12 Point Checklist to Integrate Your Email Newsletter Into Your B2B Marketing Mix

Most companies already have an email newsletter and yet, they often do not leverage its full potential and end up disappointed with the results. Does this sound like you?

Get the most out of your email newsletter by integrating it into your other marketing initiatives:

1. Add social media icons like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to your email newsletter to encourage content sharing.
2. Add an email newsletter sign-up form on your website to keep in touch with visitors and invite them to return more often.
3. Integrate your offline and online marketing by promoting live events such as trade shows and conferences in your email newsletter.
4. Invite people that read your blog to check out your email newsletter and vice-versa. If you have a blog, feature blog posts in your email newsletter. Inversely, include links to some archived posts in your email newsletter to promote the value of the discussions on your blog. Some people prefer to use news aggregators to read and share blog posts and some prefer to receive updates by email. Let them choose.
5. Include links in your email newsletter to boost traffic to your website and test new landing pages.
6. Whenever appropriate add your SEO keywords to your newsletter’s content, publish an online version and index it in search engines.
7. When you realize a prospect is not ready to make a decision, systematically invite him or her to keep in touch by subscribing to your email newsletter. This should actually be part of your pre-qualification process, regardless of the source of the lead (inbound call, referral, web, etc.).
8. Each time you send your email newsletter, analyze your bounce back report to update your marketing database. It is a great way to discover who changed jobs, who retired, etc.
9. Implement trigger emails or contact by phone to promptly follow up on click-throughs. Your email newsletter is not an end in itself. It should be part of a flow and the question is: what is the next action that you want your prospects to take and how can you help them get there?
10. Incorporate geo-targeting and/or account profiling to segment your subscribers list and increase the relevancy of your communications. You may send a specific version of your email newsletter to group A and another version to group B.
11. Decrease your direct mail costs by crosschecking your email and direct mail lists and updating your prospects’ communication preferences. There is no need to send the information by mail if your prospect or client prefers email.
12. Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your email newsletter with a survey. The feedback you’ll receive will help you determine what type of content is right for your audience and how often they would like to receive it.