Why Email newsletters are more important than ever

Oh, the email newsletter. That ‘task’ which always falls to the bottom of your marketing priorities. And the email that many regard as ‘pointless’. In this blog I’m going to attempt to fight its corner! Long live the newsletter…

In this exciting world of social media and email sequences and workflows offered through marketing automation let’s not lose sight of the value of a regular communication that lands directly in your client’s (and prospective client’s) inbox. 

As much as we love social media let’s not forget that an average email open rate in professional services is 20.77 versus a Twitter or Linkedin engagement of far, far fewer percent. And email is still growing. I read a piece recently that we are now sending 102.6 trillion emails every year, and that number’s projected to be 126.7 trillion by 2022.  Crazy numbers.

So, here’s a reminder of the value a regular email newsletter can bring and some tips of how to keep it relevant and engaging.

Let’s start with the value:

Overriding Algorithms 

Email marketing offers us professional services marketers a break from those pesky online algorithms that decide who gets to see our content. A newsletter will reach the inbox of your subscriber, a valuable rarity in our increasing digital marketing world.

Keeping it Personal 

A newsletter offers you the chance to share your messages directly to your clients. In a market where people are bombarded by promotional materials, creating an ‘experience’ for your clients is a great way of making them feel valued and invested in your brand. A newsletter is your personal communication from you to them. And maybe consider shifting your focus from the ‘news’ part of newsletter, and think of it as a personal ‘letter’ instead.

Keeping the Conversation Going

With the greatest will in the world there are only so many of your clients and prospects you can regularly keep in touch with and nurture. A regular newsletter will always keep you top of mind and will mean you have peace of mind that you are ‘touching’ each of your clients and prospective clients every month. And importantly, they are only ever a click away from getting in contact. They just have to hit that reply button and connect with you immediately. (If you’re sending your emails from a noreply@ email address, think again!)

Maintaining a Strong Brand

When you post on certain social media channels you can be limited by the number of characters; a newsletter will allow you to be yourself – your own voice without restrictions. That said, always be succinct!

And now here’s our three key tips to always remember when creating your newsletters:

Relevant Content is King

Remember, an email, a newsletter, is only a channel, it’s the content that is important. With inboxes overflowing, you need your messaging and content to rise above the noise. One of your goals has to be that you want your subscribers to look forward to receiving your next newsletter. To achieve this you need to engage them with your content. What would make YOU want to receive your newsletter? It’s now possible to introduce videos and gifs to complement your traditional blogs and other content. But remember, that even the flashiest content won’t capture your client’s attention if it’s not relevant.

Being Trustworthy

Those names on your mailing list are valuable because they have already made something very clear by subscribing – they trust you. In the era of fake-news this is more important than ever. So, respect that trust or you’ll be faced with a diminishing list.

Quality not Quantity

Finally the most important tip, some firms strive for huge email lists but scarcely pay attention to who those people are. There is little point having an email list of 100,000s with a 2% open rate. In this world of GDPR, concentrate on quality over quantity. Your contacts need to opt in to be a truly valuable audience – buying lists or subscribing without permission will give you a weak list. Increase the quality of your data by consistently following these 3 steps:

1. Regularly clean your email list – remove non-existent and duplicated contacts
2. Create a re-engagement campaign for inactive contacts to reconnect with your firm
3. Say goodbye – contacts who haven’t engaged in 12 months or more should be archived

So fight over. The bell has rung and the newsletter is the winner. It remains a powerful vehicle, if used correctly, and contrary to popular belief is as crucial as ever in the world of professional services marketing.