Social media is where it’s at with customer communication and relationship-building these days, right?
Blogs, vlogs, tweets and instagram and all the rest of the trending social gang are hogging the marketing comms limelight, for sure. But the word is that e-newsletters are fighting back. Despite the congestion in most people’s work and personal email inboxes, email newsletters aren’t being consigned to the trash.
Of course, there’s a caveat. The most wanted e-newsletters are well written, concise, relevant and interesting. Here’s why customers value them:
- They curate content and provide a digest. In contrast, customers have to search and sift social and traditional media for relevant information. Good newsletters distil long or complex topics that they may not have time to investigate fully.
- Customers welcome informed comment about the latest issues in their industry, profession or life, so they can develop their own views and share them confidently. Your expert insight can help them engage credibly with colleagues, clients, friends or on social media.
- Even if they’re not currently ordering from you, customers may like to be reminded about your capabilities, products and services. They may have you in mind for future needs, so a regular update about what you do, your brand and approach is helpful.
- E-newsletters point to what’s new and useful in the industry or consumer life and give customers the means to follow up (via links or sources) for more detail or move on if it’s not relevant right now.
- They can remind customers of things they’ve been meaning to do – put in a repeat order, ask for a quotation, book a consultation or download a report. Maybe they were too busy last month or last week. A newsletter on the general topic prompts them without bossing them.
- Written with a light touch, a newsletter can entertain and provide a couple of minutes of welcome distraction from routine tasks during the working day.
Your business can benefit from a regular e-newsletter because:
- It’s a regular and purposeful means of contact to keep your brand, product or service in the customer’s mind. Schedule a newsletter and you won’t lose touch or let too much time run away without contact.
- It’s a great way to drive traffic to your website through links.
- With a sign-up button on every page of your website, it’s a means to collect email addresses for your database.
- Use your newsletter to maintain contact with prospects who’ve given you their email addresses in other ways – such as at an event or meeting (as long as you have their permission to contact them.)
- You can segment for different types of customer – engage with them even more by asking them what they’re most interested in, then respond with the most relevant content.
- A branded newsletter in your house style gives you a means to express your business or product values and character and build positive perceptions
- You can boost your other channels and make the most of news and knowledge by linking, sharing content or developing content from your social media, web pages, events or blogs.
- Inviting outside experts to contribute brief posts or quotes to your newsletter boosts credibility. It gives your newsletter a sense of objectivity too – making it more valued than promotions or advertising.
Even though a good e-newsletter is an effective and comparatively cheap marketing tool, it can be hard to commit internal resources or find inspiration to keep it up.
Many business newsletters get off to a flying start but lapse after a few months. Or the quality of their content deteriorates and becomes repetitive. That’s a missed opportunity to build the positive, trusted relationships that will grow your customer base and sales.
But there’s a way to avoid that. Look outside your organisation for dedicated, expert help. Try a good independent writer who’s customer-focused, insightful and skilled at conceiving and creating content that meets your business goals.
Please do get in touch if you’d like help creating or breathing new life into your email newsletter content, whether it’s weekly, monthly or quarterly.