For most businesses a newsletter is a good idea. We recommend producing a newsletter at least twice a year, or more often if you are in a competitive area of business.

Although not a direct sales tool, a newsletter achieves a lot of what you are trying to do through other sales channels. These include company promotion by getting your brand in front of your customers, customer support through sharing information and advice plus the ability to highlight areas of your business that some customers may not be aware of.

So, what is the best channel for your business? Email newsletters have cost advantages and environmental benefits, but can be limiting on space so really the first question is how much do you have to say to your customers? If you have a lot to say a printed newsletter may be the better option. If you can cover off your newsletter in short bites then an email newsletter may be the way to go.

The second thing to consider is your customers. If they do business via email then an email newsletter will work well, but if many of your customers don't spend a lot of time behind a computer, an email newsletter might miss the mark.

Whichever method of delivery you choose here are a few tips that apply to all newsletters:
1) Make sure your newsletters are free of spelling errors and written well.
2) Make sure they are of benefit to your customers - if it is only a sales piece or a brag sheet customers will be turned off.
3) Make sure they look nice and are in keeping with your brand style and guidelines.
4) Don't make them too text heavy. Use images as much as possible to tell the story.
5) If it is an email newsletter always point it back to your website, if it is printed newsletter always have a PDF copy on your website for download.