Here are my top ten reasons for small businesses to send a regular newsletter:1. Customer Retention: Regular newsletters help keep your business top of mind and remind clients that you are an expert in your industry.
2. Establishing Credibility: Well-written and relevant newsletters help establish your credibility. An article on American Express discusses the benefits of becoming recognized as a thought leader in your industry and the many opportunities for secondary revenue that result.
3. Secondary Revenue Source: Once you've established credibility, a paid newsletter version with premium content and tips can become a source of revenue in itself.
4. Build Your Brand: Whether you want to take a technical approach or have a more lighthearted tone, newsletters help establish your brand. One of our clients, a production company offering a wide array of creative services, sends a "Totally Useless Newsletter" each month, establishing the company as fun and edgy.
By taking this approach, the newsletter has high click through rates and receives positive feedback from recipients who appreciate the break the newsletter provides. Along with "useless" content, the newsletter also highlights current projects and company updates.
5. Expand Your Network: Your contacts will forward relevant content to their network, increasing your reach.
6. Lead Generation: When your contacts forward your newsletter, new recipients become aware of your product and may sign up to receive your newsletter, or better, discover that they need what you offer.
7. Increased Business with Existing Clients: With a little luck, your client will receive your newsletter just when they're thinking of a need you can fill.
8. Affordability: With email distribution services like Constant Contact, newsletters are an affordable marketing tool and vehicle for information distribution.
9. Tracking: Such Email programs also provide click-through and open rates, helping you see what information your clients find most valuable so that you can tailor future communication to their needs and desires.
10. Added Value: By providing expertise and tips, your product or company becomes that much more valuable to your clients.
A warning: Keep in mind that a poorly written newsletter or one with an unappealing design is worse than no newsletter at all. Clients are quick to judge based on what they see alone so if your newsletter (or website, logo, etc.) doesn't appear credible, or if your content is filled with grammatical errors, you could do more harm than good.
