Can Newsletters Make a Sale? By Phillip M. Perry |
Here are six can't-miss techniques that compel customers to read your news and motivate them to buy. |
Keep articles short Readers zip through newsletters. They choose to read short bits of information over long-winded pieces every time. Break big topics into small chunks and present them as short separate articles. Dave Voracek, president of The Marketing Department, a consulting firm in Alexandria, Va., suggests using bullets to draw readers into short articles. "Readers appreciate lots of items that they can read fast. Write a series of articles only one or two paragraphs long. Put a bullet at the start of each article." Show benefits Don't just tell readers about a new service. Show them how it can make their lives easier, more productive, more fun. Keep a list of positive comments that clients make about the service. Then, run a photo of a client along with his or her accolades about your new offering. Maybe a customer discovered a new, innovative way to use one of your existing products or services. That's news, too. Use it. The result of showing, rather than telling, is simple: Readers identify with the customer in the article and that motivates them to buy. Run your own column When people get to know you as a friend and as an advisor, they'll patronize your business. That's why Murray Raphel, president of Raphel Marketing in Atlantic City, N.J., recommends running your column on the front page of your newsletter. "Run your own column with your name and picture," says Raphel. "Then your newsletter becomes a letter from a friend instead of a commercial announcement." Your "News From the Owner" or "Ideas From The President" column puts the personal nature of the newsletter right up front, separating it from the stacks of impersonal direct mail that land on your customers' desks every day. Don't be afraid to offer plenty of opinions about trends in your industry. Fact is, survey after survey shows that readers want more opinions and turn to those types of columns first. Introduce employees Customers need to see your employees as experts who can solve problems and as friends who want to help. Your newsletter can enhance that image with articles that emphasize the employee-customer relationship. Try these ideas:
Invite customer involvement Giving customers reasons to act when they read your newsletter accomplishes two goals: Responses measure the effectiveness of your publication and get readers involved in reading the newsletter. Coupons are the heavy hitters of reader response mechanisms. They do double duty because they not only generate response, but also benefit customers by saving them money. Liz Tahir, a marketing consultant in New Orleans, is a big believer in newsletter coupons. "Invite readers to clip the coupon and bring it to the business. People do usually respond to something like that," she says. "Try giving away a free sample, even if a small value. And include some time element to stimulate an early visit." Remember that coupons for free items, free consultations or money off the next purchase pull more responses than coupons that require customers to make an additional purchase. Here are other response-getters to try:
Use fillers that sell Make extra space pull its weight by filling it with information that sells your business. Print a map to your storefront or introduce new extended store hours. Customer quotes and sale announcements work well. Publish your e-mail or Web site addresses, even your mobile telephone and pager numbers. And don't forget to tell readers about topics they'll see covered in upcoming newsletters. Entice them with several bulleted headlines so they'll be primed to read when the next issue of your newsletter arrives. Phillip M. Perry is an award-winning journalist and frequent contributor to Self-Employed America. |
Follow This Model... T he first goal of newsletter publishing is learning how not to get dumped. Just ask Elaine Floyd, author of Marketing With Newsletters (Newsletter Resources, 1997, $33.95, soft cover, 800-264-6305). "Realize that your readers will go through the day's mail stack over their garbage cans. If you don't grab their interest, they'll let go of your newsletter, and gravity will do the rest," she cautions. "As expensive as it is to print and mail, savvy publishers do all they can to capture readers immediately." Floyd offers specific advice for catching the eyes of readers a model she's developed called RISE. Follow the model, she says, and your newsletter will become one of your most productive sales tools. Recognition Place logos, slogans and contents of your newsletter near the return address so readers immediately see what you're sending and why they should read it. Recognition tells readers who you are, where to find you and what product or service you provide. Image Highlight important news and customer benefits in headlines, captions and visuals. Image lets readers know you're an expert in your field. Specifics Publish condensed, valuable, hard-to-find information that confirms your business's specialty. Specifics show customers and prospects why they should choose your business over the competition. Enactment Offer free samples or free consultations that encourage readers to take action. Enactment makes customers call your toll-free phone number, send in an order or visit your store. How One NASE Member Profits With a Newsletter
Michele's newsletter takes a friendly, conversational tone, appropriate since many members of her small tour groups become repeat customers. On the front page, she runs her own column that speaks directly to potential new customers. She gives background about herself and describes the atmosphere she creates on her tours. By the time readers finish her column, they're ready to dive into information about the tours and choose a destination. In each newsletter, Michele runs short descriptions of upcoming tours, accompanied by a black and white photograph, dates for the tours and highlights of the destinations. Since her tours focus on photography, she also runs brief mentions about customers whose tour photos get published in magazines or win awards. She saves a spot for piquing reader interest with sneak previews of the next year's tours and sometimes fills extra space with outstanding testimonial quotes from customers. All of those elements lead readers to the prize: a coupon at the back of the newsletter. "The coupon lists all of the tours scheduled for the year," Michele explains. "Clients request information by checking off the tours they're interested in. Then they return the coupon to me. Those coupons help keep me in business." |
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Copyright 1998 © National Association for the Self-Employed All Rights Reserved. Any redistribution of this information without permission is strictly prohibited.
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NASE
Member Michele Burgess knows from experience that newsletters make cash
registers ring. As owner of In Focus with Michele Burgess in Huntington
Beach, Calif., she plans and leads photography tours to exotic destinations
around the world. And her newsletter, published twice each year, serves
as her primary marketing tool. "The newsletter really sells the tours,"
she says.
