With a custom email newsletter and/or announcement template design, you will stand out from inbox crowd of boring free templates.
One of the worst marketing decisions a business owner can make is to go with the free, unbranded, lame, ezine templates provided by your email marketing service provider with a smaller version of your website header slapped on it.
Why? The majority of all account holders also use the free templates, meaning it’s highly likely that another person who does exactly the same thing you do is using the exact same ezine template … and that’s really bad for branding and brand recognition.
If you approach your ezine the right way, your ezine will create profits, credibility, and opportunity for you and your business.
Your email newsletter will help position you as an expert in your industry. It will also help you establish credibility and trust in your market, build relationships with your audience, and stay top of mind with your prospects and referral sources.
I know some people – even some marketing experts – will tell you that email marketing is dead and that it no longer works. But email is still the #1 communication tool for thousands of businesses around the globe.
In fact, according to MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Factbook – Spring 2010, “Email far outpaces other online communication tools. Eighty-seven percent of consumers in North America rely on email as their primary communication tool as compared to just 6% for instant messaging and 4% for social networks.”
And according for Forrester Research, “Investments made in email marketing will grow from $1.3 billion in 2010 to $2 billion by 2014.”
Using the free, boring templates provided by your email marketing service provider is so “start-up” … with a custom email newsletter template design, not only will you reinforce your visual brand with a consistent look and feel, but you’ll stand out, and elevate your professionalism and expert status.
Are you adding an email newsletter to your marketing mix? Here are some things you should remember:
- An ezine is a lot of work! If you’re new to publishing an ezine don’t bite off more than you can chew. Start off simple with just a few sections. Then when you’re used to publishing your ezine and it becomes habit, add more sections as appropriate for your business and your readers.
- Decide if your ezine will have it’s own name or if you’re sticking to your brand.
- Know what ezine sections you want to include now and later. Often ezine section headers are designed JPG images. While your designer is creating the images for the section titles you will be using right away, also have them create the titles for sections you may want to add at a later date.
- Decide on a publishing schedule and stick to it! It’s better to publish less frequently and publish consistently, than to promise a weekly ezine and skip weeks.
- Know what style or format you want your ezine to use. Do you want a single column ezine, a two column ezine, or one that uses a combination of both. Are you modeling your coach or mentor’s ezine? If so, send your designer a few issues for reference. Note: If you’re not HTML savvy, and your assistant isn’t a code expert either, think about keeping your ezine design simple so it is faster and easier for all of you to get it done and get it out!
- When deciding how often to publish, take your marketing calendar into account. If you launch new classes, programs, events, or products frequently, consider publishing your ezine every other week so you can use the off weeks to promote your launches and support your marketing efforts with solo emails.
- Write the content for any content that will be in every issue of the email newsletter before hiring a designer to design and code your custom ezine template. Sometimes the content will impact the design.
- Periodically survey your subscribers to ask them what they like and don’t like about your ezine. Ask them what they want to see in your ezine and what topics they want to hear about.
With a well-planned, custom designed ezine template that perfectly represents and reinforces your brand, you’ll wow your subscribers and enhance your credibility … then it’s just up to you to fill it with valuable, relevant, personal content.
About Jennifer Bourn
4 Things You Must Know When Creating Your Irresistible Free Offer
No Opt-In Approach to List Building
Three Tips to Get More Clients and Grow Your List
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Stop Focusing on List Building
There are designers that can make it pretty, coders that can make it work, and marketers that can make it sell — at 
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Great article Jen!
I’ve been publishing my Note Worthy ezine for over 6 years now (wow, that’s hard to believe!) and I made the committment to send it out weekly. You are right, HUGE committment – but for me, it keeps my writing muscle strong by keeping me accountable. Also, my audience expects it and I have a very strong relationship with my subscribers as I meet them every Monday at 10am.
This article is so wonderful as it gives all the tips people need who are starting out – I especially LOVE your suggestion of having the designer create the section headers even if you aren’t going to use them now – because you can add them on later – brilliant!
I agree, email marketing and relationship marketing is not dead – it’s all in the way you go about it – and the relationship you have with your subscribers. Just like anything else, you need to add value and not junk ;0)
You know one of the things I love most about you Jen? Is that when I read what you write or listen to you speak, I feel like I’m hearing myself talk! LOL. This is GREAT advice and I couldn’t agree more. Email marketing does require significant effort, but when done correctly, such as in following the exact steps you outline, you can easily develop a fantastic relationship with your audience and increase your sales. Thanks for dropping your knowledge on us! :)
Great minds think alike :) We’ve ALWAYS been on the same wavelength when it comes to our approach to business and marketing!
Jen, my clients always hear about the importance of email marketing during my sessions with them! Not everyone is on Facebook, and this is such a low-cost, no-brainer kind of marketing. Any business could benefit from implementing this.
Hope everyone heeds your advice on not signing up for too often to publish. It is a big commitment, and it is far better to do a great job once/month than put out pablum every week. And I started with just 3 sections in my monthly newsletter and have added a couple new sections here and there over time. That was a good decision for me.
One of the sessions in my upcoming Marketing Olympics program is all about email marketing, and distinguishing between the features is one important thing the business owner needs to go through. Certain business models might do well with a simple product like Constant Contact, while another business model might require a more sophisticated email marketing product.
I “collect” newsletters I like and it helps when trying to get the look you want!
Wow Jennifer, if I could add yellow highlighter here I would to emphasize #1… it’s a lot of work. And, the good news, totally worth it if you’re going in with eyes wide open (what a gift you’re giving people here!!). I agree with Sydni… this is GREAT advice!
Thanks Gina! There is so much information out there that makes email marketing and internet marketing seem so easy – but the successful ones are the ones that WORK HARD. Those that are willing to work harder than anyone else … success does take effort and your email newsletter is no different :)