A key reason people “fall off the wagon” with their email newsletters is because of time. The reality is, “time” or perceived lack thereof, is an excuse for a whole host of things—not just e-mail. While we could get into an extensive discussion on the construct of time and how you can’t “find time” and how you must instead “make time,” we’d rather just give you some easy tricks to hack your way to more regular e-mails.
We also, of course, don’t need to break down the innumerable benefits to regular e-mail newsletters, right? Engagement, greater ROI, community building, and customer loyalty are just a few of the advantages to having a solid e-mail marketing strategy. The number one piece of the strategy, however, is to be in the practice of disseminating regular and consistently-timed e-mails.
Stop using time as an excuse today with these four time-saving hacks for your e-mail newsletters.
Include Newsletters in an Editorial Calendar
It goes without saying that there’s a lot more going on in your business than your e-mail marketing campaigns, right? One of the greatest productivity killers is a lack of organization. By having a clear schedule and outline of future e-mail newsletters, you will not only save yourself a great deal of time, but also prevent unnecessary stress. There is no shortage of editorial or content calendar tools, but we suggest starting the low maintenance way by creating a Google Sheet in Google Drive or using Excel. Consider charting out newsletters for one month at a time, rather than going week by week as that would defeat the purpose of planning ahead.
Create a Reusable E-mail Template
Templates are amazing. They save so much time and create a level of continuity that your list will come to expect. For some, one e-mail template may be all they need, especially if they tend to send out only one or two newsletters per month. But if your goal is to send a blog summary e-mail one week, and a CTA (call to action) the next, creating two templates may make more sense. Templates are also great for special occasions, such as holidays, or birthdays if you send customers a special reward on their birthdays.
Repurpose Blog Content
Repurposing blog content offers several advantages. The first, of course, is time. The content is already on your website, ready to be extracted and set up in your e-mail newsletter. The second advantage that is under discussed is SEO. Writing regular blogs on a company website should generate more website traffic, which in turn, should create higher Domain Authority rankings. The third benefit is increased engagement! The blogs on your website are meant to engage, inform, and inspire your audience. By including blog excerpts in your newsletter, you can ensure people are reading and sharing the content.
Build an Image Folder
Images are a necessary component to engaging, dynamic e-mail newsletters. Unfortunately finding the right image for a newsletter can be tedious. To save time, create a folder of images specifically for your newsletters. The folder should also have sub folders for different types of newsletters, such as “call to action” or “holiday.” Use Google Drive or Dropbox for easy access so you’ll be sure to have a sizeable number of images at the beginning of each month.
E-mail newsletters should be a component of any business’s marketing mix, and shouldn’t be time consuming or headache inducing. If you’re looking for additional ways to maximize your time when developing email content register for Jeeng’s FREE, BrightTalk sponsored webinar here. In this webinar, we will give you tips on how to save time and money when looking for ways to create content for your email campaigns. By adopting our time-saving hacks, you can be on the path to engaging e-mails in no time at all.
