How To Create a Newsletter for Your Virtual Assistance Business

Newsletters are an excellent communication tool for any business owner. They help communicate a brand image, connect with clients and prospects on a different level, provide value to readers, and communicate any promotions and product offerings – keeping clients up to date.

Here’s how to create a newsletter to build your business…

Step 1. Decide frequency. How often do you want to publish your newsletter? Remember each issue involves a few hours of preparation including creating the content. Establish a schedule you know you can keep up with. It is always easier to add supplemental issues or increase the frequency however decreasing the frequency can give a poor impression. Monthly, quarterly, weekly are all options.

Step 2. Email/print? How are you going to distribute your newsletter? There are benefits to both. Email is very cost effective and instantaneous. Print is nice because it gives something tangible for clients to hold onto.

Step 3. If you’re going to email your newsletter, consider paying for an email distribution, list management, and service. There are many available online. They offer newsletter templates, enable you to design the newsletter yourself, and manage the list subscriptions, unsubscribes and enable you to create many newsletters at once and schedule them in advance. The price for services vary however many base their prices on the number of subscribers.

Step 4. If offering an email newsletter, add a signup form on your website. This not only increases traffic and visitor value, it helps build a list of contacts and clients.

Step 5. Let people know about your newsletter. Include a link to your subscription form in all email communications, signatures, and even consider adding it to your business card, brochure, and other marketing materials.

Step 6. What is your newsletter going to be about? Now it’s time to get down to business. What are you going to include in your newsletter? Some newsletters have a single article and a promotion. Others have 3-5 articles and an equal amount of promotional content. What are your articles going to be about? Will you write them or will you hire a writer? Take a look at newsletters you like and consider why you like them. Consider what types of content will add value to your readers. What questions or problems do they have?

Step 7. Advertising? Are you going to sell advertising space in your newsletter? This is a personal decision that will be based on how the audience will perceive the ads. A general rule of thumb is to have a newsletter contain 80% informational content and 20% promotional content.

Step 8. Graphics. Graphics are an excellent way to make a newsletter visually interesting. Options include adding a logo or a header to each newsletter as well as including graphics, photos, and even charts within the newsletter. Stock photo sites are a good place to get started, however it is a good idea to make sure the reprint rights are available.

Newsletters are an excellent tool to both market to and connect with your clients and prospects on a regular basis. The key to a newsletter that works is to first focus on providing quality content on a regular basis.