The What?! and Who? of Newsletters
A newsletter is the best way to keep your product constantly in front of the eyes of your audience. A newsletter is also a necessary part of a proper product launch.
If you’re starting a new online business and looking to attract visitors to your website or blog, rest assured that email marketing is bound to become your most important ally in reaching out to new audiences and staying connected with current clients. As you move forward in your business, you will see how necessary it is to reach out to prospects and clients on a regular basis via email marketing. This way, when you’re launching a new product you would’ve already had enough time to establish trust with your audiences – making them more inclined to purchase.
I haven’t looked into your email box and don’t know which internet marketing gurus you follow, but if you glance into mine you will see that the best internet marketers are consistently sending me updates and newsletters. Everyone from John Carlton, to Jeff Walker, Yaro Starak and Eben Pagen, use newsletters to keep in touch with prospects, to announce new product launches, and keep their networks alive.
The same way you would employ follow-up calls with existing leads is the same way you should use email marketing. Keeping constant contact with prospects and clients is a powerful marketing tool that will eventually naturally fall into your marketing agenda – as you will see, it is an integral component of forming a relationship between producer and consumer. However, if you prepare for an email marketing campaign, or what’s called drip marketing, you are bound to reap large rewards with your efforts.
There are two reasons for email marketing campaigns:
1. You must always keep your company name on your prospects’ mind so that the first chance they get to think of someone they should contact for specific help – it will be you.
2. Use email marketing campaigns for promotion.
A good rule of thumb for the first point is practiced by a lead strategist by the name of Cheryl Scoffield at Executive Sales Support. Cheryl is a follow-up guru and lead generation expert who teaches companies how to engage prospects in an effort to translate them into paying customers. Her mantra is that it is absolutely vital to continuously reach out to prospects on a regular basis, because it is only on the 8th-10th try that they are willing to buy.
The name of the game is follow-ups, and consistently checking in with your prospects is a foolproof strategy for turning them into clientele.
The second point involves devising a good plan with email marketing in order to target prospects and specific audiences. Eventually, you will be offering products and services to purchase, and until you get to that point, you must first establish trust. Providing industry news on your latest business whereabouts are the in-between stages of product launches and promotions.
Drip campaigns are used to inform prospects little by little about a future product launch. For example, sending out pictures of the development stages until the product is complete is a good way to get attention. You could use drip campaigning to generate a buzz about a future networking event, or the huge blow-out sale your store is having at some point in the future.
The important thing is not to bombard your prospects’ and customer’s email boxes, and this involves devising a good strategy. Figure out how often you want to email your prospects, but don’t be afraid to do a last minute email blast if something your company is working on is really hot news.
In his article, Email Newsletters Pick Up Where Websites Leave Off, Jacob Nielsen discusses the emotional attachments newsletters create because they establish a relationship between the engaged parties. Knowing that a newsletter waits in one’s box brings a level of expectancy and relief.
Forged Relationships Build Long-Term Subscribers
If you’re worried about people unsubscribing to your newsletters, as long as you’re offering valuable information don’t doubt that recipients will stick with you.
According to Nielsen’s article, people tend to stay subscribers because:
- They have formed an emotional attachment and do not want to sever a growing relationship.
- Low expectations of effectively unsubscribing (people usually think it would take too much of their time to unsubscribe)
- Fear that unsubscribing would not work (confirming private details are something people usually don’t want to meddle in).
Don’t be afraid to send out your newsletters! If you’re offering interesting and useful information people will be more than interested in your readings.
Look out for the next instalment on the Newsletter Series that will discuss more newsletter best practices.
Cheers!
Anna @ Toronto
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