5 tips to get your newsletter noticed and remembered

by Marty Marsh

With the increase of SPAM and more sophisticated filtering software, it is 
becoming increasingly difficult for even legitimate e-newsletter publishers to get 
their messages through to their readers, so many business people are now 
returning to the traditional printed and mailed newsletter to help build client 
relationships and to make more sales. 

Here are 5 tips to help ensure that your printed newsletter gets noticed and 
remembered:

1.	Beef up the mailing area. Since the mailing panel is the first place that most 
people look, next to the mailing label put some kind of teaser copy, a table of 
contents, or some other compelling message that will make the reader want to 
open the newsletter and read it. Also use this space to repeat your website 
address, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

2.	Sharing. Encourage pass along readership with a "please route to" box within 
the nameplate or somewhere on page 1. People like to share information and 
will send your newsletter on to their colleagues.

3.	Lighten up. People respond positively to humor. If appropriate for your 
business, the use of cartoons, jokes and humorous stories will increase 
readership. Just be sure to tie the cartoon into the message you are trying to 
convey.

4.	Play to the skimmers. Assume that no one will read a word of what you 
write. Get your message across anyway by using photographs and illustrations 
with captions that tell a story. Use pull quotes, call outs and bulleted lists to 
highlight your key message points.

5.	 Make it easy to contact you. Give the reader all the information they need to 
contact you. In the masthead include your phone number, mailing address, 
website address and e-mail addresses. In the folio line, include the name of 
your publication next to the page number along with your web address and 
phone number.