"The Ultimate Marketing Secret Weapon".
That's the title legendary marketing consultant Dan Kennedy has given to a newsletter promotion.
And why's that?
The biggest reasons are probably because of how a well-executed newsletter strategy can add to your business on at least 3 levels.
Just the idea that you're offering information about your specialty, or an area of your business knowledge that most people don't get to see every day, gets the curiosity going for many people. Think of how you like to learn and master things that hold
your interest. Your customers are pretty much the same.
If you decide to give your newsletter away, that opens up a whole new level to the relationship you're creating with your customers. Because they know how much time it takes to research, compose, edit and prepare a letter or article. So when you offer them something that obviously takes hours to do, and contains helpful or 'insider' information that they wouldn't normally get to see, it's a double whammy.
Not only does that make you memorable to your clients ('You know what I learned today...?"), but there's also the factor that influence guru Robert Cialdini calls " the first weapon of influence".
That's reciprocity. When you give away something valuable, the recipient feels a obligation to repay the favor.
The third benefit of a well-executed newsletter marketing system is that, as a business owner, you can include advertising that can serve your own business, or for others. Often you'll see this as blatant ads in a brightly-coloured box, highlighting the message to "Buy Now!"
But my favorite style of implementation for any newsletter promotion includes the casual mention of a product or service that complements the subject of the article so closely, the reader sees it as a natural addition to the story. An answer to the question or need mentioned in the article, presented as an obvious solution that they're glad you mentioned.
When you save your reader the trouble of looking for it, they're often relieved. Glad you've made it simple to find the answer.
Putting this all together into a a complete marketing system is the challenge. It takes time and research to find what interests your customers. And writing to match your audience's frame of mind and understanding of your subject is a whole new approach for most business owners.
In a future article, I'll mention a solution to the time and "what to write?" questions that's elegant and simple to use. And it gets results for you almost immediately.