What Links Dell, Your Business, Blogs and Newsletters?
Dell has launched a content-rich website called Digital Nomads. It’s aimed at people who, thanks to technology, can work and play wherever they like – people who aren’t tied to an office location. Here’s why Dell is being so smart. Dell is creating a community based upon a common passion. It’s serving that community on…
How Newsletters Benefit Companies in the Business-to-Business Market
I was asked by an accountant the other day about how he should create a newsletter program. Most of the newsletters I’ve created to far have been aimed at consumers – for example real estate newsletters that Realtors can use to send to their clients, mortgage newsletters for mortgage brokers’ clients, etc. But really, there’s…
Why Hibernating in Tough Times is a Bad Strategy
Thankfully, it’s summer right now. But winters here in Ontario can be frigid. It’s no wonder the bears go to sleep and wait it out. Unlike the chickadees, which are busy hunting for food, even in blood-freezing temperatures. I’m here to tell you this: during tough times, be a chickadee, not a bear. This isn’t…
Be Gently in their Face
I wasn’t going to write today, but I was inspired by Seth Godin’s post, “My tooth doesn’t hurt.” It’s about how a marketer can build a solid business, even when they think their target market doesn’t need them right now (like a dentist who is badly needed when a person has a toothache, but easily…
What Not to Put in a Newsletter
Ding! Here arrives a new email. Ooh, a newsletter! I like those! It’s from a software company – A Letter from the CEO, no less. And that’s where things start to go wrong. Let me give you some quotes: “A New Corporate Strategy” “We have established a new corporate strategy designed to meet the continuously…
Why Customer Service Beats Low Prices
If you wanted any more evidence that now – despite the rough economy – is not the time to go cutting price, look at the results of the latest poll published by Marketing Sherpa (see chart at end of this post). It shows that while vendors believe price is the most important factor in customer…
Printed Newsletters and the Internet: Friends or Foes?
The other day I heard someone say, “Printed newsletters? That’s so 90s.” Let’s face it, when you compare them to email and blogs, printed newsletters do have – shall we say – a vintage feel. Dead trees and ink are hardly sexy in green-tinged, e-everything 2008. But this is the thing (actually, several things): 1) …
Customer Newsletters: The 7 Deadly Sins
If you’re about to create your newsletter or are having someone else do it for you (perhaps using a writer/designer or a newsletter company) check out the following mistakes you’ll want to avoid. 1) From Corporate HQ: Your newsletter doesn’t need to look like it was created by the design department of a Fortune 500…
Use Coupons to Boost Your Company Newsletter Response
A subscriber to my newsletter for mortgage brokers sent me her version of the newsletter today. She’d customized it to include a coupon that gives $100 off closing costs to any clients that conclude financing with her. Great idea. Not only do coupons make it more likely your client will keep the newsletter but they…
Is Your Newsletter “Wall-able?”
You want your clients and prospects to keep your newsletter because the longer they keep it, the stronger your relationship. The best way to encourage them to keep your newsletter, of course, is to fill it with great content; articles that are aimed at your readers’ interests – content that makes their lives better. Jeff…
A Clever, Timely Hook for an Offer in a Newsletter
Taking something that’s in the news and putting your own twist on it to make an offer to your customers is a great way to stand out from the crowd. By attaching your offer to something in the news you give the impression of immediacy, timeliness and relevance to your offer. Here’s an example I…
Could a Customer Newsletter Actually Make You Money?
People tend to think of newsletters as a marketing expense. (Of course, marketing shouldn’t be thought of as an expense at all. It’s an investment – at least it is if you do the kind of marketing that allows you to track the results.) But it is possible to create a customer newsletter that actually…
How to Use Customer Newsletters to Nurture the People Who Really Matter
Seth wrote an interesting post today about targeted traffic to websites versus untargeted traffic: it’s the focused traffic you want to capture; the rest you don’t care about. Quite right. And it’s useful to show how customer newsletters can achieve the same goal: bringing targeted buyers into your business. Let’s face it, although newsletters are…
Calling all Printers: Are You a Commodity?
One of the subscribers to my general customer newsletter is a commercial printer. He says his customers love getting the newsletter he sends out. Now, the printing industry is in danger of becoming – if it hasn’t already – a commodity. People shop for printers by price, for the most part. And as we know,…
Building a Stalagmite
Something I’ve learned since I started this blog – and also since I started my real estate newsletters business – is that building trust takes time. But taking the time to build that trust has enormous rewards. As Seth says today, in his post Drip, drip, drip goes the Twit: “Publishing your ideas… in books,…
Is Your Newsletter Hanging Out With the Right People?
If you’ve got children, you’re no doubt anxious to make sure they aren’t hanging out with a bad crowd. And if you are buying a house, you want to be certain it’s not in a bad neighborhood. The same goes for your newsletter: is it hanging out with the right people? When every newsletter costs…
How to Cut Through the Noise and Connect with Customers
If you send out a newsletter, take a good look at the content. What are the themes of your articles? Who is the focus of your articles? What are you trying to achieve with your articles? Are you providing value in your articles that will improve your subscribers’ lives? That final question is the most…
2 Easy Ways to Write Newsletter Articles (Even if You Hate Writing)
Many people are put off sending out a customer newsletter because of the amount of writing they think is involved. After all, a blank page can be pretty daunting. So here are 2 ways to make article writing easier. These aren’t new ideas – I’ve heard them mentioned several times before by several people –…
The Canadian Tire Flyer
For many years, Canadian Tire has delivered a pretty thick flyer to people’s mailboxes every week. (For people who aren’t familiar with Canadian Tire, it’s a soup-to-nuts — or lightbulbs to auto parts — store that’s one of the most famous brands in Canada.) Canadian Tire also produces an email version. Yet despite what must…
The 22 Best Newsletter Tips Ever
Follow these and you won’t go far wrong with your newsletter. Some are old, some are new, some are borrowed…you get the picture. Remember who you are writing for. Your newsletter must be about your intended audience, not about yourself. Every client is tuned to WIIFM – What’s In It For Me. Make it useful.…