I’d like to show you what I think is an excellent example of someone using a commercially available, ready-to-use newsletter and customizing it to make it even more powerful.
As you may know, I operate a service that provides ready-made newsletters for real estate agents and other professionals. The newsletters are delivered to my subscribers as Word documents, so they can customize them in any way I wish.
The example I wish to share is by Joe Rapisarda Jr., a mortgage advisor in Vacaville, California.
Click here to download an example of the newsletter.
While Joe has used a lot of the original content of Ready to Go newsletter, there are 2 things in particular he has done that will make his version of the newsletter even more successful.
1. Getting personal. I’ve written before about the importance of including some personal content in your newsletter. This is the thing: you go to great efforts to create a relationship with your clients when you meet them face to face by sharing stories about your life, so why not continue that relationship in the newsletter? You’ll see in Joe’s newsletter he’s written an article about how he’s been spending his summer. Joe has also included some great photos taken on some of his trips. Isn’t this so much better, so much more powerful, than something that’s purely corporate? Doesn’t Joe sound like a great guy?
2. Proving you’re an expert. But there’s more to success than being a great guy. Joe has replaced one entire page of content with his own article about the housing market, giving useful, genuine advice. What he’s doing here is showing he knows what he’s talking about – that he’s an expert. His clients and prospects will see he’s someone they can trust to help with advice about mortgages.
I expect Joe will have great success with his newsletter over the coming months.
While you can use ready-to-go newsletters as the come, and they will still work for you, taking a little more time to customize them further will bring even greater rewards.