How to create a must-read email newsletter for your business.

The Internet has revolutionized how small businesses owners market their companies and do business. Social media marketing has grown into a saturated business niche helping owners leverage social media platforms. However, newsletters are sometimes under-utilized or overlooked. And, they shouldn't be because they are a terrific way to garner a new audience with potential clients.

Developing a great newsletter:

Regular, direct, and substantial communication via an email newsletter with past and potential clients are critical to sustaining and building a steady clientele.

Your email should be a relevant, informative and useful resource for your clients. It should also be relatable so you can cultivate a relationship with the person reading it. Otherwise, they won't take the time to read it. Their inboxes are already cluttered enough irrelevant and uninteresting emails.

Tips for creating a smashing newsletter:

1. A newsletter needs to contain information that the reader will find valuable/useful, interesting, and relevant to them. If, as a photographer and small business owner, you make it all about what you have to offer, you will lose their interest fast, and your open-rates will plummet.

2. Consider your audience. Are you mostly a wedding photographer or a landscape photographer? Write for your audience. Include what you have to offer, but front and center should be information relevant to the industry such as the latest styles in weddings or wedding photography. Offer advice that relates to them.

3. Be transparent. Newsletters are about engaging your audience and building relationships with them. Be honest about the industry such as what they can expect from a typical photo session or photography package. Transparency and honesty build trust in you, which is critical to being hired.

4. Always include bonus articles and, if possible, create a regular-running column such as a "What to Expect" or "Tips." Bonus material can be beneficial and gives the reader something to count on and look forward to for each newsletter. (Freebies of any kind are always good. )

5. Write compelling and eye-catching subject lines for the email newsletter so that people will open it. Then, keep track of open rates. What subject lines had the highest open-rates or click-through?

6. Think of a newsletter as a way to connect to readers and clients but, more importantly, consider the newsletter a free service you offer THEM. It's not about active or pointed selling. It's about them.

7. It's essential to create and set up a regular schedule for sending your newsletter. For example, monthly or quarterly emails. In between that schedule, you can always send out a bulletin of special offers.

8. Lastly, link your newsletter to your blog and across all your social media platforms. It's a great way to capture a new audience and potential clients.