Win More Sales with Customer Newsletters - More Small Business Power Tools

One of the most powerful ways for small businesses to increase sales and keep customers coming back for more is to mail them a newsletter periodically.

Why is this such a powerful tool? It's because if done right, a newsletter automatically separates you from the big box stores like Best Buy and Toys 'R Us, and can help you even compete successfully with the giant online retailers like Amazon.com and Overstock.com.

How does this work?

You might not be able to compete with these giants on price but you can beat them by offering great personal service. And one aspect of this service is a newsletter just chock full of helpful information geared to your customers' interests. For example, suppose you have a fishing tackle store. How about a monthly newsletter that includes information on the week's fishing "hot spots," and the lures that are just bringing lunkers in by the basketful? Do you suppose a Sports Authority or and Amazon.com could compete with that in terms of personal service?

A newsletter can be one page, printed on both sides or four, six or eight pages, depending on your customers and their interests. For example, that fishing tackle store might send out a four-page newsletter with lots of fishing tips, news about fishing hot spots and information on the newest and best lures. On the other hand, a jewelry store might mail just a single-page newsletter with pictures of interesting new necklaces and earrings, and tips for cleaning and storing jewelry.

One newsletter I get that I really like is from a store here that sells good wines. I get their newsletter quarterly and it always has information on new wines that have just arrived from France, etc., case prices and sometimes even wine country travel tips.

How do you do a newsletter? If you are a do-it-yourselfer, you can use a program like Microsoft Publisher to create it. Publisher comes with a bunch of templates that totally eliminate the need for you to be any kind of a designer. Just pick a template and start filling in the blanks. You can go to the Microsoft web site and download free pictures and illustrations for your newsletter. The one downside of this is that your newsletter could end up looking just like a lot of other newsletters. If you want a truly unique newsletter that will stand out from the pack, you might try to find a high school or college student who would be willing to design your newsletters for $50 or $75 each.

What should be in your newsletter? Put yourself in the place of your customer. Who are they? What are their interests? What information would they find of value? What problems are they trying to solve? A carpet cleaning service might want to include information on do-it-yourself furniture cleaning or housekeeping hints. If most of the company's customers are women, it might want to include information on new, anti-aging medications or child care tips. By now, you should have the picture ? write to your customers' needs, interests and problem.

What do you do if you're not much of a writer? Again, you should be able to hire a high school or college student to write the newsletter for you. Just make sure you provide good, tight direction so that your newsletter will reflect well on you and your business.

Also, don't bite off more than you can chew. Once you tell customers you will be sending them a monthly newsletter, you will have to send them a newsletter monthly. I know of many businesses that started out with monthly newsletters and then ran out of steam (and article ideas) after three or four months. If you have any doubts about the time you can spend on a newsletter or how much helpful information you can provide, it's better to either do it quarterly or whenever you have enough articles to warrant doing it. Just try to make sure you mail your newsletter often enough that customers don't forger who you are.

Finally, never and I do mean never, send out a newsletter without including an offer that will bring customers into your store or have them calling you for an appointment. Make the offer as powerful as you can and make sure your customers know it's only available to those who read your newsletter.

Creating and mailing a newsletter requires time and effort. But I promise you this: If you do provide good, helpful information in each newsletter, your customers will not only read it, they will start looking forward to receiving it each month or quarter.

For more information on building a mailing list for your newsletter, be sure to look for my article, "Small Business Power Tool: Direct Marketing."

Article by Douglas Hanna. Douglas is a retired advertising and marketing executive and long-time Denver resident. He is the webmaster of http://www.all-in-one-info.com, a free resource for information on a variety of subjects. Please visit his site to subscribe to his free newsletter, "Tips & Tricks to Save Money & Live Better."

---

Grow Your Business with a Newsletter

You find a Web site or receive an email about... Read More

Volcanically Erupt Your Online Newsletter, Ezine or e-Course Opt-Ins in No Time Flat

Are you ready to build your opt in email list... Read More

Surefire Ways to Pack a Punch With Your Ezines & Newsletters

Newsletters, or ezines, can be an extremely effective marketing tool... Read More

5 Tips To Create A Kick-Butt Mini-Course That Pulls In Thousands of Rabid Subscribers... in a Flash!

One of the fastest ways to develop, build, and grow... Read More

Re-evaluating The Purpose Of An E-Zine

With all of the push these days to publish an... Read More

10 Ezine Advertising Strategies For Starters

If you're like most ezine advertisers you wish to generate... Read More

Learn the Five Facts Why Ezine Is the Ultimate Promotion Tool!

What you are about to read will change your way... Read More

What?s In Your Resource Box (SIG File)?

One of the most important things you can do to... Read More

How Your Advice Column Can Build Loyal Readers

Last year while researching a book on memorable speeches and... Read More

Fishing For Ezine Subscribers

The Bible tells the tale of the fishermen who were... Read More

The Power of Newsletters

When discussing the possibility of creating a newsletter for one... Read More

Ways to Improve and Make Money from Your Newsletter

Our last three newsletters have covered the hot topic of... Read More

Writing e-Newsletters ? Tricks of the Trade

Follow 10 simple rules of thumb, and you'll soon be... Read More

Article Distribution: How Will Your Results Vary?

It's not enough to just sit around and expect that... Read More

Why a Newsletter Will Help Your Home Based Business

Web site traffic is a huge concern among home based... Read More

Top Seven Ways to Promote your Ezine

Your ezine builds customer confidence and trust when you give... Read More

How to Increase Your Opt In List by 322% in 28 Days

"The money's in your list" - how many times have... Read More

How to Grow Your Ezine Subscriber List

Your ezine subscriber list is a very valuable group. They... Read More

How to Get More Sign-Ups to Your Newsletter

It never seems to amaze me how often I still... Read More

10 Effective Ways To Gain More New Ezine Subscribers

1. Swap ads with other ezine publishers. Swap sponsor,... Read More

Ezine Advertising Strategy Exposed-16 Tips to Boost Your Profit

In my opinion, Electronic Magazine (Ezine) advertising is the greatest,... Read More

Newsletter Publishing Tips

I can't think of a better way to sell your... Read More

Five Ways To Promote Your Ezine

After you've spent countless hours creating and publishing your own... Read More

5 Quick Ways To Increase Your E-zines Subscriber Base

Welcome to all of you out in netland.If you have... Read More

Article Marketing 202 -- Creating a Viral Lead-Generating Machine

There is a simple system for creating a viral lead-generating... Read More

10 Tips for Successful Ezine Advertising

If you're like most people starting out on the Internet,you've... Read More

Why Your Newsletter Must Get A Personality Today!

Newsletters are becoming ever more popular. Not surprising ? since... Read More

The Public Speaking List Machine

Do you do public speaking? Then you've got an automatic... Read More

6 Easy Ways to Promote Your Ezine Articles

If you think you can't brand yourself because you're not... Read More

How To Create Your Very Own Client Newsletter

Using newsletters for business development improves your sales and marketing... Read More

10 Sure Fire Ways To Get More Ezine Subscribers

1. Place testimonials for your ezine on your site.Your testimonials... Read More

Improve Your Online Network With A Powerful Ezine

Many online business owners and marketers use a variety of... Read More

How To Write Your Newsletter

So how do you set about writing your own newsletter?The... Read More