1. Make it easy for readers to subscribe by putting your subscriber form on your Web site’s home page. (In other words, don’t bury it.)
2. Write articles for online and print publications. In your bio, add the following, “You can subscribe to XYZ Company’s free e-newsletter by visiting [homepage URL].”
3. Develop a high-value incentive to get people to subscribe. Larry Chase, http://www.larrychase.com, offers “The Essential Search Engine Marketing Resource Guide” to new subscribers.
4. When you network, ask people you meet if you can sign them up for your newsletter. Be careful with this — I’ve made it a practice to confirm subscriptions via a quick e-mail.
5. Contact your professional trade organization for their member list. If you’re a member, you can usually get it for free. Send a direct mail letter, with your free newsletter being the offer.
6. Don’t be afraid to recommend a company’s newsletter in your newsletter — this usually results in a reciprocal recommendation (and many new subscribers).
7. Send feedback to the newsletters you read and like. Your comments might get posted in a future issue, along with a link to your site.
8. Give subscribers different ways to interact with you. Offer giveaways, games, or post survey questions. Mac McIntosh, in his newsletter, The Sales Lead Report, http://www.imninc.com/macmcintosh, posts a survey with each issue, then uses the information in his PR campaign (resulting in still more subscribers when he is quoted or writes a column!).
9. Build “community” with your e-newsletter by talking in the personal voice. My favorite news- letters are those where I feel like the writer is talking to a large group of friends.
10. Encourage your subscribers to forward your newsletter to friends, colleagues, and co-workers.
11. When you give a presentation, be sure your last PowerPoint slide tells people where they can sign up for your newsletter.
12. Develop a free guide people can download at your site; send a press release to your trade pubs announcing it. Give people the option of subscribing to your newsletter at the same time they download the guide.
13. Never, ever put people on your list without asking for permission first — even if they gave you their e-mail addresses when they downloaded your free guide.
14. Keep your subscriber form short and sweet. It should take someone only a few seconds to subscribe.
15. Archive your newsletter’s past issues on your Web site. Give each issue a unique meta page title using your keywords so it will pop up in Web searches.
16. Add your newsletter URL to your e-mail signature and to the boiler plate of your press releases.
17. Set a regular publishing schedule . . . and stick to it!
18. Offer your newsletter content for reprint to other media (see my wording below). Ensure your articles get reprinted by building relationships with editors, trade associations, etc.
19. Offer subscribers a free report or other premium when they refer your newsletter to three or more colleagues.
20. And finally, most importantly, offer your readers high-value content they will want to read each month!
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Dianna Huff specializes in results-oriented B-to-B marketing writing.
For your free “Top Ten Marketing Writing Mistakes” list and a complimentary
subscription to Dianna’s monthly e-newsletter, “The MarCom Writer,”
go to http://www.dhcommunications.com/resources.htm.
