Over the past month, have
you noticed that there has been quite a bit of commentary
around the humble e-newsletter
making a comeback! Personally, I don’t think it actually went anywhere. Yes,
it may have got a bad rap for a while, and might have been side-lined for the
whole social media onslaught, but there will always be a market for receiving
strong, practical, value-added information.
In fact, I was reading a
report today by Ali Brown in which she stated “According to a 2010 study by
ExactTarget, 56% of Internet users interact with brands only via
marketing emails, compared to 1.3% who interact only via Twitter and
0.7% by Facebook.” Interesting statistics don’t you think?
A well written
e-newsletter really is a must have within your marketing campaign.
Whether you are starting
out, or are a seasoned email marketer, developing an e-newsletter that attracts
your ideal clients and makes you sales, is what you really want to be focusing
on. Remember that you don’t want too be ‘in your face’ pushy with your
clients. What you do want, is to build strong solid relationships, engage
in a conversation, and increase the overall trust factor between your client and
yourself.
You can do this by making
sure your e-newsletters adds value, that it's practical and makes a difference.
Your clients' email addresses are valuable commodity, and they’re not going to
hand them over to just anybody!
Over the past ten years,
I’ve always done some type of email newsletter. At first it was monthly, then
fortnightly, but now it’s sent out weekly to all within our community. The
frequency works and we have no illusions that you read it every week, but we do
know that you will read the topics that add value to you and your business, and
that is really all we can ask for.
Our current format was
worked out last year with my mentor MaryEllen Tribby (ME), as she had a specific
strategy for successful e-newsletters. And interestingly enough, I’ve received
emails this week asking me about my newsletter, after she had presented it as
one to follow in a webinar she was co-hosting with Ryan Deiss.
Together they were launching their new Inbox Empire product, which focuses on
the whole business of e-newsletters. So when ME is focusing on developing a
product based around e-newsletters, you know they're back on the
radar.
So what are three
strategies you can put in place to make sure your e-newsletter engages with your
clients and makes you money?
Don’t waste your clients’
time by not adding value to their day. You ideally want your content to be
practical and focused on results. The best way you can do this is to be really
clear about your ideal clients, because as their problem solver, you will know
exactly what they will want to read. Focus on them – your client!
Stuck on ideas? Then why
not include a case study illustrating a client’s success story;
interview other experts; have guest writers
write for you. These are a few additional strategies you can include to add
value to your content.
You can be providing
great content, but unless you have a sales strategy in place,
you won’t make money from your newsletter. Now that’s okay if you don’t intend
it for that purpose, but if you do, then your clients are looking to you for
your advice. In fact, they will want to know what your new products and
promotions are!
You’ve built a strong
relationship and they know you deliver results, so don’t feel shy about sharing
your latest promotion. You don’t have to fear coming across as a used car
salesman. Just keep consistent with your personality and style and they will
appreciate it.
There is a rule of thumb
that for every newsletter you send, you can do two promotion emails – do you do
this?
In your initial
confirmation email, you should aim to provide your clients with the information
they need to receive about your e-newsletter. This includes the frequency of
your e-newsletter, as well as what day they can expect to see ‘you’ in their
inbox. Once you’ve stated this its up to you to stay
consistent.
So, if like me, you’ve
committed to a weekly format with delivery every Thursday, then you have to make
it happen each week. This is how you build the relationship with your clients
and increase the trust between you and them. If your email comes in bits and
bursts or whenever you feel like it, how do you think this comes across to your
clients?
Putting together your
e-newsletter will take time and commitment, but once you get going, it really is
worth the effort. There is nothing more special than when you receive comments
about how your articles have impacted another person, or made a positive
difference to their business. Words can’t explain how good that
feels.
So what are you doing
with your e-newsletter? Feel free to
share with us your strategies and ideas for a successful
e-newsletter.
website? Do
you update it weekly, or is it sitting there dormant, not getting much in the
way of TLC?
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