Why Write a Newsletter: Ideas, Tips, and How to Write

Managing a farmers market means you are overworked, overloaded, and probably a little overwhelmed. However, we kinda do need to add one more task to your already overgrown to-do list: a newsletter.

Wait. Don’t click away in disgust and exhaustion. We know not everyone is a ‘writer,’ and you are swamped. We get it. Really, we do. However, we wouldn’t bring up writing a newsletter if it wasn’t important for the growth of your farmers market, okay?! Just spend the next five minutes reading this and then decide. Hopefully, you will understand why it is so important to write a newsletter for your market and will be overexcited to get started.

Why Write a Newsletter?

No one has time to sit down and write out a newsletter every month, but taking the time to create a regular newsletter has so many benefits for both market managers and vendors.

Stay Connected

Your farmers market is often the heart of your community, and a newsletter is the perfect way to stay connected with your customers in between market days. You can include updates on market news, upcoming events, and vendor spotlights. Customers love that feeling of connection. It keeps them engaged and excited about your market.

Drive Sales

A newsletter can help drive traffic to your market by offering exclusive deals or coupons to subscribers. If you want to get creative, you can include a puzzle or riddle in your newsletter layout and offer a small reward for the first five people to solve it. Perhaps this could be vendor-sponsored each week or month.  

Build Relationships

As a market manager, building strong relationships with your vendors is crucial to the success of your market. You can also use your newsletter as a platform for vendors to share their stories or promote new products. By keeping your vendors in the loop, they will understand why write a newsletter is so important, feel more like a valued member of the team, and be fully invested in the success of the market.  

Create a Sense of Community

Farmers markets are all about building community, and a newsletter can help foster that sense of togetherness. You can include stories about how your market is impacting the local economy or community events that your market is involved in. You can also highlight local non-profits or other community organizations that your market supports. By creating a sense of community through your newsletter, customers and vendors alike will feel more connected to each other and to the market.  

Establish Your Expertise

As a market manager or vendor, you have a wealth of knowledge about local foods, agriculture, and sustainable living. A newsletter is the perfect way to showcase your expertise and provide valuable information to your subscribers. You can include educational articles about the benefits of eating local, cooking tips for seasonal produce, or the importance of sustainable farming practices. By establishing yourself as an expert in your field, customers will look to the market for guidance and advice.  

Boost Your Online Presence

Driving a car wrap in advertising will boost your physical presence, but a newsletter can boost your online presence. In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is crucial for the success of any business. An e-newsletter is a great way to drive traffic to your website and social media platforms. You can include links to your website or social media profiles in every newsletter and even use your newsletter as a platform to promote your online store or upcoming webinars. By using your newsletter to boost your online presence, you can attract new customers and expand your reach beyond your local community.

Expect Mail

If you choose to physically mail your newsletter, people begin to expect it. As silly as it sounds, I mailed a newsletter printed on the same blue paper every month for 10+ years for our business. People would actually CALL and ask where it was if it was just a day or two past the first of the month! They wanted to know, “Where is my blue flier.” My crews would see them all. the. time. stuck to the fridge with a magnet.

Why write a newsletter? So. Many. Reasons.  

SUMMARY

Why write a newsletter? Writing a newsletter for your farmers market is vital for many reasons, including staying connected with the local community, driving sales, building relationships, fostering a sense of community, showcasing area expertise, boosting your online presence, and feeding into the anticipation of the audience.

How To Craft A Newsletter People Will Actually Read

Your goal in writing a newsletter is not to get the job done as fast as possible but rather to craft something people actually WANT to read. Here’s a few newsletter writing tips to accomplish this goal:

Know your audience

The most crucial step in creating a newsletter is to understand your target audience. What type of content are they interested in? What are their pain points, aspirations, and preferences? You can survey your customers or stalk them on social media to get a feel for their interests. Once you have a clear understanding of your audience, tailor your content accordingly. Remember, your newsletter is not about you. It’s about your readers and how you can help them. They are the reason for: why write a newsletter.

Make Visually Appealing

No one wants to read a block of text in a tiny, 8-point font. Break up the text with some eye-catching images, graphics, or videos to attract attention. Use a legible font. Use a consistent color scheme to create a cohesive look from article to article, month to month, year to year. If your logo is green, add green to every newsletter, maybe changing the shade as the seasons progress. Break up the content into short paragraphs with bullet points or subheadings to make it easy to scan. Make sure there is plenty of white space. If you don’t, your customers will be the ones wondering, “Why write a newsletter?”

Keep It Brief

Your readers are busy people, so don’t overload them with information. Stick to a single main topic per newsletter and keep your message concise. For example, if you focus on tomatoes, include an article about how BigAg picks tomatoes too soon, affecting flavor, another article on types of heirloom tomatoes, a recipe for sauteed cherry tomatoes as an ice cream topping, and a list of vendors with tomatoes available on the next market day. Be sure to include a link to your website or blog for even more tomato content and additional details.  

Add Value

Your newsletter should provide value to your readers. Offer exclusive deals, discounts, or freebies to incentivize them to open your emails regularly. Highlight new products, vendor features, or upcoming events to keep them engaged. Share resources or tips that align with their interests or needs.

Be Grammatically Correct

While no one is going to call you out over a split infinitive or an improper verb case, use spell check. Better yet, run your newsletter through the free version of Grammarly. It knows the difference between there, their, and they’re and when to use apostrophes, so you don’t have to worry about it.  

Be Consistent

Consistency is key. Set a regular schedule for sending out your newsletter, whether it’s weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Stick to that schedule unless you have a really compelling reason to deviate from it. Like our ‘blue fliers,’ your readers will come to expect and anticipate your emails, so don’t disappoint them.  

Crafting a newsletter may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Get creative. Have fun. Watch your outreach grow.

SUMMARY

Key strategies for crafting effective newsletters include emphasizing understanding the target audience, visual attractiveness, brevity, adding value, language correctness, and consistency.

Who Is Your Audience?

In addition to knowing why write a newsletter, you need to know who you are writing for. However, writing a newsletter that appeals to all subscribers can be a daunting task. You have to understand their preferences, interests, and communication styles to create relevant and compelling content for each group. How to tailor your newsletter for different groups of readers based on their frequency and loyalty to your farmers market is tricky. Knowing your audience helps.

The Regulars

Your regular customers are an integral part of your farmers market community. They come often, recognize vendors, and are loyal to the products they buy. They are already raving fans, but to keep them engaged, your newsletter should focus on customer stories, vendor profiles, and updates on new arrivals or seasonal produce.

The Occasional Visitors

Occasional visitors are people who come to your farmers market once in a while or are not familiar with all the vendors or products. They may not have a strong connection to your market. You can feature a vendor of the month, share recipes, or showcase local cultural events or causes. Offering incentives, such as a free gift for every five purchases or a discount for referring a friend, goes a long way in getting these customers to visit your market more often.    

Any Potential New Customers

Potential new customers are people who have not visited your farmers market yet but may have expressed interest or curiosity. They are a vital segment to attract because they may represent future regulars. Your newsletter should aim to inspire them to come and experience your farmers market. It should highlight the diversity, quality, and uniqueness of your farmers market. For example, if your market has a history in the community, you can highlight its longevity, sustainability practices, or community outreach. Additionally, you can offer a coupon or a free product for their first purchase as a gesture of welcome and appreciation.    

Writing a newsletter for your farmers market is an effective way to stay in touch with your customers and boost your market’s visibility and loyalty. However, to create a newsletter that resonates with your audience, you need to know their interests, preferences, and behaviors. By tailoring your content for different groups of readers, such as regular customers, occasional visitors, and potential new customers, you can create relevant and engaging messages that strengthen the bond between your market and its community.

Printed vs Email Newsletters | Which Is Better?

As a farmers market manager or vendor, you know that the success of the business lies in the ability to connect and engage with customers. One of the most effective ways to keep in touch with your loyal and potential customers is through a regular newsletter. But choosing between a printed newsletter and an email newsletter can be tough. Here’s the pros and cons of printed and email newsletters to guide you on how to choose the perfect fit for your business.    

Printed Newsletters

Pros: Printed newsletters are a tangible object, so people tend to hold onto them. It seems silly, but it is something they can refer back to, take home with them, and even pass along to others.  

Cons: Printed newsletters can be costly to produce and distribute. Creating, printing, and mailing is not only time-consuming but may also require a significant investment. Moreover, tracking the results of a printed newsletter is challenging.  

Email Newsletters

Pros: Email newsletters are cost-effective, quick, and easy to create, distribute, and track. You can even monitor open rates, click-through rates, and other important metrics to measure the success of your newsletter campaign. Moreover, it is eco-friendly, and you can use it to segment your audience and create targeted campaigns.  

Cons: Email newsletters may end up in the spam folder or remain unopened or deleted. Despite the ability to segment your audience, it can still feel impersonal. Additionally, with so many emails cluttering up inboxes, recipients may overlook or miss your message.  

How Do You Choose the Best Format for Your Market Newsletter?

Choosing between a print newsletter and an email newsletter for your market depends on your audience preference and your resources. Here are some insights to guide you:    

Audience Preference

Consider the demographics of your customers and how they engage with your business. If you have an older audience, they may prefer print newsletters, while younger generations lean more towards digital. Consider surveying your customers to understand their preferences better. Or, better yet, offer them the option to choose one over the other (or both).   

Resource Availability

Consider factors like your budget, skills, and time availability when choosing your format. If you have design and email marketing skills and the budget for printing, a hybrid newsletter (both printed and digital) may work best. However, if you don’t have the budget or resources for both, pick the format that best suits your situation. 

Both formats have their advantages and disadvantages. Whichever format you choose, focus on creating content that people want to read. Remember that the best newsletters build customer relationships, which, in turn, leads to more business opportunities.

SUMMARY

TL;DR? Do both.

Newsletter Content Ideas  

Alright, now that we’ve covered how to cater to your audience and decide between print and email newsletters, let’s dive into the fun part – coming up with engaging content for your newsletters! This section will provide you with a plethora of unique and creative ideas that will surely give your newsletter the spark it needs to keep your customers engaged and eager for more. Let’s get the creative juices flowing …

Spotlight on Seasonal Produce

Highlight what’s fresh and in season each month and provide interesting facts or cooking tips. For example, if you’ve never eaten jicama before, you wouldn’t know that a vegetable peeler won’t work very well. It’s better to peel a jicama with a paring knife.

Vendor Profiles

Introduce a local farmer, their story, and what they offer at the market. Rotate this section each month to cover different vendors throughout the market. Recipes. Share a recipe that features any in-season produce. One of the reasons some people hesitate to shop at a farmers market is that they don’t know how to cook the produce. For example, the frozen Brussels sprouts that you grew up with as a kid are gross. Fresh Brussels sprouts, however, that have sweetened on the vine after the first frost are ah-ma-zing! People need to know! If you can connect with a local chef or food blogger for a recipe, even better.  

Market Events

Promote any upcoming events or workshops happening at or near the market that month. If it is going to be exceptionally crowded, remind them where to park. If there is construction, tell them about the best detour.  

Community Corner

Share stories or photos from your community, customer testimonials, or feature a ‘Customer of the Month.’ People love seeing their names in the paper, even if it is just your little market newsletter.  

Sustainability Tips

Share tips on how to shop sustainably at the farmers market, showcase the best sustainable products at your market, or review options for recycled market bags. If you sell a reusable bag with your market’s name on it, this would be the place to suggest purchasing it. Don’t have a bag to sell? Check out these made from 100% recycled water bottles (RPET).

SUMMARY

Unique and creative content ideas for newsletters focus on providing engagement. Some newsletter ideas include highlighting seasonal produce, vendor profiles, shared recipes, market event promotions, community features, and sustainability tips.

Newsletter Layout Tips to Enhance Readability

What makes a good newsletter layout? That sounds complicated, right?! First, you have to know why to write a newsletter and then how to write a newsletter, and now … layout? Ugh! It’s ok. What you need to know about newsletter layout is not difficult. Promise.

Go for a clean, simple layout.

When it comes to creating a newsletter, less is often more. Rather than cramming all your information into one page, try organizing it into sections with clear headings. A good rule of thumb is to have a balance of text and images and be consistent with font sizes and styles. In other words, a page of tiny text is not conducive to enjoyable reading. Likewise, using 6 different texts may work for a Pinterest graphic, but not for that 80-year grandma who shops at your farmers market every Wednesday. This is classic K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid).

Use high-quality images.

Images and graphics are a great way to break up chunks of text and catch your readers’ attention. Using photographs of products or events in your market can help personalize your newsletter and create a sense of connection. Make sure to use high-quality, professional-grade images, and be consistent with the style. For example, try using the same filter or color scheme throughout your newsletter to create a seamless visual experience. If you don’t have an image, you can always use a copyright-free image from the internet. Emphasis on copyright-free. You can’t just grab any image! Try these sites:

• Unsplash
• Pixabay
• Pexels
• MorgueFile

They all offer free images that you can use to promote your market without infringing on anyone’s rights 🙂  

Showcase your branding.

Branding is crucial in marketing and helps your customers recognize your name and remember your products or services, like our “little blue flier.” Using a consistent color scheme, logo, paper, slogan, and wording style across all your marketing channels helps reinforce the branding message. Additionally, try to match the design of your newsletter with your website or social media profiles. This uniformity will help create a cohesive brand identity and make it easier for readers to remember you. If you choose to send out both a printed newsletter and an email newsletter, make them visually similar, if not the same.  

Use online tools to create an appealing newsletter.

Creating an appealing newsletter design doesn’t have to be a daunting task. There are plenty of online tools available to help you get started. MailChimp and Constant Contact are popular newsletter platforms with mailing list management services for small businesses like your farmers market. They offer plenty of newsletter templates to simplify the design process.

Canva is another user-friendly tool that helps you create newsletter layouts for printed newsletters. With a bit of experimentation, using these tools could significantly boost your newsletter’s visual appeal.  

Make sure your newsletter is mobile-friendly.

An estimated 80% of people use their mobile devices to read emails. Therefore, it’s imperative to ensure that your newsletter layout is mobile-responsive and easy to read on various devices. Make sure the font size is large enough and the images are appropriately sized to cater to smaller screens. Creating a mobile-friendly newsletter design helps you reach more people, making the most of your marketing efforts.  

Try experimenting with different newsletter layouts and designs to see what works best for your market. With a bit of practice and creativity, your newsletter will become an essential tool for sharing market news, updates, and events with your community.

SUMMARY

Focus on the best practices for designing an effective newsletter layout, including simplicity, high-quality images, consistent brand representation, use of online design tools, and mobility.

Tips for Effectively Distributing Your Newsletter

 Your newsletters need to reach your target audience to be effective. If they keep ending up in a spam folder or trash can, it’s all been a big waste of your time. While you can’t expect a 90% open rate like SMS or text messaging, you can implement some best practices for distributing your newsletters.

Printed Newsletters

Printed newsletters are a classic and effective way to reach out to your customers. Here are some tips on how to distribute them effectively:  

Choose a distribution timeline. Know how long it takes your post office to deliver your paper newsletters. Send a sample to yourself if you have to. The point is, you do not want them all to arrive the afternoon after the market. They need to hit mailboxes a day or two before.

Be consistent. Decide how often you’ll be sending out the newsletters. It’s best to be consistent, whether you choose weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.  

Have a centralized location for pick up. Choose a central location in your market where customers can easily pick up the newsletters, usually by the front entrance or just outside the market’s office.  

Have a sign-up sheet. Encourage customers to sign up for the newsletter by having a sign-up sheet at your booth or at the centralized location.  

Offer incentives. Offer exclusive discounts or freebies to those who sign up for the newsletter to encourage more sign-ups.

Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are convenient and cost-effective, but if they don’t reach your audience, it can become frustrating for everyone involved. Here are some tips for building an email list and ensuring that your newsletters land in the inbox:  

Use sign-up forms. Have a sign-up form on your website, social media platforms, and at your market office to encourage people to sign up. Ask your vendors to encourage sign-up as well because it is mutually beneficial.  

Offer incentives. Just like with printed newsletters, offer the same exclusive discounts or freebies to those who sign up for the email newsletter.  

Send out a ‘welcome’ email. Send a welcome email to introduce yourself and your market, as well as provide a summary of what the customer can expect from the newsletter. You can easily set this up to automatically generate with many email newsletter platforms.  

Avoid spam trigger words. Email subject lines are tricky. Words like “free,” “order now,” “urgent,” “guarantee,” and “credit” can trigger spam filters. It’s best to avoid these in your subject line and email content.  

Include an unsubscribe link. You are required to include an unsubscribe link in every email you send out to keep your mailing list clean and comply with anti-spam laws. Again, this is often automatically included by most email newsletter platforms.  

Both printed and email newsletters have their own benefits and best practices for effective distribution. Make sure your newsletters land in the right place.  

Measuring the Success of Your Newsletters

There are some easy ways to measure the success of your newsletters, from tracking open rates to soliciting customer feedback and analyzing sales data. Let’s dive in!

Keep an eye on your open rates

One of the easiest ways to gauge the effectiveness of your newsletter is by tracking how many people are actually opening it. Most email marketing platforms (such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact) will provide you with this information, typically expressed as a percentage. Industry standards vary, but in general, an open rate of around 17% is considered good. Interestingly, agriculture, including farmers markets, typically get a 25 – 28% open rate (yay!). f you’re consistently falling below that range, it may be time to re-evaluate your subject lines or content to make your newsletters more engaging.  

Collect customer feedback

Print newsletters are harder to gauge. However, you can assess your newsletter’s success by soliciting feedback directly from your customers. Consider adding a brief survey or poll to your newsletter, asking readers to rate the content, layout, and overall usefulness of the newsletter. Ask them to drop it in a box the next time they stop at the market. This not only helps you measure your newsletter’s impact but also demonstrates that you value your customers’ opinions and are dedicated to continuous improvement.  

Analyze sales data

One of the ultimate measures of success for any marketing effort is the impact it has on sales. While this could be tough to gauge when you have many vendors, you could consider counting actual traffic instead. If you’re sending out printed newsletters, consider including a coupon or discount code that customers can use to redeem a special offer. Then, track how many customers take advantage of that offer and attribute those sales specifically to the newsletter. Alternatively, if you have an online store or website, use tracking tools (such as Google Analytics) to see how much traffic you’re getting from your newsletter and whether that traffic is converting into sales.  

Set goals and track progress

Whether you’re using open rates, customer feedback, or sales data (or a combination of all three) to measure your newsletter’s success, it’s important to set specific goals and track your progress over time. For example, you might aim to increase your open rate by 5% over the next quarter, or to receive at least 50 responses to your feedback surveys. By keeping track of your results and adjusting your approach as necessary, you can ensure that your newsletter continues to make a positive impact on your business.  

Consider the BIG picture

It’s worth remembering that your newsletter is just one element of your overall marketing strategy. While it’s important to measure its success on its own merits, it’s also important to consider how it fits into your larger customer outreach efforts. Are you promoting your newsletter through social media, in-store signage, or other channels? Are you regularly updating your website with fresh content and special offers? By taking a holistic view of your marketing efforts and measuring the success of each component, you’ll be able to continually refine and improve your overall strategy.  

Phew! We covered a lot of ground in this post about why write a newsletter, from how to write a newsletter and what to write about to how to send it correctly and measure your success. Hopefully, you’re feeling empowered and excited to apply these tips to your own newsletters and marketing efforts. Remember, newsletter success isn’t something that happens overnight. It takes consistent effort over time. By keeping your customers at the forefront and always striving for improvement, you can develop a newsletter that truly makes a difference in your market’s success.

SUMMARY

Focus on strategies for measuring the success of your newsletters, including open rates, customer feedback, sales data analysis, goal setting, and tracking progress. Don’t forgot how your newsletter ideas fit into your overall marketing strategy.

FAQs – Why Write a Newsletter

Why Write a Newsletter?

What are the benefits of writing a newsletter for my farmers market? Newsletters can help you stay connected with your customers, inform them about upcoming events or new products, and foster a sense of community around your farmers market.

How can a newsletter help increase customer engagement and loyalty? Through regular updates and engaging content, newsletters can keep your farmers market at the forefront of customers’ minds, which can increase loyalty and encourage repeat visits.

Can newsletters help attract potential new customers to my farmers market? Yes, by distributing your newsletter widely, you can reach potential new customers, inform them about what makes your market unique, and invite them to visit.

How to Write a Newsletter?

What are some tips for writing engaging content for my newsletter? To write engaging content, focus on what your readers find valuable. This might include profiles of vendors, information about in-season produce, recipes, or sustainable shopping tips.

How often should you send out newsletters? The frequency can depend on your resources and customer preferences. However, a monthly newsletter is common and can provide a consistent touchpoint without overwhelming your customers.

What type of content should I include in my farmers market newsletter? Include content that is relevant and interesting to your customers, like featured products, vendor stories, upcoming events, and educational content about farming or food.

Newsletter Layouts

What is the ideal layout for a farmers market newsletter? The ideal layout depends on your content and audience, but it should be easy to read and visually appealing. Include plenty of white space, use headers to organize content, and incorporate photos or graphics to catch the reader’s eye.

How important is the design and layout of my newsletter? Design and layout are crucial. A well-designed newsletter can attract and hold readers’ attention, making them more likely to engage with your content and take action.

Are there any tools or software that can help me with the layout of my newsletter? Yes, there are many tools available, like Canva or Mailchimp, that offer customizable newsletter templates and design tools.

Newsletter Ideas for a Farmers Market

What are some unique content ideas for my farmers market newsletter? Unique content ideas could include a “Vendor of the Month” feature, a spotlight on seasonal produce, recipes using market ingredients, or a section highlighting customer experiences or feedback.

How can I incorporate seasonal themes into my newsletter? You can incorporate seasonal themes by focusing on seasonal fruits and vegetables, sharing recipes for seasonal dishes, or discussing farming practices related to different seasons.

How can I use my newsletter to promote special events or new products at my farmers market? Use your newsletter to announce special events, workshops, or new vendors. You can also feature specific products that will be available at the market in the coming weeks.

The Bottom Line

• Why write a newsletter? Newsletters are just as important for a farmers market as they are for any small business. They create a community connection, build relationships, and increase sales.
• When crafting a newsletter, it’s essential to understand the target audience, have visually appealing content, be concise, and add value.
• The type of content that can be included in newsletters includes featured seasonal produce, vendor profiles, recipes, promotion of market events, community stories, and sustainability tips.
• Newsletters can be either in print or email format. There are pros and cons to each. Better yet, do both.
• An effective newsletter layout should be clean and simple, with high-quality images, branding consistency, and mobile responsiveness.
• Tips for effectively distributing printed newsletters include deciding the distribution timeline, being consistent, having a centralized pickup point, and multiple sign-up forms.
• A newsletter’s success can be measured by tracking open rates, collecting customer feedback, analyzing sales data, and setting and tracking progress toward goals.