10 content ideas for your email newsletter

If you're committed to sending out a regular email newsletter and want people to keep reading or send it to a friend, rather than unsubscribe or mark it as junk, then you've got to keep it interesting.

However, maintaining a flow of creative ideas when up against looming deadlines and business-as-usual isn't easy. In the second part of Mark's three part series, he gives 10 quick, failsafe ideas to kick-start your imagination in those creative droughts.

None of these suggestions are mutually exclusive – you can mix and match different types of content to deliver the kind of engaging material that works best for your audience.

1. Problem / solution

Identify common problems faced by your readership and suggest some solutions. Don't make this too self-serving by always conveniently finding problems that can only be solved with your own service or product. Self-promotion is fine, but not if it's at the expense of delivering value.

2. How-to's

Write a guide on how best to undertake a particular task or use a particular product or service.

3. Top tips

Produce a series of tips that help people do their job better or get more out of your products, services or anything else readers are likely to share an interest in. Examples of the latter are tips for making better use of your PC, laptop, PDA, mobile or time management advice.

4. Opinion / analysis

Offer a considered analysis or subjective opinion on a relevant topic, idea, event, news item, product, company, industry development etc.

5. Look into the future

Write an article predicting the future of whatever sector you're involved in. Some time later, write a follow-up examining whether you were right or not. If you were wrong, why?

6. Fable

Take a leaf out of Aesop's book and report on a story or news item unrelated to your context. Then draw out a parallel to a relevant business situation or issue, or a lesson that readers can apply to their own situation.

7. Horror / disaster story

Write about a difficult or disastrous business experience or decision and use it to draw out lessons for other relevant business situations. Readers like to learn about other people's problems and how they dealt with them.

8. Case study

Produce a case study featuring your product or service but don't just write the kind of bland case study that has everyone reaching for the delete button.

You need to have more than just a customer who says, 'we used the product and it worked for us.' There's a difference between a case study and a testimonial.

Look at the case studies that impress you most. No doubt they include plenty of hard practical detail that readers can learn from and real numbers so people can better gauge the impact of the actions taken.

9. Seasonality

Relate your articles to the season. Think both in terms of holidays and business seasonality. For example, many email marketing services are now producing newsletter content advising marketers on how best to use emails for holiday promotions. I'm sure there are parallels in your industry.

10. Reviews

Consider reviewing other people's products and services. Nope, not the competition (there may be a suggestion of bias in your comments). Review useful tools, books and similar that you know your audience can benefit from but which aren't competing with your own offerings.

To view Mark's article about B2B newsletter content management from our October newsletter click here