A quality newsletter needs more than coupons and ads, it needs something

more that readers can’t get from your blog or website. Different types of

content are appropriate depending on who your newsletter’s audience is.

Whether you’re sending it to clients, investors, thought leaders, peers,

donors or media, consider these types of content to keep it fresh.

1. Case Studies or Success Stories

Everyone loves a good success story. Current customers or clients can see

more examples of what your company is capable of and your peers get to

see how you tackled a problem. Use this type of content to emphasize the

metrics of why something was a success. When current customers know

what is important for a successful campaign and the reasoning behind it,

they will be able to apply the concepts to their own experiences.

2. FAQs

Do customers regularly come to you with the same questions? Try creating

an article that answers X Questions about Y Product or Y Problem. The article

is something you can send to future clients and others in the industry. If you

don’t want to use the Q&A format, try creating an article that answers

commonly asked question in a listicle: X Things You Should Know About Y.

3. A Column By An Industry Expert

Do you have a thought leader or just a really opinionated manager in your

office? Harvest their knowledge and give them their own column in your

newsletter. In their space they can share opinions on best practices, teach

new tactics and comment on news.

4. A Survey Invitation – and Results

This type of content hits two birds with one stone. Ask readers to fill out your

survey or questionnaire, then compile the data into an infographic, white

paper, article, etc. When the content is done, use it in the next week’s

newsletter to showcase results. Surveys create content for two weeks and

position you as a thought leader in your industry.

5. Blog Recaps from the Week or Month

Depending on the budget you or your client is working with, there might not

be the resources to create a unique article for your e-blasts. Instead, use

your newsletter to recap what readers might have missed — it’s new content

to them! Even if you do use new articles for newsletters, including recaps of

what readers missed the week before gives an extra boost of traffic to

articles that aren’t on the front page anymore.

6. Industry News Round-Up

Did major events occur in your industry this week that will affect both your

peers and clients? Review the top three or top five news stories and what

their effects will be on the industry. Show that you follow trends and can

respond to them quickly as a company.

7. Personal Spotlight or Profile

Profiles focus on a specific person or team in the company and what they do.

They can showcase how awesome your organizational structure is, highlight

an employee who does something unique for the industry or answer FAQs

about what a particular part of your business does. Do customers at a gym

managed by your client want to know about personal training? Profile a

personal trainer. Do they want to know how about infographics? Profile your

graphic designer.

8. Letter from the CEO, President, Founder, etc.

Has the company changed or grown dramatically over the past few months

or year? Did the organization reach a milestone or goal that once seemed

impossible? Even if your company’s only victory was surviving the quarter,

let someone explain where the company has been and where it is going –

even if it’s a major corporation. This type of article will add a personal touch

to the organization and help you connect emotionally with readers.

9. Welcome A New Client or Partnership

Depending on your newsletter’s audience, this can either be done right when

the partnership is finalized or when there are proven results. The article

would talk about the client or partner and everything they do and then

describe what your company will be doing for them. The new partner will

appreciate the shout-out and know that you appreciate them.

10. Growth and KPIs

This bullet also depends on your company, target audience, and industry.

Non-profits that exceed fundraising goals can use this space to thank

everyone who donated, while public companies on the stock market can

announce their success to investors and set the outlook for the next quarter.

Talking about the numbers shows how transparent a company is, which

clients and investors will appreciate.

11. Seasonal Tips or Advice

Seasonal articles are perfect if you only have a quarterly or monthly

newsletter. Health non-profits could write about the dangers a particular

season has on one’s health, while accountants could write about money

management over the holidays. You don’t necessarily need a weekly

newsletter to make an impact.

12. Announce Upcoming Events

Do you have a webinar on the horizon? How about a major fundraiser? You

can either use your newsletter to announce events as they get close or

announce the schedule for the quarter in one foul swoop. A theater would

want to announce the shows for a season but a marketing agency might

want to announce a webinar a week or two before it happens.

13. Event Recaps

This one goes hand-in-hand with the survey invitation suggestion. If you host

a webinar or Google+ hangout, post the video or an article describing what

was discussed and share it with readers who weren’t able to attend. Maybe

they saw the invite but forgot to sign-up and missed it. Non-profits that hold

fundraising events can use newsletters to thank attendees, link to photos

and announce the amount of money that was raised. Many of the tips in this

article are meant to provide inspiration for newsletter content that’s already

around you. Don’t overthink things: if you host a webinar or event, make the

most of it!

14. Checklists, Listicles, Anything with Numbers!

The goal of your newsletter is to bring links to the inboxes of readers that will

entice them to click through to your blog or website. People respond well to

numbers and know that they can quickly skim over articles to see if it’s

worth their time to read. Try creating a hurricane preparedness checklist, a

tax season list, even a household cleaning supplies list if it applies to your

client or company.

15. Interviews

Either interview someone in the industry to pick their brain about upcoming

trends or best practices, or interview an expert to teach readers how to do

something. For example, a smoke alarm company could interview a

firefighter about fireproofing a house for children or staying safe around the

holidays. Interviews don’t have to be with big names in the industry if they’re

helpful and educational to readers.

16. Resources

Consider adding a section for “Best X Around the Internet for Y” if you have a

monthly or quarterly newsletter. No matter your industry you can pick a

theme and link to tools, apps or articles that readers will appreciate. A local

gym could create “Best Apps to Track your Diet” in one newsletter and then

“Two Articles that Debate the Gym Etiquette of Cell Phones” in the next one.

17. Product Reviews

No, not just glowing reviews of your products or scathing remarks about your

competitors, review tools that your company uses, new analytics or third

party devices that relate to your product. Let’s use the smoke alarm

company from number 15 as an example. They could review the iPhone app

that creates sounds just like a smoke alarm. Is the sound the correct volume

and tone? Is there danger that this app is like screaming fire in a movie

theater? Give your two cents and review it.

18. Predictions

It might be a good fit for your company to have a regular “magic crystal ball”

column of industry predictions. A gutter cleaning company could predict

expected rainfall or number of hurricanes on the horizon while a car

company predicts the growth of electric car sales in the next five years. The

more data to back up your predictions the better, people aren’t going to tune

in just to here baseless speculations.

19. Instructions or How-Tos

One of the great things about newsletters is that they’re easier to save than

articles from a blog or on social media — readers can just let them sit in their

inboxes. By featuring instructions and how-tos (or lists, or resources) people

will be more inclined to save your newsletter and use it as a reference later.

Articles like How to Prepare for the First Snowfall will be helpful enough to

keep readers from hitting the delete button.

Hopefully these types of content will give you inspiration for your next

newsletter and beyond. If you struggle to keep coming up with new ideas,

pick a style from the list and try to build something around it. You never

know what fresh new ideas will pop up.

Top 10 article ideas for yourcustomer or marketing newsletterby David Kandler

Editor’s Note: The author of this article, David Kandler, is founder, owner and

president of CompanyNewsletters.com, an Internet firm that produces

newsletters for companies throughout the United States. Learn more about how

his firm can help your company produce printed and electronic newsletters.

With the right mix of article topics, your customer newsletter can be an effective

marketing tool.

If it’s difficult for you to come up with enough articles to fill your customer or

marketing newsletter, or if your publication is not getting the type of results that

you were hoping, consider the following “top ten” article ideas. These types of

articles are commonly found in the customer newsletters that Company-

Newsletters.com produces for its business clients, and the articles are always

well received by readers.

1. Current events and how they impact your business and customers: Let your readers know how current

news events are impacting your company and its clients. For example, a

company that builds or remodels homes may want to use a newsletter article to

warn customers that recent hurricane damage is causing increased demand for

lumber, so material prices are expected to climb higher. An accounting firm may

want to use a newsletter article to explain how recent changes in a tax law will

impact its customers. Chances are great that current events are impacting your

company’s business, so keep your customers informed through your newsletter

articles.

2. New or little-known uses for your products: Ask or survey your customers, and you’ll likely find that many

use your company’s products in new or innovative ways that you may not even

be aware of. If you discover and publicize new uses for old products in your

customer or marketing newsletter, you will likely increase sales of these

products. Plus your customers will enjoy reading about how your products can

be used in new and different ways that will benefit them. For this type of article,

interview a customer that uses your products in a new or different way, and

quote the person regarding how exactly he or she uses your product, how the

person benefits from the new use of the product, how the customer is impressed

with the quality of the product, etc.

3. Customer profile: This type of newsletter article is similar to a

lengthy customer testimonial that you might find in a marketing brochure.

Interview one of your best customers and quote them as to: why they prefer

your company’s products and services; the various ways they use your products

and services; why they remain such a loyal customer of yours; how they’d

recommend your company to others; etc. See a sample customer profile

article that CompanyNewsletters.com wrote for a client. If you feel

uncomfortable interviewing your company’s own customers and feel like you’re

“fishing for compliments,” consider having a third party, such as

CompanyNewsletters.com’s highly experienced business journalists, conduct the

interview and write the article.

4. Making a difference in the community: A good

corporate citizen always gives back to the communities it serves, through

donations and/or employees who volunteer for worthy causes. Publicize your

charitable contributions — whether they are monetary or product related — in

your customer newsletter. Also write articles about how your employees are

actively volunteering in the community. Your customers will feel good knowing

that they are doing business with a company that gives back to the communities

it serves.

5. Employee profile: This type of article is meant to inspire your

customers’ confidence in the qualifications of your employees, and thus your

business. An employee profile article is also a good tool to demonstrate how

your company is staffed by dedicated employees who believe strongly in serving

and pleasing customers. To write this type of article, interview a key employee

and the person’s supervisor. Quote them as to how the profiled employee has

gone “above and beyond the call” to serve customers. You could quote the

supervisor as to how dedicated the employee is and list all the positive traits

that the person brings to the job. Also, you can quote the employee as to the

person’s philosophy on serving customers, how the person loves working for

your company, etc. Employee profiles are also an excellent way to “personalize”

your company in the eyes of your customers. These articles show customers

that they are not just dealing with a sterile, faceless, large corporation.

Employee profiles demonstrate that they are dealing with a vibrant company

whose success is due to its many highly qualified employees who are dedicated

to uniquely serving each customer.

Readers love it when customer newsletters include helpful articles that give them

free tips and advice.

6. Tips in your area of expertise:Readers love it when customer newsletters include helpful articles that give them free tips and advice. Undoubtedly, your company has worked hard to establish itself as a leading, respected company in its industry. There’s no better way to capitalize on this than to give your readers free tips and advice related to your area of expertise. For instance, a security company may want to publicize personal safety tips in its customer newsletter. A car dealer may want to give general vehicle maintenance tips in its marketing newsletter. A shipping company may want to give guidelines on how to safely package flammable materials. A financial planner may want to give free tips on how to save for your children’s college education. A general law firm may want to give tips in its customer newsletter on how to respond to a police officer’s questions if you’re pulled over for speeding. These types of “tips” articles are usually the most-read stories in a customer or marketing newsletter.

7. Product or service profile: In each issue of your

newsletter, try profiling a different product or service that your company offers.

Your customers are probably not aware of all the different products or services

your company offers, so educating them about each one is a good way to cross-

sell your products and services. Also, if you have a new product making its

debut, you can use your newsletter to build excitement for the product and

announce the new offering.

8. Changes in your business practice that will impact clients: Use your customer or marketing newsletter to keep

readers informed of recent or upcoming changes that will affect them. For

instance, if your company’s prices are changing, use a newsletter article to tell

customers about it. If your company is offering new financing plans for its

customers, be sure to write about it in your newsletter. If your business is

changing its hours of operation, let customers know about it through a

newsletter article. These types of articles will help your readers stay informed

about your company, and can be a strong component of your newsletter.

9. Positive customer letters: Companies that receive

complimentary customer letters should reprint them in their customer

newsletter. You could call the section “From the mailbag,” or something similar,

and reprint several positive customer letters in each issue.

10. Deals, specials, coupons and discounts: Although customer and marketing newsletters are

traditionally thought of as providing a “soft sell” to readers, there’s no reason

you can’t directly promote your products and services in your newsletter like

you would in any other advertising medium. Many businesses run coupons or

product or service specials on the back page of their newsletters. Another good

tactic is to tie in these deals and discounts with a product or service mentioned

in an earlier article within the newsletter. For instance, if you have one article

that is promoting a new use for one of your products, put a sentence at the end

of that article saying, “For a limited time special offer on this product, see the

coupon on the back page of this newsletter.” Tying in a special offer with an

article about a particular product or service is an excellent way to generate

customer interest in the product and increase sales.

So when it’s time to plan your next set of newsletter articles, consider these 10

types of articles. They are staples of the customer and marketing newsletters

that CompanyNewsletters.com produces for its business clients, they get results

and readers love them.

Read more newsletter ideas, tips and “how to” articles from

CompanyNewsletters.com.