Creating a newsletter for your pet business

There’s no denying Facebook’s recent decision to shut down news pages sent many businesses into a spin. It brought home the reality that relying on your Facebook page to engage with clients and attract new business might not be so smart. As such, perhaps now is the perfect time to create a newsletter for your pet business.

Sure, creating a newsletter involves having a website but nowadays it’s very simple and inexpensive to set up a website. Plus, having a website gives your business greater visibility. Not to mention the fact you’re in control, not the tech-heads at Facebook!

The benefits of a newsletter for your pet business

E-newsletters have myriad benefits for your business. They can help you stay in touch with existing clients or customers, attract new business and promote all-new services or products. Here are a few more reasons to consider setting up a newsletter for your pet business.

Differentiate yourself

Everyone is on social media; Now, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing or that you shouldn’t be on there but sometimes it’s nice to sit down and read a newsletter. It can make a refreshing change from scrolling through images or watching super short video snippets. Plus, a well-written newsletter provides you with much more opportunity to share information, engage your audience, provide insights, or simply entertain.

Build trust

Landing in someone’s Inbox on a regular basis is a great way to build a rapport with customers or clients. Providing your newsletter offers something valuable, it’s also a great way to build trust.

Increase traffic and sales

Indeed, businesses that rely solely on Facebook to direct traffic to their websites tend to have a difficult time of it. After all, Facebook constantly changes its rules and if it deems your sells (the copy you post along with the link to your site) to be ‘click bait’, that’s it – you’re blacklisted. Facebook will reduce the distribution of your posts, which means fewer views and reduced traffic to your website.

However, creating a newsletter for your pet business is a great way to share blog posts with whatever copy you want to help encourage people to click through to your website. You can be as creative as you like without having to fear the ‘click bait beast’!

You’re in control

Unlike with Facebook, where you can find your page has been shut down for multiple reasons—not merely because it’s sharing news—you are in control of your newsletter. This means you are the master of your own content! You might use your newsletter to educate, entertain, inform or to advertise to clients and customers. The choice is yours.

4 tips for creating a killer newsletter for your pet business

Think setting up a newsletter is a good idea? Before you get started, make sure you clue up on what makes a great newsletter, as well as the dos and don’ts of newsletter creation. Here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Provide value

Don’t fall into the trap of feeling that you have to send out a newsletter – even though you have nothing new to say. I mean, hopefully, if you’re a dynamic business owner, there will be plenty going on to talk about. However, if it’s a slow time of year, just make sure you don’t send newsletters for the sake of it. People will start unsubscribing in droves and that’s not good for business!

So, ensure you have useful, “valuable” content. This might mean sharing an engaging story, which will evoke feelings in your readers. Perhaps you can teach your readers something or provide them with an offer, such as a discount or free sample. Before you hit send on your newsletter, ask yourself “what will my readers gain from this newsletter.” If you have to scratch your head to come up with the answer, it’s back to the drawing board!

2. Use awesome headlines

Yes, writing headlines (and content for that matter) is a skill but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn on the job! What’s more, at the end of the day it’s the headline that determines whether or not your newsletter gets opened. You can write a killer newsletter, but if your headline is trash your awesome content won’t see the light of day.

Certainly, there are lots of approaches to writing headlines. Mostly it comes down to trial and error. You can include lots of info in your headline, mentioning practically every part of your newsletter. Or, you can write an ambiguous headline, which will hopefully catch people’s attention and appeal to their sense of curiosity.

Depending on which mail sending system you’re using, such as MailChimp for example, use the A/B testing function. This allows you to create two different headlines for the same email newsletter. The newsletter is sent to just a small percentage of your database but it’ll give you a good idea of which headline achieved the best open rate.

3. Create a visually pleasing newsletter

You might have amazing content and awesome headlines, but if your actual newsletter looks garbage people will stop opening. Nowadays it’s all about aesthetics. To create a visually appealing newsletter you’ll need a nice colour scheme, a great logo and a good layout. Don’t forget to use fabulous images too.

Indeed, even simple things, like the font being too small, can stop people from reading your newsletter. Be sure to test it amongst friends and family members or staff before you send out the real thing.

4. Be consistent and patient

Writing a great newsletter for your pet business may not come easily to you. However, practice makes perfect – or so the saying goes! Be patient, but also be consistent. Aim to send your newsletter on a specific day and at the same time. This way, people will come to expect it and look out for it (providing it offers them value!).

Have you started a newsletter for your business? We’d love to hear how it’s going and any tips you’ve picked up along the way.