Do you know of anyone who lost their Facebook Page?
I do – I recently met a fellow entrepreneur, whose Business Page was deleted by Facebook – no explanation, no recourse. If you need a reason for regular Email Newsletters, here’s a strong one.
For small businesses, it is very important to have multiple avenues to reach your fans and customer base.
With organic reach being challenged constantly by Facebook and sudden Instagram and Pinterest algorithm changes, a smart option is to have most of your followers also on your email list.
Email as a Marketing Tool
Email marketing is relatively easy to get started with, so why shouldn’t you take advantage as a business owner. Done right, it’s a great tool to drive traffic to your website and build your brand credibility.
Good Ideas + Darn good emails = Happy customer math
Quality matters, but so does consistency in frequency. A good newsletter strategy should follow the rule of 80/20 with 80% being information/content/value and 20% selling your product or service.
You can provide value with educational, notificational (event), inspirational or humorous content. Remember to add a Call to Action (CTA) – Learn more, Join now etc. Keep it simple, memorable and fun.
Staring at your screen – Ideas = Lack of content
Even if you have a great email list, sometimes knowing what to share is the bigger challenge.
Content Ideas for Email Newsletters
When it’s time to send out a newsletter and you are scrambling for ideas, use this handy list of 31 topics to help get you started:
- Article of the month or an excerpt ( with the most comments /shares)
- Review ( of products or services in your niche)
- Pros and cons ( of a particular product, service or activity)
- Share an interesting comment left on a post.
- Tools and Apps you use or to boost productivity.
- A multi-part series ( Eg: Writing as a career prospect-Part-1)
- A Tutorial ( video or with loads of screenshots)
- Life hacks ( Tricks to make life easier. Eg: Kitchen Hacks )
- Books to read or one you are currently reading.
- Round up (Eg: Of Valentine Day gift ideas)
- The story of your career ( Time to get personal)
- How-to ( Start a lifestyle blog, Make fabric coasters )
- Here’s why (You should stop comparing yourself to others)
- Listicles- 5 things I wish I had done or 7 tips to create Pinterest Images.
- Comparison – of products or services in your niche (x vs. y)
- Re purposing- Make an old post into an Infographic or just format without link as an email body ( no date to worry about)
- Spotlight ( On a Customer /Member/Peer / Influencer)
- Share your predictions and trends ( Eg: Millenial Social Media Trends to watch out for in 2017)
- Your success stats (Eg: We hit 1000 followers)
- Showcase your journey. (Eg: How your writing/ graphics /communication evolved)
- Talk about mishaps or terrible clients ( and ways to deal with them)
- A recommendation on who to follow (20 People/groups to follow if you are a blogger/fashionista/tech geek etc.)
- Talk about You- Your latest guest post, mention, recommendation.
- Re-cap of the year.
- Your favorites list ( My winter Faves )
- Upcoming Event, Webinar etc.
- Upcoming Holiday ( Eg: On Mothers day….or Earth Day Potted Plant Desserts)
- A quick and useful tip worth its weight in gold ( Easy one minute workout)
- Polls, Surveys or Feedbacks.
- Freebie ( free session, stock photo, artwork etc).
- A simple Thank you ( for support or in appreciation)
According to a report from Pew Research Center, 52 percent of US cellphone owners access their emails from their phones. For a handy guide on choosing an email marketing service , click here. Or click here for Newsletter Plugins For WordPress.
If layouts and headings have you baffled, ReallyGoodEmails is an amazing resource. It is like a Pinterest for Newsletters.
Still struggling with putting ideas together. Try Blog Topic Generator by Hubspot. Fill in the fields with nouns that you’d like to write about, and get options for relevant blog post titles in seconds!
A newsletter is not just an email, it’s a part of you and your brand that has direct access into a personal inbox.
Email may be an old tactic, but it remains an integral one.
If you use an email service, we would love to hear about your experience. If you are starting afresh, check with your current and new customers if they would like to be included in your newsletter or better still, add a checkbox in your agreements or website.
You can’t use up creativity. The more you create, the more you have.
A Designer and Entrepreneur, Aditi graduated from a top design school and subsequently started her own design and merchandising business. Co-founder at Maroon Oak, she has over 17 years of business experience with Two Dotts, her design consulting company and an Etsy store which serves as an outlet for her gifts and patented product designs.
A mother to a teen and a tween, she enjoys running, dancing and raising her newest baby, a Bichon named Miltie.
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I am looking at sending my first email to my email list so this is definitely a very timely post to read!
Great ideas! My email list is something I need to build more so I can actually utilize it!
These are great suggestions – I am just starting to build up a decent beginner’s email list so I will need email blast ideas soon! Thanks!
I’m always wondering what I’ll write in a newsletter and feel like I have like 2 ideas. Thanks for all these amazing ideas! I’m bookmarking this page, this is great!
Some really great ideas in your list. I especially liked how you took the time to explain why emails are so important to your online brand
These are FANtastic ideas. As I am getting busier and writing longer blogs, I needed ideas for filling in the gaps. You have given me some great suggestions that I’m excited about! Thank you!
I have an email list started, but these are great ideas to help vary the content and keep my subscribers interested!
Great post, I need to get started with my email list!
omg, this is an awesome list! Sending my newsletter is my weakest point, I often get out of idea what to send, when to send, this is something what I should outsource, I guess, because I always postpone writing the emails, even though I have lists like yours saved someone in the cloud :S
Great ideas! I’m always on the lookout for good content lists. There’s so much to do all the time, it’s great to have a little trick up your sleeve! 😉 Thanks!
I’m awful with my email marketing and it is definitely something I need to work on. I like the idea of shout-outs though, I think I’ll give that a go for my next email out. Thanks for the great list!
I currently have a quarterly newsletter (so it only goes out once every 3 months) which means I’m never short of content. I just save it and select the best when it’s time to send it out. But I have been thinking of changing the schedule to a monthly newsletter, and this is going to be an incredibly useful resource for me to make that decision!
Agree Eva on increasing the frequency to at least once a month!
Thanks, this article is so helpful. Just starting my e-mail list, learning the ropes and getting the hang of it. Love the list helps more than you know!
Glad to hear that! Thanks for letting us know and good luck Leah!
Simple suggestion: ask your subscribers for questions, and answer in newsletter updates.
Thats a great suggestion Jacob! Where would you ask the questions? Are your subscribers ok to wait for the answer?
Thanks for this! I am just starting out in the blogging world and have been wanting to get an email list started but didn’t really know what to do once it did get started! These ideas are great!
Thanks Beth! The first one is always a tough one. But that gets the ball rolling. So good luck!
thank you, i really appreciate the ideas and i’m always looking for a little inspo!
Thank you Jessica! Glad it helps.
These are great ideas. I’m a little stuck with how to manage my email list better – right now I just send them an excerpt of my latest post. I really should be doing more!
Jolina, a newsletter is kind of like meal prep- sometimes the hardest question is what to cook? I hope you can use this list when your mind draws that blank.
Excellent tips! I just sent my first newsletter on Saturday so I’ll definitely need to refer to these ideas. Thank you 🙂
Great! Good luck to you!
Topic Generator is a great resource for when the mind draws a blank. Thanks!
Totally agree!
Thanks for the list. I especially appreciate the tip on Really good emails. I believe it is also possible to allow subscribers to choose their desired frequency, i.e., daily, weekly, etc. Am exploring that.
Its great to enable subscribers to customize the content they receive. Not only will this serve their preferences & interests, it’s also a way to gather more data on what those interests actually are.
Thanks , Appreciate the ideas. This for me will definitely be an important “go to” article on e-newsletters!
Glad it helps!