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…

Continue Reading →

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?…

Continue Reading →

A Useful List of Newsletter Topics

Your newsletter doesn’t just have to be about what you do. If you’re an accountant, don’t just write about tax. Include info that helps people run a business. If you’re a real estate agent, don’t just write about real estate, include other consumer info that people will find interesting. If you’re a plumber, don’t just…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

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)     …

Continue Reading →

Shock: Some Good News about US Real Estate

If you watch enough CNN, you’ll be convinced that the American housing market – and the entire economy – is doomed. No hope. Just give up and wait. I’m not saying that things aren’t bad – that a lot of people are suffering, losing their homes and their jobs. The economy has changed and got…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

Why it’s Okay if Your Newsletter is Rough Around the Edges

One of the great things about newsletters as a marketing tool is that they can cut through the noise of advertising that bombards your clients. They do this by providing useful content – being of service rather than simply selling. They also help create a personal connection between you and your clients. And it’s for…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

Make Your Newsletter Captions Work For You

If you use pictures in your newsletter, don’t neglect their captions. Captions are one of the most-read elements on the page, and you don’t need to restrict them to just identifying people and places. Because captions are so frequently read by people browsing your newsletter, they can also help entice readers to tackle the article…

Continue Reading →

A Goldmine of Headline Inspiration

I’ve said many times before that headlines are one of the most important elements in your newsletter because they act as salesmen for your articles. Writing a good headline will increase the chances of your article being read. Newspapers spend a lot of effort on headlines. They have editors who specialize in writing them. The…

Continue Reading →

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,…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

Issuu: A Way to Put Your Print Newsletter Online

If you’ve visited the website belonging to a glossy magazine, you’ve probably seen an online facsimile of the magazine – a little widget they use to allow you to “flip” pages of the real magazine…but online. That kind of technology was quite expensive. But now there’s a website, called Issuu, that is doing the same…

Continue Reading →

Page 4 of 6