Five Reasons To Market With Newsletters
1) They Keep You In Touch With Customers: That’s the main reason. We all know that the
secret to business is return business, the customers who keep coming back. And a newsletter is
a great way to make the effort required to keep that relationship going. Even if they aren’t
buying right now, the newsletter is a reminder that you’re there, and that you’re the best choice
for their needs.
2) They Build Your Credibility: A newsletter is a great vehicle to show off your expertise,
know-how, and how you’ve got your customer’s best interests at heart. For example, a vet I
know would send a monthly newsletter to his regular patients full of pet-care tips. Things as
basic as the proper way to check Fido and Fluffy for fleas, simple training techniques for
puppies, what to do with your pet in an emergency, etc. It wasn’t a newsletter full of sales plugs,
just good advice. And it worked! Some patients’ owners kept it in a file they referred to all year,
and many others passed it around to other pet owners they knew. It positioned him as an
expert in their minds. Even though that was a given (he’s a vet!), a little extra reinforcement
never hurts! So when Fido or Fluffy got sick or hurt, Dr. Newsletter, our advice-giving expert,
was the first one they’d continue to call.
3) Great Potential For Referrals: Referrals are great, and newsletter are a great source of
them. How? If it’s good, your customers will spread it around. The vet got lots of them as a
result of his newsletter when his customers would pass the advice-laden articles around to other
pet owners they knew. He garnered several new customers a month, just from people who saw
the newsletter he sent to his current customers. A good thing will travel.
4) Great Potential For Customer Interaction: A customer newsletter, gives great potential
for feedback. In it, you can ask customers what they would like to see in your
store/practice/service, etc., ask them to rate their experience, ask what their favorite kind of
(product you sell, etc.) is. The possibilities are endless! You can invite them to participate in
contests, special sales just for current customers. Bottom line, it’s a great vehicle to keep them
engaged with your business, even if they aren’t buying right now. It helps keep that relationship
going.
5) They’re Easy! With today’s technology, one of the best things about business newsletters is
that they’re inexpensive and easy. You can do a paper, one-sheet newsletter with something
as basic as Microsoft Word, a printer and a Xerox machine with pastel paper. Or, if you have
the budget, time and creativity (or creative staff!), you can put out a full-color, glossy magazine-
style publication once a month, quarter, whenever.
E-Mail versions are also great. They’re instantaneous, provide direct links to your website, and
allow for a lot faster return. There are no printing costs, easy to distribute, and can be far less
time consuming to create if you’ve got a good template.
Bottom line is that there are many ways to write and produce a great newsletter. It all depends
on what your preferences are, what your customers like, and of course, how much time and
effort you’re willing to put into it. But when it comes to regular communication your audience
that they’ll trust….a good newsletter is hard to top.
Julie Ann Waid is owner of Waidwrites Communications, a full-service writing and editing
firm specializing in marketing communications. Sign up for her free e-zine “J’s
Communique: Marketing Tips For Business” at www.waidwrites.com.
Copyright 2006, Julie Ann Waid. All rights reserved in the U.S. and abroad. This article is
free to be distributed free of charge so long as the resource box above is left intact.
1) They Keep You In Touch With Customers: That’s the main reason. We all know that the
secret to business is return business, the customers who keep coming back. And a newsletter is
a great way to make the effort required to keep that relationship going. Even if they aren’t
buying right now, the newsletter is a reminder that you’re there, and that you’re the best choice
for their needs.
2) They Build Your Credibility: A newsletter is a great vehicle to show off your expertise,
know-how, and how you’ve got your customer’s best interests at heart. For example, a vet I
know would send a monthly newsletter to his regular patients full of pet-care tips. Things as
basic as the proper way to check Fido and Fluffy for fleas, simple training techniques for
puppies, what to do with your pet in an emergency, etc. It wasn’t a newsletter full of sales plugs,
just good advice. And it worked! Some patients’ owners kept it in a file they referred to all year,
and many others passed it around to other pet owners they knew. It positioned him as an
expert in their minds. Even though that was a given (he’s a vet!), a little extra reinforcement
never hurts! So when Fido or Fluffy got sick or hurt, Dr. Newsletter, our advice-giving expert,
was the first one they’d continue to call.
3) Great Potential For Referrals: Referrals are great, and newsletter are a great source of
them. How? If it’s good, your customers will spread it around. The vet got lots of them as a
result of his newsletter when his customers would pass the advice-laden articles around to other
pet owners they knew. He garnered several new customers a month, just from people who saw
the newsletter he sent to his current customers. A good thing will travel.
4) Great Potential For Customer Interaction: A customer newsletter, gives great potential
for feedback. In it, you can ask customers what they would like to see in your
store/practice/service, etc., ask them to rate their experience, ask what their favorite kind of
(product you sell, etc.) is. The possibilities are endless! You can invite them to participate in
contests, special sales just for current customers. Bottom line, it’s a great vehicle to keep them
engaged with your business, even if they aren’t buying right now. It helps keep that relationship
going.
5) They’re Easy! With today’s technology, one of the best things about business newsletters is
that they’re inexpensive and easy. You can do a paper, one-sheet newsletter with something
as basic as Microsoft Word, a printer and a Xerox machine with pastel paper. Or, if you have
the budget, time and creativity (or creative staff!), you can put out a full-color, glossy magazine-
style publication once a month, quarter, whenever.
E-Mail versions are also great. They’re instantaneous, provide direct links to your website, and
allow for a lot faster return. There are no printing costs, easy to distribute, and can be far less
time consuming to create if you’ve got a good template.
Bottom line is that there are many ways to write and produce a great newsletter. It all depends
on what your preferences are, what your customers like, and of course, how much time and
effort you’re willing to put into it. But when it comes to regular communication your audience
that they’ll trust….a good newsletter is hard to top.
Julie Ann Waid is owner of Waidwrites Communications, a full-service writing and editing
firm specializing in marketing communications. Sign up for her free e-zine “J’s
Communique: Marketing Tips For Business” at www.waidwrites.com.
Copyright 2006, Julie Ann Waid. All rights reserved in the U.S. and abroad. This article is
free to be distributed free of charge so long as the resource box above is left intact.
