It’s conventional wisdom - and true - that it costs less to get more “wallet share” from existing customers than to find new customers. Newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with customers as a method of Permission Marketing, sending marketing information to people who have given you permission to send them email, indicating their elevated interest in hearing your offers and staying up to date on your products or services.
You can use the newsletter tool to send your subscribers messages ranging from quick announcements to full-on newsletters with multiple articles, pictures, and attached products, coupons and more.
To begin making a newsletter, click the Newsletters shortcut in the Overview panel of your Dashboard, followed by the New button at the bottom of the recent newsletters list. Or you can choose the Publish tab from the navigation bar anywhere in your Business Control Panel, and select the Newsletters link or the Newsletters & Press Releases panel. Click Create New in the left sidebar beside the list of past newsletters.
In the Newsletter Title field, create a name for the newsletter that will become the subject line in the email your subscribers receive (hint: give them a reason to open the message!)
In the Newsletter Content field, write your message.
Experiment with choosing different type styles from the style drop menu (it defaults to Normal) or the Font menu by highlighting text and then choosing from the menu. But remember, good publishing rules apply - too many fonts and styles makes a publication look amateurish. Choose a headline style and a body text style and stick to them for a professional look.
If you have already written an article in another application, you can copy it to your clipboard and use the paste tools in the toolbar…
The leftmost is a simple paste, attempting to keep any formatting from a variety of applications. The center button with the “T” converts formatted text to plain text, removing the formatting, and the right button with the “W” is best for maintaining formatting created in Microsoft Word. Click the appropriate button and paste using CTRL-V (Windows) or CMD-V (Mac) into the dialog box that opens. Then choose the OK button in the dialog box to add the copied content to your page and return to the page editing window.
You can add photos using the Camera icon in the toolbar and insert a video using the Play button next to the camera icon, or embed a video player in the Source field (see related articles linked in this paragraph)
You can insert an ad or “pod” linking to a Marketplace Item. Place your cursor where you want the ad, then click the Shopping Cart icon in the top right of your toolbar. A dialog box opens where you can browse your catalog. Click on the item you want to insert, then click the OK button in the bottom right corner of the dialog box. You’ll be returned to the page editing window and the item will appear in the selected location.
You can choose linked features to add to the bottom of your newsletter from the Additional Items checkboxes on the left below the page editing field - Featured Items, Coupons, and Deals.
Choose whether to insert a banner (if you have one in your Business Profile), just your business name, or no header at the top of your newsletter from the Newsletter Header menu in the center under the page editing field.
When you’re finished creating the newsletter, make sure the Display this newsletter on my profile page box (under the editing field, on the right) is checked or unchecked according to your preference.
Click the Save button.
You will now see a preview of your newsletter. At the bottom, you can change your header and selections (at left and center), and edit the color of your text, border and body (background behind text). Click Save to see your colour selections previewed.
To email yourself a test preview so you can see how it will look to your recipients, click the Test & Send button. In the dialog box that opens, you can assign a test recipient by choosing the Send to the following test address button and typing the test recipient email address in the address field; or you can go ahead and send it to your subscribers by clicking the button(s) next to the desired group(s) and clicking Send.
Once you’ve reviewed your test, you can choose the group(s) to whom you’d like to send your newsletter and press Send, or you can press Exit and return to the project later.
On exiting or sending, you’ll be returned to the list of past newsletters, which now includes the one you’ve just finished.
To edit the newsletter you can click on its name or the pencil icon
To reopen the Preview/Send dialog box, click the envelope icon
To start a new newsletter using this one as an editable template, click the green swish icon
To delete the newsletter from your profile and history, click the red x icon
Related article: Adding & Managing Newsletter Subscribers
Related article: Mailing Groups
Related Article: Using the Editing Toolbar
Related Article: Inserting a Photo on a Page
Related Article: Inserting a Video on a Page