Whether you are sending a text e-mail or a rich media message, you'll need it written and designed professionally, just as you do any other advertising or marketing communications material. After all, if your customers aren't convinced of why they should open your e-mail, they won't. Just like you, they have lots of other things to do with their time.

You may be tempted to write your publications yourself, or to get one of your staff to write them. Unless you are trained in copywriting or have a gift for it, you'll probably find it more profitable to hire a professional copywriter - as you do when you have your advertisements created for you.

If you have a penchant for writing, then include an article or advertisement you have written in one of your e-mail publications and see what happens. If it generates the desired response, then maybe you should continue to write, but make sure you include the cost of your time in your budget.

One of the traps most business executives fall into when they write, is the perspective they use. Most people nearly always write from their point of view, not the customers'. And more often than not, what's of interest to an executive bears no resemblance to what's of interest to the recipients of the message.

Most good writers always wish they had more time to write less. That is, they wish they had more time to allow them to write as much as they can and then the time to edit ruthlessly to make their content worthwhile reading. Do you, or your staff, have the luxury of time to write what really works?

And then there are the formatting issues that govern your content. Even your text e-mails will have to be formatted to ensure they don't wrap around lines and arrive disjointed. You'll need to be able to write to fit certain word or character limits.

Designing content is not as easy as traditional marketing media due to the technology involved. And often it's the technology that governs the format of your message. Unless you are sending a 'simple' text message, you will need specialist designer and programming skills - and these are rarely found in a marketing department, or a traditional advertising agency.

Call us on 61 2 9976 0900, or click here and send us an e-mail if you'd like to know more about design and copywriting.