How to Write a Newsletter

In most cases, I am more interested in the whys of things than the hows. As a result, this particular newsletter is more about the practice of writing, as well as the strategic considerations of a newsletter campaign, than it is about technological implementation. While I will spend some time talking about how to implement a newsletter campaign, my primary goal is that you finish reading this newsletter inspired to write your own.

Writing a newsletter can be a central element of two different, but essential, business strategies. As part of a marketing strategy, your newsletter should inform clients-to-be of your expertise by offering them compelling and educational expert content. As part of a web content strategy, meanwhile, your newsletter should regularly add substantial written content to your website, prompting search engines to frequently index and better qualify your authority over those subjects you write about. You've got to keep in mind that these strategies are completely interdependent; one is not preeminent over the other.

This month, I'd like to first examine what good professional writing requires, then look at some best practices for making a newsletter a successful part of your content strategy.

There are two common barriers to being successful with a content strategy like writing newsletters. The first is that some people may assume they are not qualified to write. Now, it may be true that there are particular subjects that they are not qualified to write about. For instance, though I enjoy writing and do it frequently, I have no business writing about such topics as medicine, law, or sports. But I do write what I know; when it comes to my core disciplines, I believe that I, or any experienced professional, should be capable of writing about them in a clear and compelling way. In the same way, most of our clients have a particular expertise that they are trying to share with potential clients of their own. They probably speak frequently and at length about their expertise, even confidently so. Yet, when it comes to the notion of writing an article, fear and intimidation set in.

During our recent webinar on content strategy, Mark suggested a helpful exercise for overcoming this barrier: First, think back to a recent conversation you may have had over the phone with a client in which you answered a question. This shouldn't be too hard; after all, it's probably at least a daily occurrence. Assuming this client's question didn't catch you completely off guard, consider your answer. You were probably able to respond right away, providing helpful information that was truly valuable to your client. This shows that you have something to say. The trick is in taking that information, which you produced effortlessly in the context of a phone conversation, and transforming it into something written. Next time you find yourself in this situation, take a few moments when you're finished with the call to write down that question and your answer. If you do this enough, it will become clear to you that you have plenty to say.

The second barrier is much simpler to understand, but much harder to combat. Most people feel that they don't have enough time to write, and they may actually be right about this. However, writing is one of the most effective ways to refine and share your expertise, so if you don't have time, you need to make time. I discussed this idea in the opening lines of my newsletter, Developing an Effective Content Strategy:

"I do most of my best work in the morning. In fact, I'm writing this at 7:00 am from my desk in our currently quiet, empty office. I don't get here early to "show up" my coworkers; I do it because I know that I am going to do my best thinking and highest quality writing first thing in the morning when the office is empty, the phones aren't ringing, and my inbox isn't growing by the minute. Since the creation of this newsletter is central to our content strategy as a company, I have chosen to work on it at a time at which I know I'll be able to do it to the best of my ability and without interruption. Likewise, I hope you've found a quiet and comfortable corner of your workplace to spend a few minutes reading this. Believe me when I tell you that considering these practical issues of time and place is critical to the success of your strategic pursuits, whether on or offline."

Of course, making time to write doesn't mean you have to do it first thing in the morning. If you can disable your wireless, turn off your phone, throw a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door, and clear your schedule mid-day, great. If not, you may find yourself coming in to the office very early, like I often do. Or you may end up sitting cross-legged on your bed with your laptop at 9:30pm, as I am right now. For most of us, adopting the discipline of writing will require some serious effort and probably a bit of sacrifice. However, if you want to write, you must find and commit to a time that will enable you to focus.

There are no good writers who don't read. This means that, in addition to making time to write, you must also make time to read. Read whatever you can to expand your knowledge and inform your writing- books, magazine articles, newspaper columns, blogs, especially other firms' newsletters- paying attention not just to content, but also to form and style. You'll need to read even more than you write in order to stay informed, inspired, and motivated.

One additional point may help shed some light on these two barriers. Many principals may read this and conclude that writing a newsletter just won't work for their firm because they know they personally can't write well and, even though they'd like to make time, it's just not realistic given their responsibilities. That's ok. If the principal can't fulfill the writing need, there is probably someone else who can. I am sure that our company is not the only example of this point, but I'll use us anyway. As the Vice President of Newfangled, I cheerfully report to Mark O'Brien, our President. He's my boss. But, I write our newsletter. What matters is not who writes these articles, but that we're in accord on the vision for the content. Finally, don't assume that writing must be one person's burden. You may identify multiple people on staff who could contribute, yourself included, and rotate the newsletter writing responsibilities.

Once you've made the necessary decisions to prioritize writing at your firm, there are a few other practical things you can do to hone your craft.

Planning will be essential to making your newsletter, or any other writing you do, a success. We maintain an editorial calendar, usually at least 3 to 4 months in advance, to identify subjects for upcoming newsletters. Of course, this schedule isn't always set in stone. For example, I've been planning to write an update on web browsers, but have put it off until some of the big players that are now in beta get their full releases (I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that this happens in convergence with the funeral for IE 6.0- hey, a guy can dream, right?). The real advantage to creating an editorial calendar, aside from having a schedule to be accountable to, is to learn to better identify trends so that when you write about them, you're not only current, but ahead of the curve.

On that note, it should also be said that your writing should be targeted toward sharing your expertise, not selling your services. My experience has been that many people are hesitant to subscribe to or even read newsletters because they don't want to read what seem more like brochures than anything else. This is something you need to consider in the planning stage, not just the writing stage. When planning your editorial calendar, consider the knowledge you have that enables you to do what you do for your clients and share that. If that information is enlightening to your readers, then it will likely be compelling as well. You shouldn't need to make any sales overtures in your newsletters if you are doing this properly.

Once you've identified your topics, you'll want to get in the habit of tagging and saving information related to them as you come across it online. I use del.icio.us to tag articles of all kinds, and use specific tags to organize those that are related to the newsletter subjects I've planned in advance. Having this information well organized helps me to look back on it and quickly identify key concepts that I want to address in my newsletter. Essentially, this is how to research for your writing. Using del.icio.us also enables you to easily share these sources with others. If you look at the right side of many of our newsletter pages, you'll see a feed of the articles I've tagged as corresponding to the subject of that particular article using del.icio.us. You can read more about tagging in a newsletter that Eric wrote in June, 2008, entitled, Tags to the World.

Once I know the topics that I'm going to write about, I like to tap in to my network to gather information and make an "initial approach" to my next newsletter. One of the best ways I have found to do this has been to use LinkedIn's 'Answers' section to submit a question of your own. You can even add an explanation to expand upon your question, categorize it, and send it to up to 200 people in your network. I've gotten in the habit of doing this before each newsletter I write, and the answers I receive serve as a decent barometer for the public sentiment toward whatever concept I have asked about. In preparation for this month's newsletter, for example, I asked, Do you write a regular newsletter as part of your marketing?

Blogging is another great way to explore topics in a more casual way in advance of, and even after, writing a formal newsletter about them. As I edit my newsletters, I often end up with information that is too much for the article but might be a great fit for a blog post, so I tend to have at least a few posts of "spillover" after I send out our newsletter email. You can read more about our approach to blogging in our newsletter, Is it Time to Start a Blog?

Now that we've looked at the concepts behind writing for your newsletter, I'd also like to briefly look at implementation.

A simple way of using newsletters to support both your marketing and content strategies is to send an email version of your newsletter containing only an introductory portion of the content with a link to read the full article on your website. Your email should generate interest and direct subscribers to your website's newsletter content, not deliver the actual content to their inboxes. This keeps the content where it belongs, working for your website, but keeps reminding your network that you're still out there, staying current. The other advantage to taking this approach is that it frees you up to use a third-party email newsletter tool if you don't have the time or resources to fully integrate one into your website's content management system.

We've found a monthly publication schedule to be ideally suited for our newsletter writing. Our newsletters tend to be a more formal, lengthy, detailed, and more carefully researched format, so practically speaking, we need the time between articles to develop this content well. I also feel that a more frequent schedule would not allow our readers to properly digest the content. So, we let our blogs be a more frequent and casual way to connect with readers and expand our site's content.

I've seen many different opinions on when to publish, so I'll shy away from being dogmatic on this point. After reviewing years worth of tracking data, we've found Tuesday mornings at 10am to be a good time to publish our newsletters. This is just when we've had the highest number of click-throughs from the email to our website. Would it be the end of the world if we waited until Wednesday or Thursday? Probably not. For a very thorough "time to send" formula, check out this post from Lyris email labs. The author's conclusion is that, generally, the best time to publish is in the morning from Tuesday through Thursday.

Finally, I wanted to include three examples of newsletters that are both well written and well executed as far as web strategy is concerned. Each of these examples comes from a current client of ours, though they do not all use Newfangled's trackable newsletter tool.

Recourses.com David Baker's newsletters go out monthly (you can subscribe to the Recourses monthly advice emails here). Each newsletter is written with David's expert advice on how to better manage creative firms. WinWithoutPitching.com Blair Enn's newsletters are published 10-12 times per year (you can subscribe to the Win Without Pitching newsletter here). In addition to releasing the current newsletter, Blair also keeps the past three available to read for free on his website. You can see them here. CreateWanderlust.com The Wanderlust Report newsletters are published monthly (you can subscribe to the Wanderlust Report here). The back issues of the Wanderlust Report are maintained on the website and are free to read.

Next month, I'll continue this newsletter by using our approach as a case study to discuss the benefits of newsletters, as well as transitioning from push marketing to pull marketing...