Growing Your Business With A Customer Newsletter

If you’re selling a product or service, you MUST be in regular and frequent contact with your current customers, clients, and prospects. This is known as “Building Your Fence.” Your fence is designed to keep your clients and customers “IN” (and purchasing from you) and the poachers (everyone that is trying to steal your customers) “OUT”!

In the book No B.S. Direct Marketing, author and marketing genius Dan Kennedy says, “My single biggest recommendation is the use of a monthly customer newsletter. Nothing, and I mean nothing, maintains your fence better.”

If you’re a typical business owner, you’ve probably invested a great deal of time and money growing your business. Knowing that it costs significantly more to attract new customers than it does to keep current ones, I have a question for you: “Why has it been months (or longer) since your customers have heard from you?” Let me clear about this: not being in frequent contact with your customers is killing your business.

Why Newsletters Are So Important to Your Business

No matter what business you’re in, your current customers hold the best prospect for future growth, and it’s less expensive to sell to current customers than it is to attract new ones.

In my opinion, newsletters are, dollar for dollar, the most effective marketing tool available. The following are some of the benefits of a customer newsletter:

• Newsletters increase brand awareness.

• Newsletters help build relationships.

• Newsletters are an awesome way to introduce new products or services.

• Newsletters can enhance your reputation as an expert in your industry.

• Newsletters have a longer shelf life than other types of marketing do.

• Newsletters are often read by multiple readers.

• Newsletters are a great way to differentiate yourself from larger businesses that typically won’t do a customer newsletter.

Why Newsletters Are So Darn Effective

According to the late advertising expert David Ogilvy, editorial material is three times more persuasive than advertising. While Americans have developed a negative attitude toward most advertising, they’ve developed a positive attitude toward informational editorials.

Here’s Why a Friendly Customer Newsletter is So Darn Effective:

• Your customers look forward to it.

• It’s fun and interesting; people appreciate receiving it.

• It features inspiring and factual good news that makes customers feel more optimistic about the economy and better about themselves.

• It’s not just another sales solicitation.

• It can help build relationships.

• It can increase customer loyalty.

• It is an effective way to introduce new products or services to existing customers.

• Customers who read your newsletter are usually in a good position to recommend your product or service to others.

• Your current customers may not be using (or even know about) all your products or services and are much better prospects for new revenue than are people who have not purchased from you in the past.

Five Secrets of a Great Newsletter

Based on my 27 years of experience producing kick-butt newsletters that get results, I want to share with you five secrets on how to create a great company newsletter.

Secret #1 – Tell them what else you do.

Many customers initially engage with a business by purchasing a single product or service. Over time they may do repeat business, usually reordering the same product or service, unaware of the other products or services that the company has to offer. How many times have you heard a client say, “I didn’t know you did that!” or “I didn’t know you also sold that!”? These are all missed opportunities to increase your revenue.

Secret #2 – Tell them what’s new.

As business owners, we are always coming up with new products and services. A newsletter is a great way to get the word out to people who already trust you and find value in what you sell. This can often be done quite effectively by way of customer success stories or testimonials.

Secret #3 – It’s not about you.

This is very important. Your newsletter is not about you or how many industry awards you have won. Your newsletter should be about what’s important and interesting to your customers and clients. Inform, educate, and entertain them, and they will look forward to your newsletter.

Secret #4 – Recognize the expensive real estate!

The back page of your newsletter is not simply the mailing panel; it is the first thing your readers will see when the newsletter comes out of the mailbox. This is a great place to put important items that you want readers to see.

Secret #5 – Frequency trumps everything.

Frequency is more important than the size of a newsletter, whether it’s color or black and white, or even the quality of the content! Yes, you heard me right – I would actually prefer a homemade cheesy newsletter published monthly to a professionally designed newsletter done twice a year. You simply must have frequency to build trust and relationships.