When Customers are ‘Just Looking’
“I’m just looking.” You’re probably heard that phrase many times. Indeed, it no doubt rolls off your own tongue when a salesperson approaches and you’re not ready for a conversation. While “I’m just looking” sometimes means “go away and leave me alone”, it more often means “I’m not ready to buy yet…but I will be…
A Big, Juicy Frog, Your Newsletter, and a Happy Day
One of my favorite time management secrets (if it’s really a secret) is the concept of “eating the frog”. (Some people say “licking the toad”, but I’d be afraid of hallucinating if I did that.) The concept (promoted by Brian Tracy in his book of the same name) goes like this: Identify your biggest, hairiest…
Permission Marketing and “Too Many Emails”
I got a curious comment yesterday from someone who has been receiving messages from me about marketing by newsletters. She said I’d talked her out of joining my real estate newsletters program because I’d said that you need permission to send email newsletters to people. That, she said, made her realize that people “don’t want…
How to Shoot Yourself in the Foot During a Recession
Ding! Here comes an email from a client. “We need to cancel our newsletter membership because business is slow.” Here’s the thing (and whack me if it sounds self-serving, because it’s not meant to be): Now’s not the time to be cutting back on your marketing. It’s time to be investing in your marketing –…
How to Use a Newsletter to Position a Neighborhood Bar as a Community Hub
I was was chatting on Twitter this week about what you would put in neighborhood bar’s newsletter. I said (in 140 characters or less, of course) that it’s about positioning the bar as a community hub. After all, that’s the role of many neighborhood bars. They’re the place where everyone knows your name. So that’s…
How to Hire Writers for Your Newsletter
I’ve always enjoyed working with freelance writers. I’ve done it pretty much all my career, and even now I use specialist freelancers for my ready-made newsletter products. Here are some tips for finding talented people to write for your newsletter. Where to find them I’ve found it’s something of a buyers’ market when it comes…
Why I Don’t Read This Company’s Email Newsletter
I love my proof-reading company, I really do. It does an excellent job with my customer newsletters. It also sends out a monthly newsletter. Good on ’em. But you know what? I don’t read it. Here’s why: it’s almost solely about grammar and proof-reading. And, to be frank, I’m not all that interested in grammar…
Typical Email Newsletter Open Rates – Two Answers
There are two answers to the question: what’s a typical email open rate? The first is correct but annoying; the second is a ball-park guess. For some reason, people tend to prefer the second. Answer 1: “It Depends” (Told you it was an annoying answer.) The thing is, it depends on who you are sending…
Another Great Example of a Customized Real Estate Newsletter
It makes me smile from ear to ear when one of my clients takes the real estate newsletter I offer and really makes it theirs. Here’s another example (click here for a previous one), this one from Marianne Derjean, who is with broker McGuigan Pepin, in Quebec, Canada. Here’s what I love about it. A…
Newsletter Delivery: Local Newspaper vs. Direct Mail
Here’s an interesting anecdote from one of the members of my real estate newsletter service in Ontario, Canada. This real estate agent uses his newsletter for lead generation (by mass mailing it) and to keep in touch with past clients. For the first seven months he was a member, the newsletter was delivered in the…
How to Make Time to Send Out Your Newsletter
I know, sometimes doing the newsletter seems a bit of a chore. Even I feel that – and I’m The Newsletter Guy! Here’s how I make time. Maybe the same kind of thinking will work for you. Are you familiar with Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”? In that book, he talks…
How to Avoid Boring People with Your Newsletter
I went to my dentist this week. Great guy. Excellent dentist. Super team. He makes me want to floss. He also has a newsletter – at least he used to. I didn’t see it this time. I didn’t get to ask if it was working for him, but I suspect it wasn’t too well. Why?…
Your Clients Want Smiles not Frowns – an Antidote to CNN’s Doom and Gloom
A request from a new member of my real estate newsletters service came in yesterday. (As he’s new, he doesn’t know I do this already…but it’s always good to be reminded.) He said he is looking for newsletter articles as an antidote to his clients. For example, the headlines in the newspapers show doom and…
Why Most Content Producers are Thinking of the Wrong Person
Content marketing – and that includes sending print and email newsletters – is becoming an essential part of the marketing arsenal. But this new chart from Marketing Sherpa shows that most marketers are getting it all wrong. They’re breaking Rule #1 of newsletters, not writing with their customer in mind. The chart shows that content that…
How to Use Newsletters to Bring in New Business
I was asked by a member of my insurance newsletters service last week about the best way to use newsletters to bring in new business. Here’s what I will tell him. Of course, this applies to any business – not just insurance. Why Newsletters Work to Bring in New Business Newsletters are most famously used…
Why Your Newsletter Must Be Relevant to Readers to Succeed
Here I go again: back to rule #1 – write for your readers. An interesting chart came along in the email today from Marketing Sherpa. It’s the results of benchmark survey. Highlight: the biggest reason (cited by 58% of respondents) why they stopped reading or unsubscribed from email newsletters was that they were not relevant to…
An Example of How Targeted Content in Newsletters Pays Off
I’ve said before and – watch out – I shall say many times in future that the number one rule for newsletters is: write for your reader. That’s because if you make the content relevant to your readers’ interests, they are more likely read your newsletter, engage with you and – frankly – buy stuff.…
This Ain’t the Corporate Newsletter
Not far from where I live in Toronto there’s a bookstore called This Ain’t the Rosedale Library. (Rosedale, for those who aren’t from here, is the city’s most upscale neighborhood.) This Ain’t the Rosedale Library is an alternative bookstore – some of its titles wouldn’t sit comfortably in Rosedale drawing rooms. So think of this:…
An Example of a Newsletter with Personality
If you don’t know about HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and you are interested in getting media coverage, then check it out. Basically, it’s a service that connects journalists (who are looking for sources for stories) and PR people/companies with products seeking publicity. It goes out as three emails per day. Very simple. Very effective.…
How to Get Free Articles and Pictures for Your Newsletter Using Creative Commons
As you know, it’s not a good idea to copy articles from the internet and use them in your newsletter. There’s a good chance you’ll be breaking copyright. And anyway, it’s not cool to use other people’s work in your newsletter without asking. There are, however, many authors and photographers who are happy for you…