Newsletters are one of the most important marketing tools available to businesses and their customers. As a business owner, you probably know that it is vital for your business to stay in regular contact with the people who buy from you. Because you need to bring in new customers and make sure that existing ones keep shopping with you, an effective newsletter program with a dedicated readership can be a huge asset for your business. Remember that your website has less than a minute to capture a visitor’s attention before they may leave and never return. It’s true that a blog can help you to get your message out there, but customers have to choose to navigate to the blog to find that information. A newsletter is a more active way to maintain that attention and contact, offering customers news about your brand, your message, and your products. It makes sense to translate your static blog into an active, engaging newsletter program.
Don’t have a newsletter? Here are twelve reasons why you need one!
1. Make an impression
People will form their first impressions of your business from your communication and marketing efforts. This includes your newsletter, which customers will use to figure out what makes you different from your competitors. Your newsletter should give people a great first impression of your business and what you’re selling.
2. Encourage business from current customers
You can use a newsletter to show current customers the other products and services you can offer them when they have established a relationship with you.
3. Gain repeat business from past customers
You can also use a newsletter to appeal to past customers. They already have a history of purchasing your products, so you just need to remind them why they should do it again.
4. Increase awareness
Your newsletter needs to show what you can offer your customers. It should make readers understand essentially what it would be like to communicate and shop with you, and leave them wanting more.
5. Tighten the sales process
People who respond to your newsletter or visit your website from a newsletter link are already sold on the benefits of your business. This leads to a much shorter sales process than traditional advertising.
6. Educate potential customers
Potential customers can find out important information about you from your newsletter. The newsletter can educate them about the strengths of your products and helps you to stay in touch until they make the decision to choose you.
7. Appear professional
Writing thoughtful, engaging, expert content lets potential and current customers, journalists, referral sources, publishers, and other businesses see that you are a reputable business.
8. Gain word-of-mouth traction
Newsletters are easily shared with other people, especially if they are well made. You can gain new customers every time someone shares your newsletter.
9. Grow your contact list
You can grow your contacts by making it easy to sign up for your newsletter mailing list. Promote your newsletter at networking events and encourage your website visitors to sign up.
10. Offer benefits for customers
Use your newsletter to offer new benefits for customers, like a discount for newsletter subscribers or early knowledge about upcoming sales. This will encourage them to subscribe and shop with you.
11. Bring traffic to your website
Link to your website in your newsletter and you can easily drive traffic to your site or blog. You can also use content twice (once on your website, once in your newsletter) to generate extra traffic from social media and search engines.
12. Network with other businesses
Use your newsletter to network with other professionals. Interview an expert for your newsletter, ask them to guest-write a blog for you, or offer to include them in your mailing list.
Here at A La Carte Web Services, we help our clients to achieve all these goals. Email is so commonly used these days that mass email marketing campaigns can lead to fantastic results for your business. A newsletter takes some time and potentially some capital but it can achieve an impressive return on investment. This makes newsletters a strong marketing tool that you should really try!
