Digital Minds Forum

In my last blog post I asked some questions that hopefully got you thinking about content for your newsletter. Now you’ve done the hard work, here are some easy ideas to give you a bit more inspiration:

1. Guest/celebrity articles
2. Ask the expert (this is always the most popular of the articles I write)
3. How to articles
4. Interviews – an expert, a staff member, a customer
5. Stories about how your products have impacted someone’s life
6. Veteran input
7. Inspirational client stories
8. Lists of Top 10 websites/blogs/resources relevant to your market
9. Top 10s, 5 tips, 10 idea etc
10. Do’s and Don’ts
11. Statistics
12. FAQs
13. Competitions
14. Surveys/survey results
15. Reader feedback
16. Spotlight
17. Day in the life
18. Comment on news stories relevant to your industry
19. Review other people’s products
20. Write articles about your keywords
21. Get ideas from competitor news or newsletters from other industries
22. Browse article directories
23. YouTube clips relevant to your industry
24. Podcasts or vodcasts you have created
25. Look at industry blogs and steal (sorry – source), ideas from

Now think of 10 more!

Marie Page runs an international e-business selling instructional DVDs teaching contemporary musical instruments. She blogs at http://musicademy.com/blog

1. Put everyone’s email address in the “To” field
2. Don’t give your reader a way to unsubscribe, or ignore them when they ask that you stop contacting them.
3. When you meet someone new and chat with them about your business (or the weather), or if they contact you about something unrelated to your business, be sure and immediately add them to your mailing list (don’t get explicit permission or let them know you’ve done it).
4. Be sure not to check your links in your newsletter – that way people will be annoyed AND frustrated when they click and wind up at an error page.
5. Dress up your promotion as a newsletter

Marie Page runs an international e-business selling instructional DVDs teaching contemporary musical instruments. She blogs at http://musicademy.com/blog

In my previous blog post I discussed some practical ideas for sending out enewsletters. Here are some ideas for creating compelling content.

Here’s the premise of my suspicion that any marketer who works in a business is perfectly capable of writing an endless stream of interesting and engaging newsletter (or blog) articles:

“I have never come across anybody who new enough about a particular industry or topic to start a business in it, who didn’t also have a nearly endless supply of content to choose from” (Michael Katz – E-Newsletters That Work)

So, you work in a company within an industry that you happen to know quite a lot about – that’s what you do for 35 or more hours every week. Let’s see what you already have inside your head that you could write about.

Now I’m a teacher. I’m not going to give you the answers (at least not this week) but in true active learning methodology, I’m going to facilitate you to find them yourself. So sharpen your pencil and get ready for a one person brainstorming session.

Write a list of all the questions you are asked about your business on a regular basis:

• How do I…?
• Should I…?
• What do you think about…?
• How do I know if…?
• Is it worth spending money on…?
• Do you know where…?
• What would you recommend for…?
• What do you predict will happen to…?
• Can I have an expert opinion on…?
• What’s happening with…?
• How did you manage to achieve….?

You should now have a long list of ideas for your newsletter. These aren’t boring company profiles, new product reviews, interviews with the CEO. They answer the genuine questions that your customers and others in your industry are interested in hearing the answers to.

You may not have all the answers, but I bet you know a man who does.

What are you waiting for?

Marie Page runs an international e-business selling instructional DVDs teaching contemporary musical instruments. She blogs at http://musicademy.com/blog