Last week, we gave you quick tips for increasing your newsletter engagement. Today, we wanted to focus on the content of your newsletter – what are you writing to clients and how does it look? These tips may require extra time on your end to write the best legal newsletter. However, your clients are hoping for high quality content from you, so it makes sense for you to invest time in creating that.
As we mentioned last time, if you’re still not sure why you should start a legal newsletter and how to track its success, check out our blogs. Once that’s all set, here are some ideas to help you brainstorm.
Design Tips
The first thing that catches your clients’ eyes is how your newsletter looks. Before they even begin reading it, if it doesn’t look great, they likely won’t continue reading it. Therefore, spend some time improving your newsletter design.
Make sure it contains your firm’s branding and contact information. You want your clients to easily see whom this newsletter is coming from. Since you likely had them opt in to your newsletter, once they see your firm’s logo, they’ll likely proceed to read it.
In terms of the actual layout, remember that less is more! It’s easy to get carried away with design and all of the awesome images and design tricks you can add it. However, that will just be distracting.
Instead, pick a template that has inviting colors and looks sleek and organized. Keep your template consistent as you send out multiple newsletters. Make it easily editable so that you can clone this design and just edit the content and some images for future newsletters. This will make your newsletter creating work easier. Additionally, your readers will recognize the newsletter and will be more likely to engage with it.
People love seeing images, so definitely add images to your newsletter. However, remember the golden rule of “less is more.” If you have too many images, there’s a greater chance for formatting issues to arise, for a long load time, and for the newsletter to go to spam. To prevent this, figure out where you can include just a few images that will liven your design without negatively impacting your load time. Organize your template in a way that the text is actual text, and not a part of the image. This will make your image space smaller and the text load a lot faster.
When you think about formatting the writing, divide your newsletter into shorter paragraphs. If you’re switching topics, add headers to your paragraphs or include lists. This type of formatting is easier to read and skim, especially if someone is on his or her phone.
Speaking of phones, it’s so important to make your newsletter mobile friendly. This will likely take more time, but it’s worth it. Most of your readers will be reading the newsletter on their phones. If it takes too long to load or if the formatting prevents your readers from receiving your content, they’ll be less likely to engage with it.
When you play around with fonts, consider using web safe fonts and colors. These are fonts and colors that will stay consistent throughout different browsers, emails, and so on. There are plenty of great fonts that are web safe and they’ll help ensure that your readers are actually able to read what you wrote.
Content Tips
As you think about what to write to your clients, consider the goal of your newsletter. Remember, it’s different from a mass email. Mass emails are usually sent to prospective clients with the goal of attracting them to your firm. A newsletter is a way for you to stay connected with your clients, build a stronger relationship with them, and always keep your firm in the back of their minds.
In general, you want to provide content that’s relevant and engaging to your audience. This will vary depending on your different client lists, but here are some overarching topics to think about.
First, consider creating a newsletter with frequently asked questions. Many of your clients will ask you the same questions and probably more than once. Therefore, create a newsletter full of FAQs. You can send this newsletter periodically when you have a surplus of new clients, when you want to send reminders to existing clients, or when your answers to the questions change.
Many legal newsletters include case stories. If you want to describe a case, make sure you don’t bore your clients with case details. They’re not lawyers, so they probably don’t care about the nitty-gritty details that you’re passionate about. Instead, break the case down in a way that’s easy to communicate in plain English to your clientele.
If you find yourself confused about why you’re writing about a specific case, take a step back to consider the big picture. You want to write about a case because that allows you to use an issue in a case to describe broader issues that affect your clients. Think about the practical issues that might affect their lives, and present them with that information. However, don’t be too salesy. You’re educating your clients to demonstrate your expertise, not selling to them.
In a similar fashion, keep your clients updated with law in the news, especially if it affects them. If there are changes in the law or new laws, describe the legalities, what clients should do if they’re affected, and how they can collect evidence.
You also want to keep clients updated with happenings at your firm, both professionally and personally. Include any changes that happened, such as new paralegals that you hired. That way, if a new paralegal is reaching out to a client, he or she will already be familiar with the paralegal. If someone in your firm has exciting personal news that they’re willing to share, such as a marriage or birth of a child, people loving hearing about that. If you’re volunteering, describe how you’re giving back to the community. If your firm is large and your clients might not be familiar with your CEO, send a letter from your CEO. This will help your clients get a sense of community from your firm.
If the newsletter is coming from you personally, humanize yourself just like you would humanize your law firm. To do this, share something you found interesting that you think your clients will enjoy as well. Share a legal joke, a seasonal joke, or a cartoon.
There are many other newsletter tips that can help increase your engagement, but these should give you a head start. While you’re editing your newsletter, if you find yourself wishing you had more Social Security disability, personal injury, workers’ compensation, or employment law cases, contact us at 617.800.0089!