Create an email newsletter

It is important to get the reader's interest. You could combine your marketing messages and news about your business into a regular bulletin, an email newsletter.

Make sure your email newsletter:

• is interesting and relevant so that recipients open and read it
• uses customised messages so people pay more attention - if you've won a contract in your area, you could focus on the location for local recipients, while those further away will concentrate on what the contract shows you could do for them
• gets recipients to phone you or click through to your website

Your phone number should be displayed prominently so people can easily find it.

Direct links to relevant parts of your website can sit alongside each story in the newsletter so users can click straight through.

Build your mailing list

It's worth promoting the newsletter in every way you can. Remember to put opt-in tick boxes for email information on website forms and all your marketing material.

Word of mouth, or viral marketing, is also a powerful form of promotion, so you might encourage recipients to forward your newsletter to a friend or colleague. They may not be directly interested in the newsletter content at that precise moment - but they may have a friend or colleague who is.

Opting out

Remember that you're legally required to give recipients the opportunity to stop receiving your newsletter. You should have an "unsubscribe" option on every edition you send out. See the page in this guide on legal issues.