As with all marketing, this starts with a plan – what do you want to achieve with your e-newsletter, who is your target audience, and what are your key messages?
This will help you decide what, when and to whom you want to send your emails. Consider how often you want to email people; bombarding people will have the reverse effect, and could put people off or make them unsubscribe.
Emails can be sent out using a variety of different software.
There is a range of low-cost (some are even free for up to 2000 contacts) software available for e-mail marketing, for example:
When starting, here are a few things to think about:
1. Choose your subject line carefully
This is the first thing people will see when it drops into their inbox, and will often determine whether they open it. Blatant sales messages are more likely to get tagged as spam, so avoid anything like ‘This month’s fantastic offers’ in the subject line. Ignore the words FREE and SALE. Keep the subject line short; many people read in a small viewing panel and won’t open it if it is too long or doesn't grab their attention.
2. Keep it concise
People generally don’t like reading lots of text on-screen. If you can’t say all you want to in a couple of paragraphs, add a ‘Read More’ link so that people can go to the full story if they want to. An e-newsletter is intended to be read and digested quickly. Don’t use 20 words where three will do.
3. Keep it real and relevant
The internet is an informal place – use everyday language. Use it to tell people about things they'll be interested in. Tailor it to your audience; you could consider sending different newsletters to different kinds of customers to make them more relevant to each type of reader.
4. Images
These are hugely important to email marketing. A page with some text and high quality images is more likely to be read than a page full of text. Ensure your images are sized correctly to fit in with your email design.
5. Choose your format
HTML and text-only each have their pros and cons. There’s no right or wrong; think about what your target audience wants, and go from there.
6. Add value
Offer your recipients something they can only get by subscribing to your e – newsletter. Think about including special offers.
7. Make it sustainable
It’s all too easy to be over-ambitious with the first edition, then struggle to find enough for the next one. Think about what you can realistically sustain – have you really got enough content for a full e-newsletter? Better to start out with a few messages once a quarter and find you need to increase the size and/or frequency. A fancy e-newsletter that dies after two or three issues is a waste of time; a more modest affair that runs and runs is a real business asset.
8. Think about the timing and frequency
People do not like to be bombarded, but they also do not like to be forgotten, so create a schedule. Make it relevant to the time of year to help people plan ahead, and also tempt those last minute bookings
9. Link to your website
It’s key that any email campaign runs alongside your website, adding links and call to actions from the email through to relevant pages on your site.
10. Involve your audience
Invite customers to send in their own stories and contributions – people love to see themselves in print and to tell you what they think. Make it easy for them to get in touch - Always include your phone number and email if you are happy to be contacted by your customers. Think about adding a ‘Contact Us’ link that automatically takes them to your website, or opens a blank email addressed to you. Include a forward to a friend - this helps to spread the news further.
And finally don't forget to promote the whole destination
E-marketing is a great way to cross-promote everything that Thanet has to offer. For example, if you are going to promote your event, think about what else is happening that weekend. Give a link to places to stay or recommend places to eat. If you help promote others, they will help promote you in return. Look on visitthanet.co.uk for inspiration.
Things you must do before sending your e-newsletter
- Include an option to unsubscribe; this could be as easy as an email link that comes to your inbox
- Do not show peoples’ email addresses to others, as this will break the data protection law. If you are sending an email make sure you blind copy (BCC)
- Proofread the content, and check spelling and grammar
- Send a test email to make sure it works and all the links are in place
To make sure you comply with the rules and regulations around data protection/GDPR click here for a handy checklist on direct marketing.
