So you've decided to start an email newsletter. Good for you as email marketing is one of the most productive ways to stay in touch with your clients and increase sales and repeat business.

But for email to be successful, you must, of course, get your emails read. And like most things, success starts with getting the fundamentals right.

Before you push send, check out the 10 'must haves' for an outstanding newsletter. 

 1.       An attention-grabbing subject line

Your subject line is the first thing people see of your email. Your subject line must compel your readers to open your email; otherwise they won’t read it.  It also must be brief (no longer than 50 characters) otherwise your finely crafted subject line will get cut off if it’s too long.

Try giving your readers just enough information to make them curious. Use action words to inspire readers to click. Subject lines that address your readers concerns such as “How to …” or “Top 5 tips…” show you understand what they care about. Finally, another technique is to personalise the subject line with the reader’s first name.

Ever wonder why your inbox is often jam-packed. The answer is simple. Email marketing works!

While the most popular form of email marketing is the email newsletter, we are all too familiar with email newsletters that waste our time or are full of spam. So it's not surprising that rarely a week goes by without someone asking me if they should even bother having an email newsletter.

However, email marketing should not be ignored if you want to grow your business. It's relatively quick and easy to get started and inexpensive. And, if done right, email marketing can generate new customers, repeat sales and profit for your business.

So to help you get started, here are five ways to harness the power of email marketing for your business. 

Direct Marketing pioneer, Bob Stone, wrote one of the most in-depth direct marketing books ever; Successful Direct Marketing Methods. This book sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide and went to eight reprints. He also built a successful Direct Marketing agency and sold it for a king's ransom. 

Over his long career, Bob Stone identified 30 Direct Marketing principles that proved true better than 90% of the time. Taken from the Direct Creative Blog, we list 20 of those principles here.

1. All customers are not created equal. Give or take a few percentage points, 80 percent of repeat business for goods and services will come from 20 percent of your customer base.

2. The most important order you ever get from a customer is the second order. Why? Because a two-time buyer is at least twice as likely to buy again as a one-time buyer.

Have you ever tried to find some information online?

Just when you thought you’d found the right website, you’ve suddenly realised it’s a waste of time because the website copy was full of meaningless rubbish.

Imagine if that website was yours. Would it grab or attract potential clients to your business? Probably not!

Your website must do more than just present information. It needs to grab your readers, hold their attention and reinforce your brand.

Creating good web copy and content is the answer. These tips will help you write attractive copy that’s easy to read and engaging.

Stand-out graphic design is one of the corner stones to business success. 

If that sounds like a bold statement, then think about Apple, Nike and Virgin or home grown brands like 42 Below, Xero and Icebreaker.

Great graphic design has played a key role in creating memorable branding that has helped these companies become household names.

Whether your business is large or small, you only have one chance to make that first good impression.

Well-designed branding ensures people recognise your business and helps them connect with your products, services and company personality.

However many business owners don’t recognise the importance of graphic design to their business.   Too often, I come across businesses where the owners have tried to DIY their own logo. They sat down with Publisher, put some basic shapes together, added a bit of text in Arial and thought “Yep, that’ll do”.

If it doesn’t bother you what people think of your business, then DIY logos are fine. But everyone at some point has chosen to NOT buy something because of its looks; the design just didn’t look or feel right.

The same happens with branding. DIY design can look untidy and unprofessional and sends a message that if you care so little for how your business looks, then maybe your service and products are poor quality too.

Branding is your company’s face to world, and is more than just your logo. It includes everything that helps your customers identify and connect with your business including business cards, brochures, websites, billboards, signage and advertising.

Everything must be consistent to help you get your business name out there and ensure your business is memorable. Great graphic design is critical to achieving this task.

Graphic design ensures your branding is a stand-out every time and is necessary for every successful business, not an optional extra. In short, good graphic design can make or break a business.