Are you interested in gaining your customer's attention, respect, and loyalty? Of course you are! The secret is demonstrating your expertise and showing clients how you can improve their business. Unfortunately, this could take a while - especially if you have many accounts. What's the solution? Newsletters...one of the most effective and least expensive methods of communicating your message to a large audience.
In the August issue of PPB, the benefits of marketing with newsletters were explained. This month’s article will help you create your own revenue-generating publication.
Show Clients You're a Problem Solver
Your clients are not interested in promotional products per se - they're interested in achieving results. Your prospects and customers are unlikely to purchase until you explain how promotional products can: reduce accidents, increase trade show traffic, stimulate sales, improve employee morale, etc. With this in mind, educate your readers with case histories and success stories. Show them how you can solve their problems with creativity and specialty advertising.
Become a Valuable Source of Information
People read newsletters for information. They throw away sales letters. Give your customers news they can use. Include reviews of the latest advertising specialties and marketing ideas. Start by keeping a "clip file" of articles from suppliers, industry magazines, business journals, and newspapers. Your customers should look to you and your newsletter to keep them up-to-date with what's new in promotional products.
How to Motivate Customers to Take Action
The goal of your newsletter is to generate interest - which eventually leads to sales. How can you motivate your readers to respond? You've got to find your client's hot button and press it. Are you marketing to an owner or sales executive? If so, use examples of how premiums, incentives, and business gifts can improve goodwill and grow their business. If you're selling to a purchasing manager, try using a special offer or sale which will save the company money. The key is to think like the customer and understand their needs.
Encourage your readers to respond by creating contests, sweepstakes and promotions. Provide an order form to request product literature, catalogs, and samples. Offer discount coupons or a free "Marketing Analysis" which helps your clients determine the most effective promotional products to consider. Make it easy for prospects and customers to respond by including a toll free phone number, fax, e-mail address, and web site.
What's in a Name?
Your newsletter arrives on your prospect's desk with many other pieces of direct mail all competing for attention. The name of your publication acts as a headline -- an instant declaration of why your piece should be read. Pick an interesting name or tag line for your newsletter that states the benefits it offers. Our newsletter, Promotional Times, carries the subhead "information and ideas for improving sales, image and profits." Graphically, the nameplate of your newsletter should have a style that sets it apart but never at the expense of readability. You may incorporate your logo in the nameplate, but always give the benefit top billing.
Write Headlines with Punch
Just like you, your customers are busy and constantly bombarded by advertising messages. You have just a few seconds to get your readers attention and pull them into the story. Good headlines contain active verbs and offer clear benefits. Examples include: "Seven Secrets to Achieving Sales Success", "Increase Customer Loyalty", and "Maximize Your Marketing". Research shows five times as many people read headlines - make sure yours are a knock-out!
Edit, Edit, Edit
Write your articles in a concise, easy-to-read format because business readers want to absorb information rapidly. Have several friends, co-workers or even clients read and re-read your material. Avoid the self-serving propaganda most companies put in their newsletters. Your customers don't care about your new phone system or your company's Christmas party, so make sure every article passes the W.I.I.F.M (what's in it for me) test.
Enhance Your Image
When you make a sales call you look your best. Attention to appearance says a lot about your professional standards. Sending a client your newsletter is like making a sales call. The visual standards of your publication is often the first impression a prospect draws of you. If you or your staff have limited training or experience in desktop publishing, get help from a professional. A graphic artist can create a template which allows you to fill in content from issue to issue. Be sure to include photographs, illustrations (clip art), charts, and enough white space to give your prospects a "break" from reading copy.
Conclusion
Marketing with newsletters is like planting seeds. It usually requires several issues before you'll start seeing results. The reason is most people make buying decisions subconsciously and the only way to get into your prospects mind is through repetition. Each time customers and prospects read your newsletter, their interest in promotional products increases. Guerrilla Marketing Guru, Jay Conrad Levinson said it best, "Marketing is like flossing your teeth, if you don't do it consistently, there's going to be trouble."
