How to get ideas for your newsletter

As the editor or your own newsletter, thinking of ideas without an all-nighter at deadline time calls for some smart management. This article will help ensure a good flow of ideas to create a vibrant, informative and useful newsletter.

For the most part, while we all love the idea of newsletters, they can be really hard work. They need constant attention, a scrupulous eye for detail and they need to have a tight vision to have any lasting impact. Great newsletter ideas don’t always come at writing time and with all the distractions you are faced with every day, keeping your newsletter focussed without a mad scramble at production time is critical.

I have come up with a system to help my clients put their newsletter together. I start by giving them what I call the ‘Jess Tray’ – an off the shelf document tray which I then brand with my logo, email and mobile, nice and pretty and BIG.

I tell my clients to keep it somewhere convenient and throw into it anything that inspires them for their newsletter. That tray represents their communication solution, the thing I will make happen, the detail devil I will make go away. Each time we’re ready for the next edition, I pay a visit, empty the tray and have a chat with my client about what’s going in the next edition. For clients that are further away, we talk it through on the phone.

This approach can work wonders for your business by giving you a way to stay organised and keep track of your newsletter ideas. Here's what to do:

1. Get yourself a tray

Stick onto it something inspirational so that whenever you look at it, you feel good. Throw the serviette, used envelope, sticky note, print out, photocopy and message-to-self into the tray as soon as they come to hand.

2. Replicate the desk tray on your computer

Create a newsletter inbox in your email. Copy any emails that inspire an article into the box.

3. Pass it forward

When it’s newsletter time, sort the tray and inbox and work out what’s in the next edition. Think about themes and groupings of information. Any leftovers go back into the tray/inbox or are trashed. This keeps some good ideas in the mix until you’re ready to publish them.

4. Consider ways to re-use the material

Serialise it on your website by selecting your best articles as a rolling blog or news section. Pick the how-to style items and put them on your website as a subscribe service. Consider collating all the best articles into a self-published booklet and give it to clients as a present.

In no time, you’ll feel that your newsletter ideas are being carried forward and that you’re in control of the content. This means a better quality, more valuable product for your readers and something that can often be a chore becomes more fun.

Jess Tyler is passionate about helping innovators find their voice and about helping clever companies create their own marketing rules.

8 comments | Add your own 1 2 | Next» View all»

I use outlook - yellow flags, and yellow post-its. Denise Maffey CA from Kumeu NZ
Newsletters are gathering exercises - not a last minute midnight rush. Special folders, Special liles a must! DAvid Ball from North Sydney Australia
I write newsletters for myself and for my clients and agree that a bit of hunting and gathering is helpful. Taking notes when you hear anyone speak is useful too. But my proven winner is lying on my daybed, ideally with the sun streaming through the window, with a notepad and pen. Going with my stream of consciousness, I have myself a newsletter. Karen Morath from Melbourne | Read my articles
I write my own newsletter myself too. I suppose in my line of work, office management and accounting, is always something interesting and news worthy.
I agree with Jess to keep your ideas in a special place, in a tray if you like.
I also carry a pen and a small notebook in my purse in case I have a brainstorm on the road and I want to write the idea down quickly.
Judit Nagy from The Office Witch from Sydney
Some great ideas. I find that collecting snippets and half-baked ideas throughout the month is the best way to avoid that horrid blankness that can happen as a deadline looms. Even if you're not sure how/if it will become a full article, these thoughts generally spark a full idea - often in an unexpected way. This folder approach also works very well for general business/product/service ideas too. Peter Crocker from Flying Solo | Read my articles
I keep in touch with certain blogs and sites to stay up to date as a consultant and with my soon to start newsletter, will also be inviting reader questions! Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles

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