How to Create a Newsletter in 10 Simple Steps

You’ve probably heard that you should build your own database of customers, and your overflowing inbox is a testament to the fact that everyone seems to have a newsletter these days.

There’s no reason why you shouldn’t also be using this tactic to reach more people and make more money online. After all, there are only 10 things you need to do in order to create your own newsletter.

Grow Your Business with an Email Newsletter

When you create a newsletter, you get to build your very own data and interact directly with your customers and prospective clients. This is perhaps the most valuable small business marketing tactic to master; no matter what happens to social media or search algorithms, you’ll be able to communicate with your audience directly and on your terms.

This direct form of communication helps to develop a relationship with your customers, nurture them from a prospect who’s exploring options into a customer who converts, and build brand loyalty post-sale. It’s also one of the lowest-cost digital marketing tactics at your disposal.

Newsletter Creation Made Simple in 10 Steps

The most challenging part of creating a newsletter is nailing what you want to say, how you want it to get across, and how often you want to say it. Once you’ve got your idea solidified, all other decisions will follow.

In order to create a newsletter that works, you must first decide what your objectives are. Of course, you might want to use email marketing to send customers information about new products, discounts, etc—but there’s a whole lot more you can achieve through DIY newsletters. For example, you could use this communication method to:

Develop a regular creative writing practice
Build a community of likeminded creators
Share your knowledge and experience
Connect with other people who share your passions

While exploring your ideas, it’s important to consider what makes your content unique and what would persuade people to subscribe to help you craft a subscription newsletter worth reading.

Formalizing your decisions in a newsletter strategy will help focus your decisions. Your email newsletter strategy should answer key questions such as:

Who is your target audience?
What content will you cover?
What format will you use? What design elements are important?
Do you need to personalize your newsletters?
How often will you send your newsletter?
Do you want to explore marketing automation with trigger-based email campaigns, or will you simply build and send your newsletter each time?
How will you promote your newsletter and drive subscriptions?
What will you measure? What KPIs or metrics best help you understand whether you’re achieving your goals?

With a clearer strategy in place, you’ll be well-positioned to find the best newsletter platform for you. There’s an abundance of options for newsletter tools, so it helps to be clear about what functionality you need and whether you have the budget for a paid-for service.

Some of the most popular newsletter platforms, which offer free versions, include:

Mailchimp
Substack
MailerLite
ConvertKit
Klaviyo

When you work on your very first newsletter design, you might be a bit overwhelmed by the various templates and options presented to you. Make sure you refer back to your email newsletter strategy and focus on the designs that allow you to incorporate the formats, design elements, and personalization that you’ve already chosen.

There’s no need to reinvent the world of newsletter design; just a few touches will make even the most common layouts look different. You should try to adjust the following:

Fonts
Design colors
Link colors
Borders and spacing
Headers and footers

Most newsletter platforms will walk you through how to set up a newsletter without needing to look at any code.

5. Define Your Sending Schedule

Before committing to a newsletter mailing schedule, you need to make sure it’s achievable. Think about your current commitments and availability, and choose a frequency that you know you’ll be able to stick to.

You might be bursting with inspiration and ready to commit to a weekly newsletter—or you might prefer to play it safe with a biweekly or monthly one.

Don’t get led astray by the marketing blogs that claim you need to send your newsletter at 11 am on a Tuesday; refer back to your newsletter strategy and goals, and consider what would work best for you and your audience.

One of the most important parts of creating a newsletter is promoting it to drive subscriptions. The very first thing you need to do is create a sign-up form with your email newsletter platform that asks your audience for key information like their name and email address.

You can then embed this form on a special landing page of your website. Make sure you let people know why they should subscribe, provide clear opt-ins for additional marketing communications, and link to a privacy policy.

When your landing page is live, you’ll need to promote it via your usual channels, like your social media accounts or across your website.

You might also consider creating a lead magnet: a valuable piece of content that people can access for free in exchange for giving you their email address and subscribing to your newsletter. This could be a downloadable guide to something, a competition, or a webinar replay, for example.

7. Tailor Your Automated Email Sequences

As a minimum, you’ll need to set up an automated email that thanks someone for subscribing, tells them when to expect the next newsletter, and provides a link to previous editions. If you’re selling products or services online, you’ll also want something that thanks a customer for their order.

This kind of email marketing is becoming easier to do, and many marketing automation platforms will guide you through how to set this up.

8. Ensure Adherence to Privacy Regulations and Email Best Practices

Don’t fall foul of any privacy laws: make sure you understand data privacy fundamentals and that you’re aware of your legal obligations when handling personal data like email addresses and names before you think about sending your first newsletter mailing.

Having your own privacy policy on your website is an essential part of starting your own business, and it’s always recommended you seek legal advice when you write one. That’s because the law will vary depending on where your business and your subscribers are located.

When you’re confident that your DIY newsletters comply with all necessary laws and regulations, you’re ready to work on your very first issue!

One of the secrets of writing an email newsletter that gets attention is to write two different subject lines and test which one performs best with a small sample of your audience. The winning subject line will go to the remainder of your database and should help entice more people to open it. Over time, you’ll get to learn what your audience loves and get better at predicting which variant will win.

When you first created your newsletter strategy, you would have outlined the most valuable metrics or KPIs you could measure. Typically, these newsletter analytics can be found within your email marketing tool itself, which will typically report the following:

Open rate (how many people actually opened the newsletter)
Click rate (how many people clicked on links)
Deliverability (how many people received the newsletter in their inbox)
Unsubscribe rate (how many people clicked unsubscribe from that specific newsletter)

Evaluating these newsletter analytics will help you understand if the newsletter is meeting its goal and where you might want to improve. It’s also a great way to spot what your audience is responding well to so you can do more of it.

Creating a Newsletter to Connect With Your Audience

Having an owned media channel like a newsletter puts you in control of how and when you connect with peers and patrons. It will help you develop a stronger relationship with them, foster loyalty, and drive support for your creative venture.
There are a number of email marketing courses on Skillshare that will walk you through how to start a newsletter, no matter what type of emails you want to send. You can even learn how to build a paid email newsletter or discover how lead generation emails could help you sell more online.

Written By