Consider the following issues in determining exactly what it is you expect your newsletter to achieve.

Target Market

The way in which you design, write, advertise and distribute your newsletter will be largely determined by your target audience. To be successful you will have to know a lot about your target market.

Who are they?

• Men or women
• Young or old
• Single or married
• Living in the USA, Australia, Canada, Europe and so on.

What type of publication is the target market likely to read?

What do they read at present?

What are their hobbies and interests?

What is their income level and level of disposable income?

Where are they likely to be on the net?

• Surfing around
• In newsgroups
• On discussion boards
• In chat rooms and so on

When is the best time to reach them?

• During the day
• During the evening

• At home

• At work
• On the weekend
• Early in the month or towards the end of the month

When you know the answer to all these question you can start to plan your newsletter.

Purpose

You could have a range of purposes for your newsletter including

• To build a mailing list of prospects to whom you can sell, instruct, inform or follow up with specific messages
• As a means of staying in touch with your existing customers
• To provide an income stream by allowing the sale of classified advertising space within your newsletter
• To increase your advertising coverage by trading advertising space with another similar business
• To use your mailing list to further your joint venture marketing

Who

Who do you expect to read your newsletter

• Visitors to your site
• Your existing customers
• Anyone who might be interested in your products and services.

What

What do you want your newsletter to contain

• In depth articles
• Guest articles
• Digest of relevant information regarding your products and services.
• Frequently asked questions (FAQ).
• Tips
• General product information
• Classified advertisements

Effect

What effect do you want to create with your newsletter?

• Develop trust

• Build loyalty

• Persuade the audience to buy
• Create a viral marketing strategy

How Often

How often should your newsletter be published?

• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Bi monthly
• Three monthly

Tip:  When starting out it is probably best to begin with a monthly newsletter.

As a final question ask yourself this

Why will the target market want to read my newsletter as compared to reading the newsletter of my competitors?

If you can not come up with a definitive answer that will achieve your objectives, you need to reconsider your newsletter strategy.