“Why bother with a newsletter?” People ask me about marketing all the time, and the question of electronic newsletters came up. Why bother? Here’s a little crash course on why, if you’re in business for yourself, you can’t afford not to!
My newsletter has been my number one marketing tool for business growth since November 2002. It’s front and center, my top priority in marketing. I sent it out for six months before I saw a single sale or client. (The clients–four in one week–showed up a day after I changed my relationship with Money in April 2003.)
Why you HAVE to have a newsletter:
It gives website visitors something to do on your site besides hire you or leave.
It builds relationship, familiarity, and trust over time.
Good content sells you better than selling does.
You develop a clear voice that builds your brand.
You discover what your audience wants. Where do you think Financial Alchemy came from?
You build up a body of writing that you can repurpose later.
It’s a mitzvah, a good deed. You’re sharing wisdom freely. Whatever topic you address will be exactly what a reader out there needed at that moment.
You build customer loyalty: your subscribers are likelier to buy from you than anyone else. They are more likely to re-buy from you.
You can give them special gifts and freebies that aren’t on your website.
When you want a quick influx of cash, you’ve got a list of fans. Come up with a special JUST FOR THEM!
It’s cheaper and more effective than print ads.
It’s the most respectful and inobtrusive (and realistic) way I can think of to stay in touch with thousands of friends, clients, prospects, fans, and curious strangers on a regular basis.
People want to test you out before they buy. They may want to test you out for a lot of years before they buy! An ATTRACTIVE, FUN, HELPFUL, GENEROUS, CONTENT RICH newsletter makes your case for you.
Now a couple of tips:
BRIBE BRIBE BRIBE BRIBE: you exist to build your list. Record a free mp3, offer a free report or assessment or teleclass… ANYTHING that gives away something someone wants in exchange for signing up. I gave away a $93 e-book for almost a year because I was that passionate about building up my list after a disastrous episode with 1shoppingcart.com. (NEVER use them for newsletters.) You want my e-book? Sure! The price is a real email address subscription to my list. I’m totally transparent about it.
Send out emails FREQUENTLY. It’s counter-intuitive. I thought I’d be bugging people if I sent out more than one a month. But the experts kept telling me you have to send them out more frequently–at least one a week. After years of sending one email and month and seeing no growth to my subscriptions, I wrote more emails. I added as many subscribers in the last six months as it took to add in the prior six years.
Don’t send emails to your subscribers from your home email. Your email account will get marked as a spammer. Use a professional service. I’ve tried EVERYBODY and I have the sob stories to prove it. The only companies I’d recommend are Constant Contact and Aweber. Here are my links: Constant Contacthttp://tinyurl.com/3gw4ds AWeberhttp://www.aweber.com/?296292
Copyright 2009 Morgana Rae… OBVIOUSLY. Wanna reprint it for your blog or e-zine? Cool! Just post a “written by Morgana Rae” credit, and tell your readers to get my FREE Money Magnet Video Gift at www.morganarae.com. Thanks!
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MORGANA RAE is an internationally acclaimed life coach, author, and professional speaker, who is regarded as the world’s top Relationship with Money coach. Morgana’s groundbreaking program for attracting wealth has featured her on ABC-TV, PBS, NPR, United Press International and The Wall Street Journal online. Learn how to become a Money Magnet with her FREE 4-part video gift series. Fill out your name and email at the top of the page. (We promise not to share your info!) 