Archives for March 2012

Creating a Great Newsletter: 17 Newsletter Ideas.

March 27, 2012 by

The hardest thing about creating a newsletter is twofold: Keeping the balance of general interest content and content specific to your business right and coming up with ideas for articles. You need lots of newsletter ideas in order for you to have good content in there every month. So, here are 17 newsletter ideas for your next issue.

  1. Problem / solution Articles
  2. How-to’s
  3. Top tips
  4. Opinion / analysis
  5. Look into the future
  6. Horror/disaster story
  7. Case study
  8. Reviews
  9. Best of the past issues article
  10. Surveys / feedback request
  11. Resource links
  12. Amusing or inspirational anecdotes, stories and quotes
  13. Answering feedback
  14. Interviews
  15. News
  16. Statistics and lists
  17. Quizzes

You can use these as newsletter ideas to create your newsletter. If you can’t fill your newsletter for a year using each of these ideas, plus plenty of strong relationship building content, then you really ought to consider getting some professional help.

This is only part of the list that we give to our clients to help them brainstorm article ideas for their newsletter. It is easy to get some great articles from these newsletter ideas and when creating a newsletter.

Filed Under: Newsletter

Newsletter Design & Newsletter Names

March 27, 2012 by

Designing a newsletter for the first time.

The first thing you need when you designing a newsletter is to come up with a good newsletter name.

Generally, the best newsletter names are benefit driven – as in what do your customers get from doing business with you. Take our newsletter – More Repeat Business and Referrals. It promises our customers what they get from doing business with us.

The next thing you need is to create a tagline to be underneath the newsletter name. This should be an elaboration of the benefit you promise in the name, if you feel you need to further elaborate.

I receive a fantastic customer newsletter from Ron Sheetz {link name to ww.rjmediamagic.com} – he does video recordings of events and produces marketing videos for his clients. I met him at a Dan Kennedy seminar, where he took a photo of me and Dan. He has sent me his newsletter religiously for nearly 2 years now, despite being located in Cleveland Ohio.

Ron’s newsletter is called ‘Spellbound.’ His tagline is ‘Taking the mystery out of video and putting it in your business profitably, guaranteed.

His newsletter has a great name and the newsletter design is pretty good too.

The best newsletter designs have the following 9 things in Common.

  1. Choose the right margins and column layout
  2. Make headlines easy to locate and read
  3. Insert frequent subheads
  4. Make body copy as easy to read as possible
  5. Choose the right punctuation and spacing
  6. Align visuals with column boundaries
  7. Provide meaningful and readable captions
  8. Use color with restraint
  9. Simplify your design

A great newsletter name and good newsletter design are the foundations for creating a successful newsletter design and coming up with a name for your newsletter.

Filed Under: Newsletter

Never Use A Stock Newsletter Template Or A Free Newsletter Template For that Matter

March 27, 2012 by

Stock Newsletter Templates and Free Newsletter Templates are the worst thing you can use to base your company newsletter on.

There is a reason they are being given away. They are not very good. Usually those templates are put together as samples for graphic designers. Those newsletter templates were not meant to be used. Nobody puts their best quality work in a free template.

It’s like the old saying goes – you get what you pay for.

So if you are happy using a free newsletter template that was thrown together to use in a portfolio, then so be it.

If you don’t value your customers enough to make an investment in sending them a well designed, well written, customer newsletter, then they probably aren’t worth having as customers in the first place.

It shows your attitude is a bit lax towards the most important asset in your business – your relationships with your customers. Your customer relationship is ultimately the most important asset because it determines your chances of gaining repeat business from existing customers, cross selling additional products and services and determines your referral rate.

Smart business owners will invest their money to get a high return at a relatively low risk. Your newsletter sent to existing customers is one of those places. I know of business getting up to 4:1 return on their newsletter budget.

If you are doing a newsletter then it certainly makes sense that you don’t use a free newsletter template. You’ll lose an obvious opportunity to differentiate yourself from the competition.

It is money well spent to take the time to develop a good quality newsletter template. Whatever you do, don’t use a free newsletter template it will could your business.

Filed Under: Newsletter

Why should you do a monthly newsletter

March 27, 2012 by

Monthly Newsletters allow you to stay in touch with your customers.

In a business there are two aspects of a relationship. The business side of the relationship – the mechanical: “I give you X, Y, Z for your $A.”

There is also an emotional aspect to the relationship. Any sales course will tell you that people buy for emotional reasons and then use logic to justify their reactions.

A monthly newsletter allows you to build the emotional component of the relationship.

Your emotional relationship is driven by:

  • Shared Values
  • Shared Background
  • Shared Interests
  • You being authentic
  • Your bringing things your customers value to the relationship

In light of increasing commoditisation you may be able to sell a ‘commoditised product’ entirely on the back of the strength of your relationship. The easiest way to build a strong relationship is by actually investing in the emotional aspect of the relationship.

With a strong emotional relationship, your customers will remain loyal to you as long as the ‘business side’ of the relationship makes sense.

A monthly newsletter is the bedrock of that emotional relationship. It shows your customers that you care about them enough to go and write, print and post them something physical. You are willing to spend real money on them.

If it shows up on time, month after month, your customers will see it as a periodical and not a piece of advertising.

Your relationship is a two way street. Your readers need to care enough about you to engage with you in the first place. In order to build that level of interest in you, in your customers – that means you need to actively invest to build that relationship – i.e. a printed monthly customer newsletter.

Email is free – and your customers know it.  Quarterly newsletters show you consider them an afterthought. I can forget a lot of things in 3 months. I bet you can too.

If you don’t work at building this emotional relationship then you face trying to retain customers purely on the strength of your business relationship. Then you are a commodity. Like for like. And your sources of repeat business and referrals – your customers, are going to defect.

You can prevent this by using your monthly newsletter to build a strong emotional relationship with your customers.  So that they are less inclined to shop around.

Filed Under: Newsletter

What Makes A Good Business Newsletter?

March 27, 2012 by

A good business newsletter has many of the same criteria as a consumer newsletter.

1) A Good Business Newsletter is Published Like a Periodical

Your business newsletter needs to be printed and in the mail on the same day, every month. So that it is perceived as an informative publication and not a solicitation for work.

Just like anybody’s favourite magazine a business newsletter needs to be treated like a regular publication for it to be perceived as one.

2) Content is king for a business newsletter.

You need good, well written content that is relevant to the reader. Ultimately, the goal of any business newsletter is readership. You need the active participation of your audience for your business newsletter to be read. If you don’t get that you might as well not do anything.

What a good business newsletter needs is content that your audience finds relevant. It is not all about your business. It is all about the reader.

You can put in any content they will find relevant to their job and their life.

Nobody finds your business as interesting and all consuming as you do. You need to give your readers some space, some room to breathe, especially as your business newsletter is a ‘stay in touch’ tool and not an out and out piece of marketing.

3) A design that suits your visual identity and is easy to read.

When you look at your business newsletter it should be easy-to-read and should suit your business. It doesn’t need to look super classy, unless your business is super classy. It can be simple, in fact it can even be in black and white, given that your market is open to receiving that. It should reflect your brand and identity.

The key with the design is consistency, pick a style and if you do need to modify or alter it, don’t completely change it each month, you want there to be some familiarity to it each time they read it.

You are allowed to and need to send additional marketing outside of your newsletter. Offers, promotions whatever other marketing you do, you can mention in your newsletter but they are not the focus.

But there needs to be some breathing room in your business newsletter. Your business newsletter is all about creating 12 ‘sales-free’ contacts a year so that it builds a relationship with your customers so that your other marketing materials are read.

Filed Under: Newsletter

Why newsletter printing is different from other printing jobs?

March 27, 2012 by

Newsletter Printing is actually a specialised form of printing. It needs to be treated as such.

Newsletters need to be in the mail at the same time every month. Just like a magazine or other periodical.

When they at the same time every month your printed newsletters are seen as information not advertising. This is exactly how you want it. When customers read your marketing materials they have their sales defences on. With a newsletter they don’t. This means that you can sell to your customer while their guard is down.

The most important aspect to achieve is to be sure that each month’s newsletter is printed and mailed on time – never missing a month.

This requires you to manage the writing, design, printing and fulfilment so that you always have your newsletter out the door at the same time of the month. Not that the task is that difficult but many businesses struggle to rhythmically put out a newsletter at the same time of the month, 12 times a year. It is all a matter of priorities.

Getting your newsletter printing done on time is really easy when you have a managed system in place that makes sure that you have your newsletter ready to print at the same time of the month.

We have a system to help you achieve exactly that. Our entire business is geared around the intricacies of printing newsletters and getting them in the mail on time.

Filed Under: Newsletter

The Most Important Business Lesson I Ever Learnt

March 24, 2012 by

Fresh out of University, I got my first job in sales. I started out as a door to door salesman selling roof restorations. I was okay at it, but not great. I realised 2 things very quickly #1 I could make better money by starting my own roofing business doing exactly the same thing I was doing I teamed up with a roofer to do just that.

The second thing I realised not long after I started the business was that I was selling all these jobs but I wasn’t building any equity in the business. I realised that when you sell a roof restoration you don’t need another one for about 15 years or more. So tomorrow, I had to do it all over again if I wanted to eat. If you sell a roofing business there really isn’t too much to it apart from the hard assets, some good will and whole lot of liability for the warrantees on the past jobs.

So I was out pounding the pavement day in day out and not building a business. I owned a job, nothing more. My income was going to be tied to the number of new customers I brought in and that if I really wanted stability I needed to be able to create additional sales from my existing customers.

I tried to overcome this by adding water tanks, gutters leaf screen and irrigation. But it didn’t really do the job. Gutters and water tanks are guaranteed for 25 years – same problem as the roof restorations.

I was never able to get the customers I had to provide me with predictable steady ongoing income – the real key to having a stable business. By the time the Occupation Health and Safety Laws came in I saw the writing on the wall for that business. Who would pay me an extra $5,000 for the privilege of doing a $3,500 job when there were sole traders around who didn’t need to charge the $5,000?

To this day that roofing business made me appreciate how hard you have to work to get a customer.

It also taught me that if I wanted another business, I needed to have a business that allows you to leverage your existing customers and to make customer retention a priority in your marketing activity.

To find out how you can get an iPad 2 and a $2,000 holiday voucher*, while at the same time locking your customers in for life, schedule a Newsletter Suitability Audit. To find out more, go to www.newslettermarketingsystems.com.au/get-started or else call 1300 120 006. Every day your hard won customers are defecting because you don’t have a system to keep them loyal to you. Put an end to it NOW.

* condition apply

Filed Under: Blog

The Three Customer Referral Types

March 16, 2012 by

Referrals are an important part of every business. In fact, most small businesses are built on referrals alone. Referred prospects are much more likely to do business with you because you have been recommended, they have a much higher initial trust with you and they have seen that you can deliver what you promise.

Many business owners believe that the only way to get a referral is to WOW the customer with great service and they will tell their friends. While this gets you referrals, it is not the only way to get them. I’ve discovered three main types of referrals, there are a few others, but these are the main three ways that referrals occur.

  1. Customer Tells A Friend or Colleague  – This type of referral usually happens because you WOW a customer and they are happy with your services. These referrals are the most genuine, there is often no reward and they are referring purely because they believe their friend or associate can benefit by contacting you. These people are MUCH more likely to convert into a paying customer than a cold prospect. The downside to these referrals is that you have no direct control over them, if someone tells a friend about you, you can’t follow up, you can’t market to them or build a relationship etc.
  2. Customer Tells You About A Prospect – This type of referral is often used by businesses who have a strong sales team. This method generally involves giving your clients an incentive to refer people to you. Usually you’d ask something like “If you know anyone who might be interested, give us their details and we’ll contact them on your behalf and if anyone goes ahead, you’ll be rewarded with x.” – These referred prospects are more likely to convert than cold prospecting because by mentioning their friend, you’re much more welcome when you make the first contact. It is a lot more work that the first contact method because YOU actually need to put in the hard work. The other benefit is that you have their details, you can follow up, market to them and you have control of the referral.
  3. Customer Tells a Friend AND Tells You – This is the ultimate referral. It combines the above two referral types. They tell their friend all about you and then tell you that they referred them and give you their details to follow up. I don’t know how many times I heard clients say “I referred a few people to you over the last few months, did any of them contact you?” in many instances the answer is ‘no’. If those customers told me immediately when they referred the person and gave me a phone number or email I can quickly flick an email or make a quick phone call to say “so and so mentioned you were looking for x, is there any advice or help I can give you?” – once again I’m in control of the situation and can follow up.

Referrals can be induced, it always pays to WOW your customers in every way you can, but if you want to put referrals on overdrive, build a relationship with them, train them to refer and implement a formalised referral incentive system where your customer AND the referral get rewarded.

 

Filed Under: Blog

Bring Statistics To Life When You Speak

March 14, 2012 by

Numbers don’t lie, but they don’t necessarily convince people on their own. When you’re giving a presentation, or just talking informally to co-workers or customers, keep these tips in mind to give your facts added heft:

  • Supply some context. Tell your listener what the numbers mean. If 27 percent of consumers buy your product, that may not mean much unless you explain that you’re the top-selling brand, or that your biggest competitor captures only 9 percent of the marketplace.
  • Get specific—and general. Concrete figures, like $287,642, give your statistics credibility, but expressing them in round numbers (“over a quarter of a million dollars”) makes them memorable. Use both: Start with the specific number, and then later round up or down to drive home your point.
  • Put it in print. When possible, give your audience something tangible. A one-page summary with hard facts can emphasize that you stand behind your words.
Filed Under: ezine

Follow These Guidelines with Probationary Employees

March 14, 2012 by

Probationary periods are useful tools when hiring someone, but they don’t necessarily protect you from being sued for wrongful dismissal if things don’t work out. Keep these points in mind when evaluating probationary employees:

  •  Opportunity. You need to offer the new hire a reasonable opportunity to demonstrate his or her ability to do the job. Make sure you document the person’s performance.
  • Support. You can’t just hire someone and expect him or her to become instantly stellar. You’ll need to provide the training and support necessary to give the person the skills needed to succeed. Again, document your supporting activities for future reference.
  • Standards. Keep your standards consistent. If your new hire thinks you’re raising performance standards just to get rid of him or her, you could be in for litigation. Clarify standards up front, and stick to them.
  • Employee abilities. During the hiring process, ask job candidates to provide information about job-related skills and what levels they can perform at. If you can show that the employee isn’t performing at the level he or she claimed, you have grounds for firing the person for cause.
  • Communication. Don’t leave probationary employees in the dark about how they’re doing. Let them know when they’re doing a good job, and point out areas where they need to improve. Be sure to offer solutions to performance problems —otherwise, you’re just complaining.
Filed Under: ezine
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