9 Tips for Marketing with Electronic Newsletters

By Joe Gracia
Posted Sunday, January 16, 2005

1. COMMIT TO CREATING YOUR NEWSLETTER

A Web site without a newsletter is like a car without a motor. It may look nice, but you're not going to get very far.

In order to market your business effectively you need a system to attract prospects and then you need a system to follow up with those prospects repeatedly to convert them into customers. An electronic newsletter is an inexpensive and very effective way to do that.

2. TARGET A SPECIFIC GROUP OF PROSPECTS

You can't be all things to all people. Select a specific group of prospects to write your newsletter to. When reading your newsletter, your prospects should say, 'They're talking about me and my concerns!'

3. DON'T SPAM PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT YOUR NEWSLETTER

Your subscribers should voluntarily opt-in to receive your newsletter. Describe the benefits of your newsletter, and provide a simple way for people to subscribe to it.

Don't just add people to your list without their permission or send it out to people who didn't ask for it. That's called spam, and you'll be building a bad reputation if you resort to it.

4. GIVE YOUR SUBSCRIBERS AN EASY WAY TO UNSUBSCRIBE

When people don't wish to receive your newsletter any longer, they should have an easy way to unsubscribe.

Provide the information your subscribers need to unsubscribe, if they want to, right in your newsletter.

5. FOCUS ON A SPECIFIC THEME

Your newsletter should be centered around a theme that relates to your products or services and is of high interest to your prospects and customers.

Our theme for this Give to Get Marketing newsletter is focused around tips to help you market your business more effectively. That ties in perfectly with what you want, and it ties in perfectly with the marketing products we offer.

Maria's theme for her Get Organized Now! newsletter is focused around tips to help you get organized. Her products are organizing products -- a perfect match.

Someone who sells cosmetics would create a newsletter theme that focuses on beauty and fashion tips.

Get the idea? What would your theme be?

6. 80% HELPFUL CONTENT, 20% PROMOTION

No one wants to receive and read a newsletter filled only with product promotions -- and they won't.

We teach the Give to Get Marketing philosophy -- Give your prospects and customers what they want, and you'll get what you want.

Fill your newsletter with helpful information that your prospects and customers would actually want to read, maybe even look forward to receiving

Of course, you also want to include information about your products and services, so be sure to provide one or two offers in each issue of your newsletter.

80% content, 20% promotion is a good mix.

7. DELIVER IT ON A REGULAR SCHEDULE

You can deliver your newsletter once a month, twice a month, or once a week.

The more frequently you can send out your newsletter to your prospect/customer list, the more effective it will be. You'll have to decide how often you want to commit to this marketing effort. The important thing is to be consistent.

8. ASK YOUR READERS FOR FEEDBACK

Your newsletter should be written for your subscribers to address their interests -- not yours.

To determine if you're delivering what your subscribers want, ask them. Let them know that you want their feedback and suggestions on how you can improve your newsletter to make it a more valuable resource for them.

9. DIRECT YOUR READERS BACK TO YOUR WEB SITE

The point of all your effort of creating and sending out your newsletter, is to follow up with your prospects and customers to gain their trust and their business. Give to Get.

If your product or service information is on your Web site, then you must direct your subscribers to your Web site in each issue.

You can do that by directing them to an article on your Web site that they may find appealing, or you can guide them directly to your product information pages.

The last thing you want to do, is just send out a newsletter filled with terrific content, and then fail to get the kind of action you need to grow your business.

About the Author
Joe Gracia - Give to Get Marketing (http://www.givetogetmarketing.com)