Staying top of mind
e-Newsletters are a great way to stay fresh in the minds of your past clients and get them to remember you. They’re also useful for staying in touch with prospects so you can eventually convert them into clients.
Below are three key ingredients to a successful e-Newsletter:
Ingredient #1: helpful information
Your e-Newsletter needs to have helpful information that your recipients would find valuable to them. You want someone to finish reading your e-Newsletter and say, “Wow, this is some great information, I’m glad Joe has sent me this!” If you’re a real estate agent, for example, you may want to write an article to include in one of your newsletters on tips for kitchen remodeling or assessing the value of one’s home.
You don’t want to send people an e-Newsletter that’s all about you and why your services are above all others. If you do, people will quickly hit the delete button and/ or unsubscribe.
Ingredient #2: be interesting
Interesting and attractive. Make sure your e-Newsletter copy is not dull and dry. You need to excite people and make them want to read more. As touched on above, you don’t want people to unsubscribe, but instead want them to enjoy reading your e-Newsletter and remember you because of it! One way to keep the e-Newsletter interesting and improve its look and feel is by including images.
Great images spruce up your content and draw in people’s eyes. Also, make sure your e-Newsletter is well designed and not amateur looking because of it is amateur looking, it reflects poorly on you. And last but not least, your subject line is important, so “My e-Newsletter” may not be nearly as effective as a subject line that reads “July e-Newsletter: Learn How to Conserve More Energy!”
Ingredient #3: show personality
Your e-Newsletter should sound like you sound. Use your e-Newsletter to express your unique personality but make sure you use the same type of language you would use if you were speaking, face-to-face, with a client or prospect. I’ve seen many people make the mistake of thinking that because they’re sending out a professional e-Newsletter, they need to sound like a university professor or a New York Times columnist! Authenticity is important.
If you’re sending out an e-Newsletter that has been designed and written for you, often times you have the option of writing the introduction. Use the introduction to add that personal touch to the e-Newsletter and/ or to offer your personal opinion on relevant industry topics.
The final outcome of the recipe
Sending out an e-Newslettter may seem like a lot of work, but any work that you put into it is more than worth the effort. The best contact management systems come with a professionally written and designed monthly e-Newsletter. Make sure your contact management system has an e-Newsletter feature because it’ll save you a whole lot of money and time – writing articles and hiring a graphic designer can be both very time consuming and very stressful on your pocketbook!
The second reason I recommend using a contact management/ CRM that comes with a monthly e-Newsletter is because the system will often utilize a dedicated email service provider (ESP). With a professional ESP, you get better deliverability rates then sending out an e-Newsletter yourself. Also, you can rest assured that you’re complying with all email/ spam regulations, such as giving your recipients the option to unsubscribe.
