

• What would you recommend for…?

• What do you predict will happen to…?

• Can I have an expert opinion on…?

• What’s happening with…?

• How did you manage to achieve….?

You should now have a long list of ideas for your newsletter. These aren’t boring company profiles, new product reviews, interviews with the CEO. They answer the genuine questions that your customers and others in your industry are interested in hearing the answers to.

You may not have all the answers, but I bet you know someone who does.

What are you waiting for?

And if you are still thinking, here are the top 75 entries from my blog from 2009. It’s a niche market but you should find some concepts to inspire you.

Marie Page runs an international e-business selling instructional DVDs teaching contemporary musical instruments. She blogs at http://musicademy.com/blog

SEO. Everyone is talking about it. A lot of people are doing it. But the question is do they know why they’re doing it?

More and more organisations seem to be entering in to SEO simply because they feel they should. Many don’t stop to ask themselves the important question of why? Treating SEO as a simple exercise of trial and error and hoping for the best simply won’t do. If you want to get the best results from SEO in the quickest time you must first put everything in to context.

SEO is all about making your site visible on search engines, improving performance and user experience and most importantly helping web users to find your website easily. Many rush in, ploughing ahead with haphazard strategies and then wonder why they have little or short lived success.

The key to it is simply this; PLAN AHEAD. Ask yourself these simple questions;

• Who is your audience?

• What key words are they using to search?

• Who is your competition?

• What do you want? Leads or sales?

• How do you convert on your site?

The most important thing is to first completely understand your audience and their behaviours before attempting to execute a search engine optimization campaign for your website. Take the time to research and understand your audience. A good starting point is to investigate what key words they are typing in to search engines on a regular basis. A very good tool for this is Google’s external Keyword Tool https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal. This tool allows you to assess what keywords are being used most often. This information will help you to optimise your site in the right way for your customers.

You must also be realistic with yourself about who your competition actually is. If you are a small organisation it is unrealistic to aim to compete with a large multinational. Know your competition and use it to your advantage.

You must be clear about your aims and objectives before putting any techniques in to practice. Asking the above questions will help you to do this. After all, if you don’t know where you’re going, how can you decide on the best way to get there? Taking this step back will help you to generate a clear business plan for your online marketing approach. Once you have asked yourself these questions and thoroughly thought about your objectives, only then are you ready to begin looking at some tools and techniques to aid you in your Search Engine Optimisation Campaign.

GOOGLE BUZZ TO KILL FACEBOOK?

In early February 2010 Google launched a new weapon to take over the world. They called it Google Buzz. If you use their Gmail you will see a small icon appear, this automatically gives you the service.

The term Buzz Marketing has been around for awhile. I defined it in 2009 as “A word of mouth approach initiated by marketing managers, it uses Consumer Generated Media to encourage individuals to influence their peers in regard to the product or service.”

Google have effectively scooped up this generic definition to call it their own. News reports launching the service suggest that Google will compete face to face with Facebook (excuse the pun). And others say it will wipe Twitter out. Other commentators see it as just another Google product that will not change anything. One comment I saw was the rumour that Twitter may be “bought” by Google.

Then there are privacy concerns. Careful analysis of any one person means the amount of contact with people can be evaluated thereby establishing strong links between networks. This plays hell with journalists who use email with private informants, imagine the ramifications for lovers, suppliers who want to keep suppliers from competitor eyes.

Twitter comments started as quickly as Google was launched so here are a few tweets taken at 11 February 2010:

• must remember that Google buzz is not a private chat amongst friends but public..like out there in everyone's face for all to read & comment

· WARNING: Google Buzz Has A Huge Privacy Flaw

• I turned Google Buzz off

• It's surprisingly hard to get to someone's profile in Google Buzz if you are already following them.

• Can someone explain to me why Google Buzz when there's Twitter?

• Warning: Buzz has huge privacy flaw. By default everyone can see who you email often

• just so others know, there's a way to turn off Googlebuzz, at the bottom of the page in tiny letters next to "Gmail view"

• I've got Buzz now connected to everything allowed. Let's see if this tweet creates some sort of soc-med location-based paradox.

• to buzz or not to buzz, that is the question - in addition to should I have tomato or vegetable soup for lunch?

• Google just renamed the "Spam" folder in gmail - it is called "Buzz" now

• Buzz vs Facebook vs MySpace vs Twitter (Feb 2009): Are you tired of the noise in the ...

• I'm on FB, Twitter, Now I gotta Buzz!?When am I supposed to find time to punch nerds in the face?

• so disappointed on Google Buzz.....back to Twitter, Facebook, etc.

• So, now its not just Tweet, Stumble, Digg or Scrap..its alsoBUZZ!!!

• Why I Think Google’s New Social Media Service Should Buzz Off!

• Okay, I'll try to give this Google Buzz thing a chance

• Twitter to launch T-mail and T-Talk to counter Google Buzz

• The most important info in this GOOG Buzz article was how to edit my profile and secure my privacy

• Who at Google went to their boss and said 'I have an amazing idea!' and then explained Buzz? Then why did that boss say 'Yeah, sounds good'?

• Google Buzz Criticized for Disclosing Gmail Contacts (PC World via Yahoo! News)

• Its pretty useless if you already use twitter/fb/ms. Google continues on its quest to do everything.

• No Google Buzz for Apple apps store, no surprise after Google Voice issues

• Anecdotal response among friends to Google'sBuzz suggests it's even less popular than the iPad

Take a look at Google’s main official links for the lowdown

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/introducing-google-buzz.html

http://www.google.com/buzz

By Nigel Bradley, Market Researcher and Academic