Creating engaging content for your newsletter with every send can be challenging. I’d started writing a post on the topic when I received this chart from MarketingSherpa on creating marketing content:
Some of the tactics listed above correspond with my list below. I think the reason these things work is “the human factor”. The more personable the email (or any other marketing material), the more likely subscribers are to read and relate to it.
Here are four practical ideas on how to incorporate a “human” voice into your email newsletter.
More voices
Get different people within your company to contribute to your emails. Their contributions can be product recommendations, opinions on an industry-related issues, or practical tips and advice. Not only does it introduce your subscribers to the faces behind the logo, but referrals that come from a name rather than a logo are usually also more likely to be believed.
Share testimonials
The easiest way to make your email more people-friendly, is to incorporate people into it. Your email marketing emails are one of the best places to share your testimonials or client feedback, and having referrals from ‘real’ people is always a winning marketing strategy. Share a few client testimonials with your subscribers by including quotes. You can even create a separate block in your newsletter where you regularly feature your best comments.
Incorporate social – with more than just a widget
Besides just adding social widgets and links in your newsletter, you can also create a space in your email to showcase what your social communities are all about to your email subscribers. Show the latest tweets, or your favorite Facebook comments of the month – especially if they include recommendations. Tweets or other social comments already carry the distinct voice of your social community and are bound to encourage your subscribers to interact with you as well.
Add video
Most email clients have adapted to be more video-friendly, making it much easier to add videos to your emails. In the past, email marketers shied away from embedding videos in their emails due to deliverability concerns; however experts predicted video will be one of the key trends in email marketing for 2011. A very plausible prediction, given the simultaneous rise of mobile: Video has proven to be a very effective mobile marketing tool.
People respond better to more engaging content – video included. Not only that, but video enables the marketer to showcase the product. A very effective way of integrating video into email is to offer tutorial videos or presentations, or “personal” messages from company executives in video format. And, of course, what better way to add a voice than to add a voice recording?
Enable comments on your newsletters
As of this morning we have a new feature that enables subscribers to place a comment in your newsletter footer. These comments will be visible on the online hosted version of your email, and are a great way to initiate conversation around your email. (You can find out more about this feature here.)
Do you have any content strategies that have worked particularly well for your campaign? If you do, tell us in a comment below. We’d love to share them with fellow GraphicMailers.
