A Newsletter Keeps You Connected
Over the years, pundits and “experts” pop up here and there and make wild claims. Some of them say that social media marketing is dead, and you have to do it this brave new way. Others will say that SEO is dead, and there’s no point in worrying about it anymore. The email newsletter is dead, print is dead, TV is dead… there’s a lot of death in the online sphere it seems.
And then, just as quickly as these experts pop up, they’re gone. Someone else swoops in and makes the opposite claim as that other guy just said. And all along, most of this doesn’t change at all. Social media marketing isn’t going to die, but it will evolve. Email newsletters aren’t going away, but the way people consume them might change. As long as you keep up with the times, you can experience these perks of running a regular newsletter.
Build and Maintain Relationships
They say that people need an average of 7 touches before they become paying customers. Some might be fewer, others may need many more nudges. Your newsletter can provide quite a few of those touches. Even just a monthly newsletter will hit their inbox 12 times a year.
Being in front of your prospects and clients regularly means that you are top-of-mind. Now, when a problem you solve arises in their world, they know exactly who to turn to. You’re already trusted and familiar, and they know right where to find you.
Drive Repeat Business
Some businesses have repeat customers that keep coming back daily. For others the sales cycle or the need doesn’t pop up for months at a time. When you’re sending out regular snippets of information, expertise, tips, and tricks in your newsletter, it’s a little reminder to your past customers that you still exist, and you’re still out there solving the world’s problems – even if they don’t open and read the email, they still see it and know who you are.
It’s also a great way to get the word out when you add new products or services. Perhaps their needs have changed since they came to you. But now that you offer something different, it’s exactly what they need at this point in their own journey.
Grow Your Authority and Trust
They say that people buy from those they, “know, like, and trust.” It’s precisely why network marketing is such a big thing these days. All those MLMs (that’s to be read as “pyramid schemes”) offer over-priced items that really aren’t that great. But sales are often through the roof because people are buying from their friends and family.
Your email newsletter can help educate your audience. Show them how their life will be so much better with your product or service. Testimonials and case studies build that familiarity, and stage you as an expert in your industry. Now, if someone mentions a problem you solve, your audience says, “Hol’ up, I got a guy!”
Increase Traffic to Your Site
Inside of your newsletters you should have links pointing back to your website, blog, and sales pages. Even if you’re simply advertising a special event, you want to drive people back to your site. More traffic to your site shows the almighty search engine algorithms that you’re the coolest kid on the block. The Bible tells us that “to everyone who has more will be given, and he will have an abundance.” Matthew 25:29 ESV
More traffic means you get even more traffic… which leads to more traffic. You get it, right?
Boost Sales and Conversions
Special offers, limited time deals, and new launches all need one thing: paying customers. Unless they happen to stumble upon your website (or maybe they’re so dedicated that they visit your website every single day) people won’t know what’s going on in your business. A new launch or a special deal is worthless if people don’t know about it.
That newsletter is a quick and easy way to spread the word that you have some really cool things going on. But even when you don’t, it’s a great way to take those cold leads and warm them up. Over time they learn more about you, they are more comfortable with you, and the next time you pitch your idea, they’re more likely to convert to a paying customer.
Build Your Loyal Community
If you’ve been on Facebook for a while, you have seen the changes in their focus. It started as all about your friends and family, with the newsfeed helping keep you connected. Then, businesses came along and clogged up the feed. Facebook reacted by lowering the business page’s reach so much it’s almost not worth having a Facebook business page anymore. Then the focus was on communities and groups, and recently it seems just blasting out random crap that the almighty algorithm thinks you should see, but really it’s just a bunch of garbage.
Instead of relying on what Zuck thinks people should see, you can build your own loyal community through that newsletter. Your audience will have a sense of belonging (especially if you have a way of making your community unique and exclusive). They’ll stay in the loop, get behind-the-scenes insights, and you can even directly ask for feedback, offer polls, or do a Q&A session.
It’s Cost Effective
Building a list can be labor intensive, but once you have it, you have access to a lot more people for essentially no out-of-pocket costs (your CRM probably has a monthly fee if you have a big enough list, but if you’re like me, you still get the free version of Hubspot and can send a few thousand emails a month without ponying up cash).
Instead of paying for ads on Google or social media, and then hoping the algorithms show your information to the people you actually want to get in front of, you know exactly who is seeing your information. Want to build your list even bigger? Offer a giveaway for those who sign up – a mid-ticket item can draw in hundreds of subscribers.
Grow More Word-of-Mouth Referrals
People love to talk about businesses they love. When you offer great advice, education, or (usually more importantly) humor, that newsletter gets forwarded to friends and colleagues. Now your information is getting to people who aren’t yet subscribers. If it’s good enough, they’ll soon become subscribers.
It’s a great way to ask for referrals too. If you have honed in on your target audience, you’ll be able to ask for connections to specific people. For example, have you heard anyone say, “I’ve always wanted to write a book!”? Then I would love it if you connected me to them (you can even earn several thousand dollars this way – check out my referral program for those who need blogs).
Get Insights on Your Audience
Your CRM will have built in analytics. After you send an email, you can open up the details on it and see who opened, who clicked, who opened more than once, who forwarded, who unsubscribed, and more. Those analytics give you great insights to who your raving fans are, and who is unengaged and really doesn’t care.
Over time, it shows who likes to buy products from your new launch. You can shape future products or offers, and get your messaging just right.
It’s An Asset You Own
I saved the best for last. One of the biggest perks of a regular email newsletter is the fact that you own it. You’re not at the mercy of someone else’s software (to an extent those that run the CRM, but if you export your list regularly it won’t all be lost if you have to move to a different software). Even with thousands of followers on social media, if Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn decide to shut down, all those connections vanish.
No matter what you have resilience and another means when other marketing channels dry up. When things get hectic, you can always turn back to your newsletter to give things a kick start.
Struggling with Your Newsletter Content?
Have you been collecting email addresses, but forgetting or neglecting the emails? Struggling with actually writing the emails in a compelling and insightful way? Need help designing some giveaways that will ultimately help that email newsletter list grow and flourish?
Let’s talk about your goals, what you’re up to, and see if my writing services are a good fit to get that newsletter working in your favor. Just schedule some time on my calendar below.