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

Planning Digital Activity –Don’t lose sight of the basics!

Evolving digital developments in web 2.0, user-generated content, Twitter and mobile applications are at the forefront of industry and academic debate and practice. Authors like Don Tapscott in his book Wikinomics and Andrew McAfee, from MIT Sloan School of Management, in his new book, Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for your Organization’s Toughest Challenges, explore ways in which organisation can apply web 2.0 platforms for sharing knowledge, new ideas both inside and outside the organisation to shape the way we work.

Whilst the boundaries and possibilities of web 2.0 are pushed everyday, these new frontiers can be distracting and marketers must not lose sight about the basics of the marketing planning and direct marketing that inextricably links digital campaign success to targeting the right customer at the right time! A key consideration from the outset is to set your digital marketing strategy in the context of your broader marketing strategy and organisational goals. As digital marketing has moved from a peripheral, or add-on marketing activity to the centre of most organisations customer focus, the vision for their online presence, developing its community, its acquisition and retention strategies, the online brand experiences and positioning, must be developed with clarity. The vision should be for the immediate but also 18-24 months down the line, and in the context of an integrated marketing strategy that takes a holistic approach and is informed by customer insights.

The marketer’s kit bag of SWOT, PESTEL etc should be applied to the task of regular market analysis and whilst the web with its transparency aids this scanning process, the rate of change, increased competition and technological disruption necessitates innovative and flexible planning and implementation. Established direct marketing techniques such as database marketing, testing, targeting, timing, tracking and measurability are more relevant than ever in the digital domain. For example, the Cartoon Network launched a digital campaign earlier this year to six to ten year olds for their Incredikids brand leading up to school holidays.

What is clear is that more and more customers expect a two-way interaction or dialogue with organisations that can benefit both parties. For example, direct banking specialist, First Direct (FD) has unveiled a new website that aggregates ‘live’ comments, even uncensored negative ones, about FD by online customers in an attempt to be more transparent and understand. Innovations like this can be a risk but both customer and organisational expectations online have changed considerably and like Web 2.0, such advances must be incorporated both in terms of marketing philosophy and function in the digital world.