Print Buying Direct

Six Types of Newsletter Content – 28th October 2009

Promotional newsletters walk a fine line between soft-sell and unbiased information. While you want the unique features of your products and services to appear in as many articles as possible, it’s the useful information that keeps your readers coming back for more.

Walking the fine line between marketing copy and news copy is tricky. When you go too far to the promotional side, you end up with what readers consider company propaganda. When you go too far to the “news” side, you’re confusing your marketing publication with an industry magazine or news broadcast.

If people are paying for a publication, the expect it to be packed with useful information. While you want to include helpful information in your newsletter, always make sure it’s related to your product, organisation or industry.

Balance Promotion with News

Your newsletter’s subject is the link back to your organisation. When all the content follows the main subject, readers feel a clear sense of purpose. It also makes it easier to collect content for each issue.

Newsletter content can be broken down into six categories:

1. product
2. customer
3. support
4. organisation
5. industry
6. response

Within each article, squeeze in reason readers should buy from you. Adapt the text to attract prospects, too.

There are basic assurances you need to give prospects. They want to know you can supply their needs and that you can deliver what you’re promoting. Many prospects need to know that you won’t abandon them after they buy, donate, vote or join.

To win additional business from current customers, you need to provide different assurances. Persuade customers that it’s not a risk to give one supplier all of their business. Assure customers that you offer more than one area of expertise. If you can save them time and money by providing more than one service or product, this may weigh in your favour. Also, the fact that the customer already knows you makes buying from you less of a risk.

To maintain the same level of business from existing clients, you must provide them with other decisive information. Restate that you appreciate their business. Convince them that your growth will bring them increased, not decreased, service. Give them insight into your future plans and show how you keep their needs in mind when making changes. Ask customers, voters, members and donors how you can serve their needs better.

Depening on the goals of your publication, you should include this type of assurance in each of the various types of articles. In addition to the assurances, keep your target promotional level in mind. Each of the six types of articles should operate within the four levels of marketing:

• N: Names: who you are
• E: Enticement: what you provide
• W: Written words: how your service works
• S: Sell: what action to take

If one of your goals is to talk about the capabilities and virtues of your organisation, the best way to demonstrate this is through your products and services. Within product articles, you can discuss the talents that went into designing them. On the other hand, if you talk only about your capabilities, without backing them up with concrete examples, the result is a “hot air” publication. Readers usually let these “brag rag” newsletters just blow on by. To keep reader interest, use product articles that show rather then tell about your organisation.

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For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

• Saving Money by Pruning Your Newsletter Mailing List
• Newsletter Printing – Free ways to reach more people
• Marketing with Printed Newsletters – Assigning codes to prospects
• Dazzling Databases for Printed Newsletters
• Newsletter mailing lists – Mailing list magic
• Printing – The Green issue
• Order your Christmas Cards Online in October and Save £££s
• Newsletter Printing – Using survey results for improved promotions
• The best way to survey how effective your newsletter is…part 2
• The best way to survey how effective your newsletter is…
• Every question has a goal (Newsletter printing)
• How to Conduct Your Survey about your Newsletter
• Newsletter Print and Design – Why the Pros Survey Fewer People
• Newsletters – Pinpointing Reader’s Interests – part 2
• Newsletters – Pinpointing Reader’s Interests – part 1
• Printing – Paper and board – Certified and recycled
• Printing – Paper and board – Pricing and availability
• Printing – Paper and Board
• Print Finishing
• Digital Presses
• Digital Printing
• Offset Printing
• Print Production Management
• How to create a marketing plan incorporating promotional newsletters
• All you need to know about Digital Printing
• The Future of Printing
• Print Finishing
• Variable Data Printing
• ISO 12647 and Colour Management in Printing
• Pre-press – In Flight, Pre-Flight and Post-Flight
• Print, Paper and Recycling
• Design of the times – (Article reproduced from Printing World February 2009)
• Pre-press – 20 years of change
• Transactional and Direct Mail
• 7 Guidelines For Good Newsletter Printing
• Graphic Design
• Printing – Where in the world are we?
• Improving Your Response Rates to Leaflets, Flyers and Brochures
• HINTS & TIPS…The sales letter
• The History of Printing
• 10 Tips for Creatives in a Digital World
• Eight Easy Ways to Improve Digital Print Sales to Creative and Design Agencies
• Transactional and Variable data printing
• PUR or EVA? That is the question
• What you need to know about…… Perfect Binding

Print Buying Direct is a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire and delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

Also see our other websites

Main Site: www.theprintinghouseltd.co.uk

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Tags: marketing, Newsletter printing, Promotional Newsletters, Promotional Print

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 9:15 am and is filed under Banners, Business Stationery, Calendars, Christmas Cards, Leaflets and Brochures, News, Newsletters, Postcards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.