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.…

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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…

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How to Make Writing Your Newsletter Easier

For many people, writing a newsletter is somewhere down there with going to the dentist, washing the car and clearing out the eves troughs. A right royal pain in the butt. The thing is, you can’t see it like that if you are going to continue with your newsletter for the long term. (And the…

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5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Newsletter

Here’s what I believe: Every Business Needs a Newsletter. No excuses. Even funeral homes. Here are 5 reasons why: 1. Monsters in the Dark (because, especially right now, people want to do business with people they know and trust) Trust is at a premium these days. After all, who can we trust? Not the banks…

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The Long Tail of Newsletters

I often hear stories that clients consider amazing. It goes something like this: I sent my newsletter to this person six months ago. And today they called me! Can you believe they kept the newsletter all that time and then got in touch? Well, yes, I can. If the newsletter is good. Here’s the thing:…

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Why Quality beats Quantity in Newsletter Subscribers

I was listening to an interesting webinar from Vertical Response (they’re the guys I’ve partnered with for my email newsletter service) today. Several things came out of it worth noting – I’ll blog about them all in the coming days. One of the stand-out points was about list size. The bottom line on list size…

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A Lesson in How Not to Handle Customer Criticism

Must thank Ryanair – the low-cost airline – for showing us all how NOT to handle comments from customers (and potential customers). Having people who take the time to contact you about potential flaws in your website, product or service is a great honor. It shows they care. And if you listen to them, there’s…

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Excellent Example of a Customized Real Estate Newsletter

I love it when people make an effort with their marketing. (Because – to be honest – so few people really do all that it takes to break through in their market, particularly in the current economy.) I love it even more when my members take the product I offer one stage further and make…

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An Excellent Email Newsletter to Model

I’ve been on the mailing list of Printing for Less for some time and have always been impressed by their monthly email newsletters. January’s is perhaps one of the best, so I thought it would be interesting to talk about why it’s so good. 1. The newsletter starts with a topical comment that “enters the…

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How to Lose Friends and Alienate People with Your Email Newsletter

Email newsletters – ezines – can be a powerful way to build a relationship with your clients and prospects by communicating with them right there on their computer. But if you abuse the easy access, low cost and immediacy of email, you run the risk of losing trust in the marketplace. Here’s a tongue-in-cheek look…

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Real Estate Agents (and Others): The Newspaper Newsletter

I hate it when people have an idea similar to mine and then blog about it first, so that I don’t get the chance to claim it. Anyway, that person is Seth Godin, so I’m not mad. Real Estate agents (and anyone else with a local business) should read his post, Time to start a…

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Now’s the Time to Add Value

Check out this post by John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing. I particularly agree with this point: Add value before discounts – One of the first places businesses cave is on pricing. Customers are getting a little tighter with the cash, so the inclination is to cut the prices to make the phone ring. It…

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Why 2009 is the Year of the Customer Relationship

I was tweeting with a friend (yes, I’m on Twitter now – follow me!) who had some exciting news to share. It was a wonderful way for her to start the new year. We agreed that 2009 is going to be a very good year for people with enough get-up-and-go to take the bold action…

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Small Gift, Big Benefit

‘Tis the season for giving. My dry cleaner hasn’t forgotten that. When I brought in my shirts and pants today, the owner handed me a lint remover and thanked me for being a customer this year. Every business should do something like this, because: It recognizes the relationship between the business and its clients, cementing…

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Find Newsletter Writing Daunting?

I had lunch the other week with a new entrepreneur. She thought a newsletter would help one of her clients in the not-for-profit sector to communicate with its donors. A good idea. But she was daunted by the prospect of having to create one – designing it, finding pictures, writing headlines, making sure everything lined…

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The #1 Secret to a Successful Newsletter

I was involved in an interesting discussion about newsletter marketing the other week. Some of the entrepreneurs I was talking with used newsletters – or at least believed in their value. Two questions were raised: What should a newsletter contain? And how often should you send it? Of course, there are no easy answers to…

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A Marketing Lesson from Hazel Wheeler’s 67-Year Diary

Hazel Wheeler found a diary at the age of 14. She went on to write entries in that diary every day for the next 67 years. That fact, while astonishing, isn't the most interesting thing to be found in Hazel's diary, however. Instead, it's the nature of the entries. For example: “John Lennon of The…

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Forget the Pulitzer. Does Your Newsletter Pass the Bathroom Jury?

This post contains a concept some readers might find distasteful. Reader discretion is advised. Frankly, I don’t care how many awards your newsletter might win for its design or its writing. This is the thing: there’s one criterion that is far more important: is it bathroomable? Do you customers take your newsletter into the bathroom?…

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Is Price and Choice all People Want?

It's very easy to buy things cheaply (see Wal-Mart). It's also easy to have a huge choice (see Amazon). But is that all people want? And if you decide they want more, what can you do about it? Think about this: You want to grow your business, and the way to do that is by…

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How to Sign Up People for Your Newsletter on Your Website

I was asked yesterday for instructions about how to sign up people for your newsletter using your website. So I figured it would be a good idea to share them on this blog. Why You Need to Sign Up People on Your Website I’m continually surprised by how few people, even those who use my…

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