Eelectronic newsletters seem to be hitting my mailbox with amazing regularity at the moment.
Some are so dull, you might wonder why anyone would bother to send them while others are effective and an extremely powerful marketing tool.
They are relatively inexpensive to set up and run but can make a surprising difference to the number of web site visits you receive.
One local company that sends out 6,000 newsletters every month told me their site statistics suggested more than 50 per cent of the recipients logged on to their web site within 24 hours of newsletter dispatch.
It is not difficult to grasp that monthly email newsletters are a great way of retaining a customer's attention.
The email newsletter is an excellent way to ensure customer loyalty. So how do you set up a newsletter?
Firstly, ensure continuity by finding someone who is prepared to take on the task of newsletter editor.
They should have a good eye for detail and design and have some writing skills.
If you choose to send out a simple text-based email newsletter, this level of experience is enough but the tendency is towards HTML-based emails.
They require additional coding skills. The advantage is you can display dynamic, web-based graphics in addition to your words.
Given that you have a member of staff with the right skill, you then need to consider a host of list management issues.
Think about the logistics of managing thousands of addresses to ensure there are no duplications.
This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
There are lots of ways to handle newsletter list management. You could weed out your list manually but this can take days.
A way around that would be to invest in newsletter list management software. There are a number of products on the market.
Some will cope with the whole newsletter creation and dispatch process, others just handle list management whilst many simply mirror a low level HTML editor.
One local organisation that really understands the potential of newsletter-based marketing is Market-IT from Brighton.
The company sends out its own free monthly marketing tips newsletter to more than 20,000 subscribers.
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