Designing A Newsletter,
Not Spam.

Maintaining the integrity of your mailers

"Content is King." Yes, even in e-Newsletters.

Your content is the third thing your readers see - and it's the most important part because that's what keeps your readers interested.

Make Conversation

• Speak Human, not History Textbook.
  Engage your audience by writing as if you were speaking to them in person. Formality has its place, but in newsletters it can quickly become boring.
• Taking an impersonal approach to address your reader gets an equally impersonal response. Monologues that fail to address the audience's point of view rarely To avoid falling into this trap, add a little creativity to your writing:
  • Read your newsletter out loud. Is that something you would say in conversation?
  • Make creative use of common phrases and sayings, tweaked to feature the message you're trying to convey
  • Throw in a few rhetorical questions for your readers to think about
• Focus on what your reader may be interested in learning from you
• Try to avoid generic templates, because oftentimes they sound exactly like what they are - generic templates.

Less is More

Feed your readers bite-sized teasers.
These are easier to digest, and your readers will appreciate this.

• Give your readers tasty samples, just enough so they're curious to visit your site or check out your product. Putting everything in one newsletter too easily ends up cluttered and difficult to read.
• If your newsletter includes a bunch of links to several recent articles in your blog, focus on creating catchy titles, slogans, and short excerpts to catch your reader's attention.
• Avoid writing long paragraphs. Instead, try sticking to bullet points and lists that focus on key points.

Here are some ways to get started:

• Write an outline first (remember those 20-minute prompts in high school?)
• Attack the first draft of your newsletter with a highlighter, cutting out excess wordiness and redundancy
• Read it out loud. Do you repeat yourself anywhere?

Things To Avoid

• Key words like "limited time," "money," and "free" are red flags for spam filters.
• The overdone and the cheesy are just that - overdone and cheesy. Try writing headlines with a new angle.

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