How to Decide WHAT to Send to the People on Your Mailing List
September 18, 2008 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
Today’s Marketing Tip from Suzanne Lieurance, The Working Writer’s Coach
In my previous blog post, I covered the types of materials that can be sent to people on a mailing list. Items like a newsletter, a tips sheet, a daily quote, and regular product updates are all examples of the types of materials you can create to send to the people on your list. But before you decide on any of these items, here are a few other things to consider:
1. WHERE will you get the content for this item? If you have to create all the content for the item yourself, it can be tricky. Depending on the needs of the people on your list, try to think of something you don’t have to come up with on your own. If you send a daily inspirational quotation, you can locate these quotes online and choose one to send every day to the people on your list. You can probably scout around online for other types of tips, too – food tips, cooking tips, fitness tips, beauty tips, writing tips, etc. and rewrite them a bit – but whatever you decide, be sure you can find this type of information easily.
2. HOW LONG will it take to create this item? A newsletter or longer item can take several hours (or even several days) to compile. It’s usually much better to send out something you can create rather quickly and easily.
3. HOW OFTEN should it be sent to everyone on your list? If you decide on a newsletter, don’t attempt to create one every week if this is your first experience at developing a newsletter. You’ll probably have trouble coming up with enough interesting, informative, and VALUABLE content for your newsletter on a weekly basis and you’ll spend too much time working on this newsletter to make it worth your while. If you start sending a regular newsletter you will need to keep it up, so it’s usually better to stick to a monthly or even quarterly newsletter at first. In fact, I would recommend that whatever you decide to send the people on your mailing list, send it every other week or just once a month at first.
Most people belong to several mailing lists.
Generally, they STAY on ONLY the mailing lists that send them valuable content on a regular basis. This content doesn’t need to be lengthy or complicated. It just needs to be valuable to the person receiving it.
Take the time to carefully plan what you send the people on your mailing list on a regular basis and you will see your mailing list grow quickly.
