Why Your Business Should Send Out a Regular Newsletter

Increase Traffic to Your Website

Include your website links in your company newsletter and it will encourage your readers and customers to check out what’s new which will increase website traffic. If you are consistent and regularly produce your newsletter you will find that it will become a very reliable and profitable asset in terms of website promotion which will then lead to many more sales.

Newsletters are Cost Effective Marketing Tools

One of the best features about having a company newsletter is that they can be delivered efficiently and effectively at very affordable prices. They are far cheaper than traditional, more expensive forms of marketing which are not nearly as effective or targeted. Don’t take your newsletter readers for granted. Just because it is so cheap and effective to distribute, it does not mean that you should compromise the content in any way. You will lose readers and customers in their droves. The secret to newsletter success is a combination of good quality content and regular distribution.

Increase Your Business Exposure

Newsletters are often read by bloggers and people interested in your industry or the product and services you provide. As a result, if your newsletter is good they will talk about it and give your business much-needed exposure to prospective customers who might not have known about your business.

Longer Shelf Life

If you make your newsletter enjoyable and add interesting content with tips, calendar events or a recipe or ‘how-to’ article your newsletter will give it a much longer shelf life and people will refer back to it or recommend it to their friends and colleagues.

An excellent Selling Tool

Your newsletter is a perfect way of informing your customers and readers of upcoming sales and promotions. This will create anticipation and excitement and you will watch your sales grow month on month.

Show you are an Expert and Establish Your Credibility

There is no greater platform for establishing your authority and credibility than a newsletter. By sharing relevant and useful content you will show your readers and customers that you are experts in your industry which will strengthen their confidence and make them want to buy from you rather than your competitors.

Save your company lots of time and expense

By regularly producing and delivering an electronic newsletter you will save your business a lot of time. Sending out a newsletter is fast and much cheaper than traditional forms of marketing. You will be able to target the people most likely to want to buy or use your products and services.

Top Tips For a Successful Newsletter

Tell Interesting Stories about You and Your Business

Some people try to make their newsletters too formal and professional. While this is not a bad thing, it usually gets in the way of making the newsletter interesting for your reader.

The key to an interesting newsletter is to include stories and anecdotes that engage your readers.

We all love a good story and are interested in hearing stories from people we are interested in.

Telling a good story doesn’t have to be complicated. You can start with what has happened recently in your industry. Have there been any new developments or changes? Say how you feel about them. Explain what impact or benefit they will have on your customers and colleagues.

Have your clients had any good or bad experiences? Were you able to help them?

Don’t just tell a story for the sake of it. Have a point to make or a moral, just as you would in stories or experiences that you would relate to your friends. Explain what you have learnt or what others could learn from your experience.

This will engage your readers and in most cases, prompt them into action, to contact you or buy your product or service.

Have a clear Call to Action

This is important and works, no matter what kind of business you are in.

Let’s say for example that you run a cake decorating business and business is slow. You decide to run a special promotion in your newsletter to drum up business.

You need your customers to respond. You can’t hope that they will, you have to ask them to do it.

A clear call to action needs to be specific. If you want your reader to click on a link, them to ‘Click Here’ and tell them why they should click on the link.

If you want them to order your product or service, again tell them and give them a reason for doing so.

Some businesses that are new to writing newsletters think that this might sound a bit heavy handed or over the top, even insulting to their readers because it doesn’t seem to give their customers enough credibility to think for themselves and respond. The fact is, most of your readers are too busy to try and work out what you want. Your newsletter is competing with a lot of other ‘noise’ out there like social media sites so you need to give them a nudge in the right direction and explain exactly what is that you want them to do.

Be Consistent

Tell your customers when you are going to deliver your newsletter – and stick to it. It doesn’t matter if you choose to send it weekly, twice a month or monthly. Send it our when you say you will.

People like and trust consistency. One of the biggest reasons why some newsletters don’t deliver the results expected is because of inconsistency. Your readers can’t get a chance to get build a relationship with you. You can’t just send them a newsletter whenever you want and hope they will respond. You can’t be a stranger to your readers.

So in summary:

• Don’t send them sales pitches – make your newsletter informative and helpful.
• Find your own unique ‘voice’ and try to connect with your readers.
• Make your newsletter interesting and engage with your readers by including industry and customer stories.
• Have a strong call to action. Never assume that your readers know what you want them to do. You need to tell them.
• Be consistent and deliver exactly what you say you will.