The Power of a Newsletter
Tip! Make reading your newsletter pay-off for your customer every time. Always offer discount links or other value-add information that separates your content from all the ‘value-free’ content on the web today.
Newsletters will help you
keep in touch with your alumni.
All of us would like to have repeat customers but by their very nature some of our businesses and services do not lend themselves to repeat customer. For example, one of my clients sells health insurance for only one company. Once you buy, you are not likely to buy from them again. In order for that person to be a repeat customer, you basically want them to remain on board for life.
A good way to keep the customer and have repeat business is to provide timely information about your business. The easiest way to do this is to create a newsletter that is sent out at least monthly. A newsletter is a tool for creating awareness about what the person has purchased and to inform them of new items that are available.
Tip! Publish consistently on a weekly basis. I initially published my newsletter on a not-so-regular basis initially because I didn’t see my newsletter as a serious marketing tool (silly me!).
If you go to most websites, they will offer you the option of joining their email list for their newsletter. Joining a newsletter can be a bit of a problem. It is sometimes difficult to tell whether you will be getting information or advertising hype. Take a look at some of the newsletters that are being offered. You should be able to read some of the back issues to get a taste of the format and the usefulness of what they offer.
If you will be printing your newsletter and distributing it via mail, make sure that you are giving out what the market wants. Printing costs can be high but if you are successful and the newsletter is well received, you can offer both print and electronic versions. Make sure you have the subscription base and the budget to do the mailings. If you send out 65 newsletters each week the costs are very reasonable, but once the letter gets very popular you will need to have extra income to cover the costs. If not, you should switch to electronic format.
Tip! Readers can easily save your newsletter to their desktop for future reference. A PDF newsletter saved on the desktop is not so easily forgotten and allows people to read your newsletter wherever they are, at any time.
Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people’s attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the “Networking Queen”. Blueprints for Success - Networking: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprints for Success Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2006. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com
