Wondering whether a newsletter is worth the time and effort? Well, consider this – many more people check their email than go online or visit social media sites. Email marketing can be extremely beneficial for your business in many ways, not least to engage and nurture your customers and prospects.
So, you’ve updated your website with some new content, posted a blog post or added a case study or two. You’ve got info about an upcoming event and you’re really excited about it. But all this lovely info is pointless if you haven’t got an audience for it. How are your customers going to know it’s there if you don’t tell them?
It is possible that google will find it, but relying on this strategy is very hit and miss. The best and most effective way of letting people know it’s there is by sending a newsletter direct to their inbox.
Newsletters not only advertise what you do and how good you are at doing it, they also build that all important trust and loyalty with your audience. You could be a performance racing company whose newsletter tells your customers about the latest TVR release. You may be a machine manufacturing company telling your B2B readers about the merits of your latest pressbrake machine, perhaps with a link to a case study (link) or a blog post. Whatever your business, with a newsletter you are sharing trade news with those who have an interest.
When your newsletter delivers great content, it strengthens your engagement of the subscriber and keeps you connected. People don’t buy because you sell. They buy because of the connection – they trust you because you are putting out regular updates (without them having to go searching for it) and they have developed a familiarity with your business.
It is important that you give prospects the option to keep connected to your business. Only yesterday, through Pocket (my favourite app) I came across a really interesting article, so I clicked through to a writer’s website. I checked out some of her content and loved it. I wanted to hear more so I went searching for that little box to put my email address into. I can tell you that it is incredibly frustrating to come across an excellent website with no email opt-in box. (You may be wondering where to find the opt-in box for this website, and I can assure you, it’s in progress.)
The point is that if you’re producing some good stuff for your website then why let it go to waste? You could be putting that content in front of hundreds or thousands of people who are interested to hear from you. You could also be missing out on those people promoting your business on social media too, and potentially reaching out to even more people.
Creating a newsletter doesn’t have to be a long and onerous chore. You’re not creating an A’ level essay here – you’re simply giving people updates as to what’s been happening, offering advice and a link to your latest blog post. In fact, you don’t want to put too much in the newsletter as it could deter your readers.
Any business that’s serious about engaging customers and building relationships should consider creating a newsletter. But if it seems like a little too much effort, then get in touch and we can do it for you.
Image Megaphone and Sky, Courtesy of One Way Stock