Ask the Experts: Using Email Newsletters Part 3

Q: "Are there some basic planning tips that will help me keep my newsletter on track?"

Let’s start with a look at how often you should produce it.

Frequency

How often to send your email newsletter is really a balance between your capacity to deliver and knowledge of your audience. Send them too frequently and you risk overloading your readers’ inboxes as well as straining your own resources. The quality of your content could also suffer which will only have a negative impact on your subscriber list.

Go too far the other way, on the other hand, and your business could slip off your customers’ radar.

The best advice is to start at a frequency you know you can deliver – monthly, quarterly or somewhere in between. If you start with fewer issues – four a year would be a minimum – you can always publish occasional special editions if the quality and relevance of your content justifies it.

Set Time Aside for Articles

When it comes to planning your actual content use an editorial schedule (see part 2) to map out what’s going to be included, issue by issue. Build in some flexibility as the newsletter should be responsive to shifts in your business’s direction or to market changes.

Check your diary and note potential article ideas relevant to key cycles in your business’s calendar. It may be appropriate to delegate some articles to others in your business with specific knowledge or responsibilities, or at least have them provide you with drafts you can edit into shape. Guest articles showcasing customers, or from outside contributors, are another useful way of spreading the load.

If the business is just you, then you may be doing most of the writing yourself in which case it’s easy to think you’ll fit everything in when the time comes. In reality that’s unlikely. Something always comes up.

So, even though there’s no-one else to organise, you should still plan in advance to avoid last-minute rushes or skipping an issue. Set regular time aside to work on your content, say a half hour each week, so you can count on getting the articles completed in spite of busy periods. Note down article ideas as they occur to you and what the sources are.

It’s a good idea to build up a library of articles that aren't time-sensitive, such as case studies and ‘how to’ pieces, so you have material on standby ready to drop into your newsletter if you do ever run short of time.

Managing Deadlines

Set dates by which all the content must be written and received – and a final date for the complete issue’s sign-off. Work backwards from your target publication date, allowing time for all the production elements, and set a deadline a day or two before the actual one to give you some extra time.

Ensure managers know that articles will appear as drafted unless amendments or comments are in by the due time and make sure they nominate someone in their place in case they’re not around at the appropriate time. Limit reviews to the correction of factual inaccuracies only – you don’t want anyone trying to put their individual stamp on the newsletter’s overall style and tone.

Lastly, one person should have the final say on the complete issue – involving any more will only cause confusion and probably delay your newsletter’s publication.