Newsletters: More Than Just Name Identification
What is the most effective marketing system for newsletters? The general answer to this question depends upon your objectives in distributing a newsletter. Are you interested in keeping in touch with clients or generating more business? I have always been partial to marketing solutions which employ maximum synergy. In other words, there is maximum effect for the energy expended.
Email: The Latest Method of Choice.
E-mailing the newsletters enables you to reach each person individually—at very little cost—but there are limits to effectiveness. For example, newsletters should not contain graphics which are too sophisticated because the reader may be looking at their cell phone or PDA. Certain phrases can cause email newsletters to hit spam filters and not get through at all and therefore email newsletters must be sent through spam detectors before sending. Email systems must also give the reader the ability to "opt out" in compliance with the Can-Spam Act. Therefore, the material must be captivating.
So You Would Like to Mail?
Direct mail is effective but also expensive, especially for large lists. Unlike letters or postcards, they more likely to be read before they reach the round file. Also unlike letters, they make solicitation, or asking for the business, a bit more difficult or indirect. A letter asks for the business. A newsletter (if well constructed) can uncover a need. Do not think that delivering a newsletter is an "either or proposition." For example, you can mail to those who "opt out" of your emails. Because mailing is more expensive, you may want to mail to those who are of more importance within your sphere. .
Personal Distribution
For some, delivering the newsletters as you make sales calls is still effective. How many times have you heard that the secret of selling is to focus upon value? Newsletters are a prime example of such value. If the newsletters can be designed to fit on one side of a page, they can be duplicated with product or service flyers or rates sheets on the reverse side. Combined production increases the probability that your flyers will be kept for a longer period of time. In other words—if you are visiting your target, bring something of value rather than just a product flyer.
Leveraging Newsletters
Shouldn’t the goal of every marketing program be an effect which is a multiple of your efforts? True synergy is achieved when your effort level is a two and your response level is a four.
How do we leverage our newsletters? There are two possibilities that come to mind very prominently. The first involves public speaking. Take a look at your newsletter. Does it provide a topic that is really of interest to your clientele? If the topic is not suitable for a dynamic presentation to your target, is your newsletter really of value? For example, is the subject of your newsletter mortgages or real estate? You may be interested in mortgages, but your targets are interested in their home and investment. Realtors are also not interested in loans--they are interested in bring in more business.
The second method of leverage is to republish the newsletter. This will be more feasible if you write your own stories or work with a newsletter service that understands this particular need. Perhaps your business targets would like to republish articles for their clients. Associations and newspapers are also sources to publish your newsletter articles. Why not have your newsletter (or at least part of it) distributed to thousands for free?
Response Mechanisms
Name identification is all important with regard to long term marketing objectives, but nothing beats motivating your targets to pick up the phone and call you. Devising a response mechanism with your newsletter is what will make the phone ring or give you email response. The same articles mentioned above can serve as excellent response mechanisms.
There is no doubt that a sales person could very well design a whole marketing campaign around the delivery of a great newsletter if it contained extremely salient information and utilized maximum synergy. This is not to say that one would choose to do just that—but the methods discussed within are likely to be much more effective than merely mailing letters.
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