It’s been almost 10 years since I took the plunge into self-employment by becoming a full-time freelance writer. From a marketing perspective, the first thing on my to-do list as a self-employed professional was to build a website. Even in 2009, you had to have a website if you wanted to be taken seriously as a freelancer.

The next thing was to publish an e-newsletter. I knew all about the benefits of e-newsletters and had written countless print and electronic newsletters for clients during my career, so this was a no-brainer.

Paralysis and Procrastination

Except that it wasn’t. For some reason I was paralyzed when it came to creating an e-newsletter for myself. Weeks turned into months with “create your e-newsletter” near the top of my priority list, but always getting pushed aside for other tasks that I told myself were more important.

I eventually joined an informal group of other business owners and self-employed guys who met regularly to talk about our business challenges and successes. I told them about my mental roadblock in creating an e-newsletter and asked them to hold me accountable for getting it done by a certain date.

That’s just what I needed to get started. And like lots of things in life that we keep putting off, it wasn’t nearly as daunting or difficult as I’d imagined once I got into it. Writing my own e-newsletter is now one of the most fulfilling things I do each month — and it’s also a great marketing tool.

Taking That First Step

Maybe you can relate to my story. You know that publishing an e-newsletter is a great way to generate qualified leads. But you haven’t yet taken the first step in launching yours.

If so, here are 5 steps to help you launch an e-newsletter marketing campaign.

1. Set goals for your campaign.Like any marketing initiative you embark on, you need to have concrete and measurable goals for your e-newsletter campaign. The goal of most e-newsletters is to generate qualified leads by staying in front of your customers and prospects on a regular basis with value-added, non-promotional content.

E-newsletter marketing is sometimes called “drip” marketing because it’s like dripping water on a stone. When you publish quality, value-added content consistently, you stay top of mind with your clients and prospects. If you’ve positioned yourself through your content as an expert in your field, there’s a good chance they’ll contact you when they need your products, services or expertise.

2. Choose a publishing platform.There are lots of e-newsletter publishing platforms out there to choose from. When I started my e-newsletter almost a decade ago, Constant Contact was the undisputed leader so that’s the one I chose.

Since then, a whole bunch more have appeared. Among the most popular are MailChimp, Benchmark, Campaigner, GetResponse and Mailjet. They each have advantages and drawbacks so spend some time researching and testing them to decide which one you like best.

3. Design the e-newsletter template.I’ll be honest: This is probably the thing that I was most intimidated by when it came to launching my e-newsletter. I’m not a designer, nor am I very technologically savvy, so I was worried that designing a template would be confusing and difficult.

It wasn’t — at all. In fact, it was kinda fun! The publishing platforms make it super easy to design a template that reflects the look and feel you want for your e-newsletter, including your logo and other branding elements. Again, test out several of the popular publishing platforms to see which one is easiest for you.

4. Build your distribution list.This is the non-glamorous, nitty-gritty side of e-newsletter marketing. It’s also probably the most critical element to success: The best-written e-newsletter with the greatest content won’t do you much good if the right people aren’t receiving it.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any shortcuts to building an e-newsletter distribution list. Start by asking your current clients for permission to send them your newsletter, as well as any active prospects you have. One great way to get sign-ups is to offer value-added content pieces like whitepapers and e-books on your website in exchange for e-newsletter signups.

5. Determine the best frequency.One of the most common questions marketers have about e-newsletters is “how frequently should we publish?” And the answer is a huge “It depends” — on lots of different factors.

I wrote about publishing frequency here so click through to read more about this. To sum up: For most true e-newsletters — not marketing e-blasts, which are different — once or twice a month seems to be the sweet spot for frequency. The most important thing is to be consistent with whatever frequency you choose.

Creating Your Content

With the groundwork laid, now it’s time for the fun part: writing your e-newsletter content. This deserves its own blog so I’ll save my e-newsletter writing tips for next month.