When you're not able to keep in touch with customers as often as you like, a customer newsletter is a great way to keep your company on their radar screen.

It's also an economical promotion activity, especially if you publish it via email.

Having written and edited corporate newsletters over the last few years, here are some of my tips on producing a quality customer newsletter.

1 ) Make the most impact by having information that your target market finds valuable. Approach it from the perspective of your customers. This doesn't mean you can't sell or promote your products but be sure there is a mix of how-to articles and other useful information.

2 ) Always ask yourself when reviewing your newsletter "What does this information mean to our customers?" Keep the "big picture" in mind. Avoid the "diary/journal" article of "We did this, then we did that." Writing a sequence of events doesn't necessarily make interesting reading.

3) For printed newsletters publish at least four times a year to build awareness and be consistent in design format so customers become familiar with it. For ezines, publish at least monthly.

4) Encourage feedback. Print your email address to accept comments. After all an unread newsletter is a waste of time, money and resources.

5) You may want to incorporate company news from other sources, such as press releases, speeches and presentations.

6) Regular features could include a column by the president or other executives, question and answer,letters to the editor, a product or service related story, and a preview of what's coming up in the next newsletter.

7) Have a couple of back-up articles ready to go in case you need to drop or reschedule an article. It's always better to have too many articles than too few.

8) Quotation marks make writing look lively and compelling. Use them frequently in your articles. You can also include relevant quotes from noted personalities and business leaders.

9) If your newsletter appears as a web page on your company's site, you still need to entice customers to go and read it. Send an email to customers (you have permission, right?) announcing a new edition has been posted. Include the article titles.

10) Make one staff person responsible for final approval. Never approve by committee. You'll never get everyone to agree. Trying to incorporate everyone's comments will only create a convoluted newsletter.