While you’re reading this article, close your eyes for a moment and think about this question: If you had three wishes, what would they be? If you’re like most, you requested more of these two rare commodities -- time and money.
Let’s discuss money and how you can increase the size of your bank account. One method is by attracting new customers - which means investing in marketing, advertising, or hiring new sales reps. Another way is enticing existing clients to order more frequently. If you’re on a limited budget (who isn’t), what’s the most effective way to increase sales?
The answer is education. When your customers understand how promotional products improve sales, image, and profits - they move into a buying mode. At this year’s PPA show in Dallas, Tom Winninger told distributors, "56% of the people you call on don’t understand what you do."
How can you inform, educate and motivate customers inexpensively and on a regular basis? Many savvy distributors use newsletters to educate their clients on the benefits of using incentives, rewards, gifts, premiums, safety programs and specialty advertising.
Why a newsletter?
Viewed as a news source, newsletters establish and maintain credibility because they're read with a journalistic mindset. In other words, people tend to believe what they read in newsletters just as they tend to believe what they read in newspapers. This believability is quite different from the reaction to other types of direct mail pieces which are often viewed with suspicion or disbelief...if they're read at all.
Because of this "news" status, newsletters have "pass-through" and archival value. If a newsletter contains solid, useful information, it will be passed along to other employees in an organization and may even be saved for future reference.
Newsletters can also provide continuity for disseminating information about your business. To achieve this impact, a newsletter needs to be published at least four times a year. This will enable you to reap the benefits of consistent marketing and will establish the credibility of your newsletter as NOT "just another direct mail piece." A good newsletter:
- Shows clients you care and appreciate their business.
- Enhances your image by demonstrating your expertise.
- Increases awareness and name recognition.
- Educates and informs readers on the benefits of using promotional products.
- Keeps you in touch with customers regularly, frequently, and inexpensively.
A forum for ideas
Most promotional products companies can provide merchandise on time and on budget. The thing that sets apart the great specialty distributors is the quality of their ideas. A newsletter is an excellent vehicle to showcase your ideas and demonstrate the quality of your thinking. The stories demonstrate you don't simply focus on products but on ideas that solve problems. You're a “solutions” company not just a merchandiser, and good ideas are what most clients are looking for.
Educating the prospect builds demand
Very often your client faces problems such as poor employee morale, low productivity and increased accidents that could be solved by a incentive or reward program - yet never considers you for a possible solution. A good newsletter illustrates the many ways premiums, ad specialties, and gifts can increase awareness, name recognition, customer loyalty, and lead generation. It creates broader demand for your products . With case histories to guide them, your prospect will learn to consider promotional products whenever a marketing or communications problem arises.
Your newsletter can be a valued source of news
The promotional product industry enjoys a constant stream of new products and there's great value in being first to use an interesting new specialty item. The impact is far greater and speaks volumes about the company that offers it. A good newsletter can spotlight new products in an easy-to-read news format. A newsletter can become your prospects primary source for news on the latest in promotional products - and that makes your company the primary source for those products.
Newsletter as business gift and to build a mailing list
If you were to give your prospect or client a subscription to The Wall Street Journal, your gift would be perceived as the offering of a valuable business tool. Your newsletter should be offered in the same vein. Many industries support newsletters with a hefty subscription price. Good newsletters carry a perceived value that sets it apart from traditional marketing communications.
Use your newsletter as a premium to build your mailing list. Offer a free subscription to your newsletter in your advertising and editorial coverage. Sending copies of each issue to the local newspaper, trade and professional associations will open the door to new leads.
Frequency builds familiarity... and business
Research has shown several things occur in your prospects mind before they become a customer. Repeated exposures to your message leads to familiarity which then leads to confidence. Once your prospect has confidence in you, your company, and your products, they are much more likely to pick up the phone and call you for ideas and information.
Success Stories
Bonnie, a promotional products distributor in California tried for months to schedule an appointment with the marketing director for an up-scale supermarket chain. After sending several sales letters and leaving numerous phone messages to no avail, she was ready to abandon the effort, but she chose to fire one parting shot. “This time, I mailed the first edition of my newsletter which demonstrated my experience and expertise in a way that no sales letter could.” Within two days, the illusive marketing director called. A story covered in the newsletter addressed a concern he was facing at that very moment and it was clear from the story that she knew how to solve his problem. Bonnie established a long term relationship on the strength of her newsletter.
A frustrated distributor in South Florida, Greg tried using direct mail to build his business. “Periodically, I would send clients various supplier-promotions, mini-catalogs, and sales flyers.... the response was minimal.” He eventually decided to experiment with a newsletter in each mailing. The phone hasn't stopped ringing. What's more, many of those responding are not on his mailing list, and inquiries often refer to case histories or new product stories published months before. He now considers each newsletter mailed as a seed planted that will yield a harvest of orders and new customers long into the future.
Getting Started
Producing your own newsletter is not as difficult as it may seem. The two ingredients are writing and design. If you have a computer and software such as Microsoft’s Publisher or Word, you’re halfway home. The toughest part will be writing articles that appeal to your target audience. Your customers and prospects want to know one thing - how your products or services will benefit them. Include recent promotional product news, trends, research, case histories, success stories, and even a little humor. If you don’t have the time or expertise to produce your own award winning publication, hire a professional who can handle the project from conception to completion.
Conclusion
There is no better way to build goodwill and loyalty than by contacting your clients on a regular basis. Your customer should think of you as their partner, advisor, or consultant - someone who cares about growing their business. An effective newsletter will impact your customers bottom line as well as your own!
