Email newsletters represent a necessary tool for any organization because they serve as one of the most effective ways to communicate with customers, supporters, and members.
If you’re like the rest of us, you probably receive several newsletters via email every day. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that competition to get eyes on your community newsletter is fierce, so you’ll need to be creative so that yours will stand out.
So, how can you make your community newsletter unique while ensuring that you provide readers with the content and information they want?
Here are the steps you should take to get started.
Understand the logistics of a community newsletter.
When planning your community newsletter, you’ll need to understand the logistics. One question that comes to mind immediately is, how often should I send out my community newsletter?
It’s no secret that the leading cause of audiences unsubscribing from community newsletters is the complaint that they receive more emails than they want. Of course, unsubscribes will happen, but the goal is to grow your audience, not lose it.
Local community newsletter providers will typically send out emails weekly or bi-weekly. As soon as you have determined the frequency at which you’ll send out your community newsletter, you’ll want to decide when to send out your community newsletter.
Most experts agree that Tuesdays or Wednesdays are ideal days for sending out community newsletters. However, a quick Internet query will give you multiple conflicting answers. It is often best to review the results of a previous email campaign or study your website traffic. Using this information, you can determine when your community is most active and which days draw the most traffic to your website. Another great way to determine the best day to send out your newsletter is to poll your community members and let them vote on the subject.
Pick your community newsletter tool.
Once you have your logistics figured out, you’ll want to find a community newsletter tool that’s right for you. While there are many community newsletter software solutions on the market, we recommend rasa.io. Of course, we might be slightly biased, but we can’t think of a better way to connect with your community than rasa.io.
With rasa.io automation tools, your community newsletter will be better able to engage users with a new frequency level without spending more time, effort, or money. Combining rasa.io with other email marketing software tools will allow you to take your newsletter to the next level.
Consider your content.
You’ll need to determine the general theme of your local community newsletter and clearly know what content you’ll be sharing regularly with your audience before launch. If your existing website or blog features a lot of content, you can use your community newsletter as a way to promote it.
You can curate content from outside sources if your organization does not produce a lot of in-house content. Then, combine that content with event promotions and news about what is happening around your community. You can even monetize your community newsletter with advertisements and promoted content.
Keep your subject lines light and fun.
Many marketers say the subject line can make or break a community newsletter. Obviously, the content you provide within the newsletter will be the most valuable aspect of your community newsletter. However, the subject line will get audiences opening your community newsletter in the first place.
Here are three tips up can use to write a good community newsletter subject line:
- Read the subject line aloud to ensure it “sounds” right.
- Write it how you would Tweet it.
- Consider your audience and speak it as they would.
Establish the goals of your community newsletter.
You want to be sure your goals are clear when you create a community newsletter.
So, ask yourself questions like, what’s the newsletter’s purpose? What do you want to communicate with your audience? Is recruitment your goal? What about retention?
Once you are clear on the goals of your community newsletter, you can set key performance indicators and measure results using your newsletter software tool.
Take what you learn, revise, and repeat.
As soon as you have sorted out the above-mentioned details, you’ll push send, measure the results, make revisions and repeat. Newsletters are part of communication strategies that are constantly evolving. So, do not be afraid of modifying your community newsletter as needed.
Community Newsletter Software with Proven Results
With rasa.io, users can create community newsletters that increase engagement every time. Senders who use rasa.io have seen an increase in event sign-ups, engagement in forums, and visits to their website content when they share it alongside the custom-curated articles that rasa.io provides.
The rasa.io automation tools offer actual results because they allow users to engage with a new frequency level without senders having to invest more time, effort, or money. In fact, rasa.io helps its users save time, effort, and money in the long run by streamlining and personalizing the community newsletter process.
When you use rasa.io to create your local community newsletter, you’ll connect deeply with everyone on your list by providing them with unique content per their individual interests such as community events, special events, local updates, and local activities.
Just like your social media feed is curated specifically for you, rasa.io curates your community newsletter to meet the needs of your audience members.