Ok my friend, in today’s episode, we’re talking about 5 Things You NEED to Know About Email Newsletters! EMAIL newsletters grow your relationships with donors, supporters and the people your nonprofit organization serves in your community. 

OK, you know, I LOVE a good metaphor… So, here’s another one for you.

Imagine that your donors and supporters are like plants growing in a garden. These plants get watered regularly with Facebook and Instagram.

If you add in sending out consistent EMAIL – it’s like giving these plants FERTILIZER! If you tend to these plants with water AND fertilizer – those babies are going to be in full bloom year-round! 

Why? Because according to recent research, people prefer email for communicating with the brands they’re connected with – yes that includes your nonprofit organization. 

If your nonprofit has multiple audiences you are talking to (donors, supporters, people you serve), you can use separate email lists to nurture your relationships with each group. 

Here are the 5 Things You NEED to Know About Email Newsletters:

1. Write a great subject line. Think about it – if you get an email with a weak or boring subject line, do you want to open that email? No… probably not! You might even just delete it without even opening it, especially if it’s a business or an organization. So, try to make your subject line genuine, interesting and of course, in-line with what your email is about.
2. Use the right framework: A picture, a paragraph and a call to action. Why? Because it WORKS! The picture captures someone’s attention right off the bat, the paragraph goes into more detail, and the call to action clearly lets that person know what they should do after they read the email. 
3. Put the most important information first. Pretend like you only have ONE SENTENCE to tell someone what your email is about. Make that the first sentence of your email. Start strong and tell them right away what your email is about in that first  sentence.
4. Keep it simple and short. Your emails should be a quick and easy read and about ONE TOPIC. Try to keep your emails to about 200 words, or about 20 lines - if it needs to be longer, or shorter, that’s OK – but just remember, take out anything that your audience doesn’t have to know about. If it’s not going to help your audience take action, then leave it out.  
5. Give them something. Give them a reason OPEN and read your email. Remember, they’re asking ‘Why does this matter to me?”

Earlier I mentioned having two email lists – one list for your donors and your supporters, and one for the people that you serve. Why two lists? Because you’re going to give these two groups of people two different things. 

You’re going to give your donors and supporters the uplifting, positive feelings they get because they are helping the community or a cause. But again, keep it ONE TOPIC to an email. 

For the people you serve, you’re giving them resources in your emails - small, digestible pieces of information that can help them with like a class or a freebie. 

Serve your audiences through email. It’s all part of building that know, like and trust factor. 

Try committing to sending out an email newsletter just once a month. If you LOVE writing emails and you thrive at it, you can work up to once a week, but again, the most important thing is that you are consistent. So, commit to a goal you can achieve.

And finally, always remember WHY YOU ARE DOING THIS! I know there is so much day to day stuff that can be overwhelming and distracting from your purpose and your mission, but always remember your WHY. What was it that first inspired you to get involved with your nonprofit organization? Take ownership of that! Keep that fire burning! You are making a difference in the world. A big difference is the culmination of a lot of little steps. So, take that next little step today, and get to work on your next email! You ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE! What you’re doing MATTERS. 

Remember to check out the free tools we have on NonprofitPotential.com like the easy-to-understand guide for how to make REALLY GOOD Facebook and Instagram posts.

Get access to the free guide now at Nonprofit Potential.com

Episode 7: NonprofitPotential.com/7

Email me your “how do I…” questions about Facebook or Instagram – I’d love to answer you on the podcast. nonprofitpotential.com/contact

Let’s be friends… Find me on social media and let me know what kind of nonprofit or business you’re working with! Here’s where to find me:

Facebook.com/NonprofitPotential Instagram.com/NonprofitPotential

If links are not visible in your podcast app, visit the Episode Webpage and Show Notes at https://nonprofitpotential.com/13