For me, it’s my issue of People Magazine that shows up in the mail once a week. It’s my true vice and I sit down every week and read each issue from cover to cover. Think about how you feel when the latest issue of your favorite magazine subscription arrives in the mail. It may even be a newsletter that you subscribe to online that arrives on a regular basis and is packed with useful and insightful information on a topic of interest to you. What does your favorite magazine or newsletter offer to you? What keeps you coming back for more?

My obsession with People is that it is the one way that I escape from my world of work, writing and coming up with marketing strategies and just read about what everyone else is doing in life. The majority of the information covers celebrities but there are also human-interest stories that make me laugh, cry and think.

Keeping some of the things in mind that draw you to your favorites reads, think about the audience you attract with your business and what you may be able to implement in your own electronic magazine issue or newsletters.

Timely and consistent

One of the top likes of a publication is that it always shows up on time and it contains relevant and interesting information to its audience. This means that once you commit to sending out an e-newsletter, you have to create a schedule for it and stick to it. Some e-newsletters go out on a weekly basis while others stretch out monthly or even quarterly. Set your readers’ expectations on how often they will receive the e-newsletter and then don’t let them down by not sticking to your schedule. Also make sure that the information the e-newsletter contains is useful and relevant.

Communication Vehicle

E-newsletters are great communication tools for existing and prospective customers. E-newsletters can also be a benefit to attract new subscribers. If you think about this logically, these are new subscribers interested in your business and industry that you then have the opportunity to turn into new paying customers.

Anatomy of an E-newsletter

You will see many different formats and information contained in the electronic and paper newsletters you receive from various businesses and organizations. While you can make your newsletter as unique as your company is, there are some essential parts that every newsletter should include.

• An informational article, tip, trick, industry trend—something that provides the reader with useful, insightful and relevant information

• A special promotion for your business—coupon, discount or special offer

• An About Us/Me section that talks about your company, product or service

• Contact information: email address, phone, website, physical/mailing address

No matter what else your newsletter contains, make sure that your newsletter contains all four of these sections.

Resources for Creating

While looks are not everything, you do want your e-newsletter to look, feel and read professionally. To create a professional newsletter, you do not have to spend a lot of time or money. You can easily build an attractive e-newsletter using low-cost online software such as Constant Contact, iContact or Email Brain. These systems not only allow you to create professional e-newsletters but they also have contact management tools that allow you to collect visitor emails and names from your website and send out the emails in bulk.