Newsletter writing is like cooking a meal. Many ingredients and preparation methods are available. Fortunately, not every piece of the meal needs to come from scratch. For example, you can pair a homemade sauce with frozen pasta and serve it with a gourmet salad from the market down the street.
You don’t have to milk the cow to make the ice cream. And the same goes for newsletters.
Every newsletter can benefit from a mixture of fresh, existing and outside content. How much of each? The balance is up to you. Figure out what creates value, tempered with a realistic view of the resources you can commit.
- Fresh newsis created by you, for your newsletter. It can include tips, client stories, interviews or short articles. What are your clients asking you about? What challenges do your prospects face? Look to your clients and their needs as newsletter fodder. Explore a novel idea. Bring a new concept into play. Fresh news isn’t just about a new product or service; it also demonstrates the value of that product or service.
- Existing news is information you already have from somewhere else. It can include snippets and links from recently published blog posts and articles, testimonials, links to recent work, upcoming events, case studies or press releases, and social networking happenings. This content can be easily grabbed from elsewhere, but it should still add value.
- Outside news. The content of your newsletter doesn’t necessarily need to be from you. Outside sources can offer a lot as well. Consider the following options: Industry news, current events, articles from other sites, and guest articles.
Writing a newsletter can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t need to be. Once you realize the number of places where content and ideas can come from, you’ll have too much to choose from.
By using a small amount of fresh (from-scratch) content, and including some existing and outside content, you can maximize your time and effort while still providing the value you need.
Where else do you get your content from? Please share below. (Want to share your expertise as a guest blogger? Please check out our guidelines, and get in touch.)
SHARE THIS:
