Control. You can personalise and highlight the things that are important to you and your readers! It’s getting your message both ‘seen’ and ‘heard’.Credibility. Today, many folk rely heavily on advertising to promote their business organisation, and billions are spent each year on marketing. As a result, people become more resistant to familiar and traditional methods and styles of advertising. However, the newsletter format greatly boosts your credibility by avoiding the appearance of a ‘sales pitch’. Rather than ‘cheesy’ advertising, the Newsletter (if done well) presents your campaign in a new and fresh way to your readers.   

Consistency & Reach. A regular newsletter builds awareness of your church or ministry. It also creates a ‘connection’ with which to show your commitment and dedication to the recipient, enabling you to personalise the message.  The  famous author and speaker Elaine Floyd once said, " A good newsletter keeps you in front of your customers, adds value to your services, establishes your expertise and credibility, and saves your valuable selling time." Let us consider a few questions to determine the importance of the newsletter: • Do you have people you'd like to stay in touch with without interrupting them with phone call or visits?

• Does your church or ministry program vary from time to time, giving you valuable opportunities to send invitations and inform folk of different events? (Consider for example, the opportunities at Christmas, Easter, Harvest etc.)
• Are there many folk who simply don’t know just what your church or ministry has to offer them?
• Do you think that short testimonials may be effective for your readers?
• Can you think of anything more important than the message you are trying to reach people with? Does this not warrant sufficient time learning how to communicate? Businesses today are hugely reliant on how they communicate their product and service. The church, it’s related ministries and services must also take due time and diligence to reach out to others. 

Referrals are powerful. This is a great opportunity for your readers to forward the message to others. For example, if you have 50 people in your church who receive the newsletter by email, if they forwarded it onto 30 people in their address book, you have just delivered 1500 newsletters! There is a high chance that your campaign will be read because of the relationship that your readers have with their own email friends and contacts. 

Newsletters can be tremendously diverse with the information they provide. When thoughtfully crafted, these common newsletter elements can also reinforce key elements of a publication’s message.    It is important that you utilise those around you who can provide you with resources for your toolbox. Stories, updates, notices, special events and so on all help to advertise the newsletter when you have various sources contributing them. Don’t forget to let your church/organization know that you welcome such input for the newsletter. Ask and Ye shall receive! Exude Enthusiasm

Get volunteers excited about the goals and potential benefits of your newsletter. Make sure that you communicate the success of your newsletter because people like to be involved with success! Keep Things Simple
 

Break down the jobs you need into easy, manageable tasks. After all, many people avoid contributing to projects if they see it as such a big commitment. Provide precise instructions, including length requirements, etc. Pile on the Praise

Always give your contributors plenty of recognition. If appropriate, include their names in the publication, and be sure to pass along any positive comments you hear regarding their stories. Of all the traditional techniques for ‘tighter-times’ marketing and advertising (as many find themselves in 2008), newsletters are the most cost effective and powerful.  For example, Church Email provide 1000 monthly send credits for only £9.95, representing an amazing opportunity to send out targeted and personalised messages.  Newsletters also establish credibility, because they're viewed as news instead of advertising, and like newspapers, they are always perceived as being fresh and informative with the latest news. The newsletter is one of the most powerful techniques for ensuring the widest possible distribution of your marketing message at the lowest cost.

Maximize the Power of Newsletter Copy by Learning a Few Simple Rules If you've taken the time to put together a newsletter, you want to be sure that people are going to read it. In today's information-saturated world, people are looking for information that is easily accessible and relevant to their lives. Remember that When someone reads your online newsletter, they will automatically skim it for information that's important to them. This information is found in several places: 1. Headlines are the most frequently read items, and should do everything possible to attract your reader to the article. Effective headlines are:• Long. They should contain as much information as possible.

• Summarise what you are trying to say, highlighting the benefits. They must answer the "What is it?", and "What's in it for me?" You can't have one without the other.
• Action-packed. Make good use of verbs. Entice folk to read your newsletter — don't just summarize what's in it.
• Make everything easy to read. As a general rule, you may want to capitalise the first letter of every word in a headline except for articles (a, an, the) and short prepositions (of, to, for).
• Flushed or aligned left. This tells the reader that the information is news, not an advertisement, whose headline would be centered. 2. Sub-headings are the second-most read piece of the newsletter. Remember that these are subordinate to the primary information contained in the headlines. Don't misuse them by using a boring headline, then hiding the important information in the subheads. For instance, don't use the traditional "Pastor's Message" as a headline — no one, except the faithful and committed, will read the article. Instead, create a catchy headline based on the information included in the pastor's article, then use "Pastor’s Message" as your subhead. 3. Like headlines, photos and photo captions grab attention when they show action. People will read up to five lines of caption, so the caption can be as long (or detailed) as it needs to be in order to convey the importance of the photo. Remember the old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words!” Why not visit Church Email’s ‘Helpful Links’ page for some excellent and free resources. 4. Once readers are drawn into the text of the newsletter by the headline, subhead, and photos, internet links to your website or other pages are extremely useful. You can also use keywords on your email newsletter as text roadmaps to remind them where they are on the page; they serve as places for the eye to follow, and can also be used as links to other places of your newsletter where the same word or topic is discussed. For example, you may highlight the word ‘Church Picnic’ so that when the reader clicks on it, it sends them to another page (website) or a different place in the newsletter where this is further discussed. This is known as ‘Anchoring’ a word or phrase. 5. More useful tips for your newsletter: • Set the text in serif type, which is easy to read.