After refining the objectives, the next steps are to pinpoint the target audience, craft the editorial concept, and develop a graphic design. This sequence governs the order of the book's chapters. The first third of the book focuses mostly on the marketing. Floyd is very informative in these early chapters. She uses sidebars, sample worksheets, anecdotes, photos of actual newsletters, checklists, and sample forms to teach the reader about the fundamentals and the subtleties of marketing with newsletters.
Readers know junk mail and purely promotional literature when they see it.
To be helpful, information must help readers improve their bottom line or otherwise get what they really need. You have about 15 seconds to convince the reader that the information in your newsletter will be helpful. The newsletter's name and tag line together should indicate what the newsletter is about, who the intended readers are, and what's the benefit of reading the publication. Readers don't want to work hard to figure those things out. And she suggests ways to generate reader response.