Using Your Email Newsletter to Market Your Business

Small business owners around the world are always looking for ways to market their business without spending a fortune. Fortunately, thanks to the internet and electronic communications, there are more possibilities to do just that than ever before.

Of course, every business owner knows that the saying ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ definitely does not apply in business! You want to keep your clients up to date about your business, and to keep your company in the forefront of their minds, otherwise they might choose your competitor over you the next time they buy!

Email newsletters are one of the easiest and most effective ways of staying in touch with your existing clients, and building relationships with new or potential customers. They’re also easy to create, and simple to automate, so sending thousands, or even tens of thousands out, is cost effective, and requires very little effort.

The email newsletter builds on the old idea where a company would create and print a newsletter, and mail it to their regular clients. In this case, however, there are no printing costs to limit the number of people you can send your newsletter to!

Of course, every business owner knows that the saying ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ definitely does not apply in business! You want to keep your clients up to date about your business, and to keep your company in the forefront of their minds, otherwise they might choose your competitor over you the next time they buy!

Let’s look at the process that would go into creating your own email newsletter.

First, you’ll need a mailing list. If you have an existing business, then all of your existing customers should definitely be on your list, but you’ll also want to expand on that list. You can do that in several ways. Try encouraging the recipients to share your newsletter with their colleagues, and add a subscription box on your website. Make sure that there’s a link to your newsletter subscription in your email signature, and post links on your blog, or on industry related forums. Over time, you’ll start to see your mailing list grow, and every person on that list is a potential client!

Once you’ve got a healthy mailing list to send your newsletter to, you’re going to need something to send them. Remember, the operative word here is ‘news.’ If your newsletter is simply a mass of advertising and sales speak, you’re not likely to gain a loyal following, and people are likely to delete your newsletters before they’re read, or unsubscribe from your list, neither of which is the result you want!

Consider putting news about your company into your newsletter, as well as interesting information about your industry, or related industries. If you’re working on or launching a new product, you can include information on it in your newsletter, but make sure it’s informative, and not merely a sales pitch! If you’re running a special offer, or have a price increase looming, it’s acceptable to put that in your newsletter too, or if you have a promotion or competition to share, then include that to.

The most important thing, when it comes to the content of your newsletter is that it’s useful to the reader – not simply a sales pitch from you!

Once your newsletter is created, you’re going to want to start sending it out. However, if you have thousands of people on your mailing list, doing that manually can be time consuming and tedious! The best solution here is to invest in a bulk mailing software package, or sign up for an auto responder. Both of these options allow you to create extensive mailing lists, which send thousands of emails literally at the touch of a button. You’ll find that this makes it much more likely that you stick to a regular mailing schedule, since you’re likely to dread sending hundreds or thousands of emails manually!

Making sure that your email news letters are regular, and that they’re filled with useful information, and even a little humour or entertainment, can have a big impact on the relationship you have with both existing and potential customers, and when you’re in business, relationships matter.

So if you’re not already leveraging the power of newsletters to keep in contact with your clients, then perhaps it’s time that you started! Remember, in business, as in everything else, out of sight is out of mind, and you want to stay firmly in your client’s line of vision!