What if there is a simple low-cost marketing activity you could do each week that guarantees customers in the future? If so, would you do it? Referral customers are the “Holy Grail” of business, because people come to you ready to purchase. Every author, publisher, non-profit, and corporation wants to insure that customers keep coming, year after year. But, how do you make it happen?
The answer is newsletters. Period. Now, hold on before you write me off as promoting some archaic advice that everyone already knows. Stuff the desire to protest, “I’ve tried newsletters and they don’t work.” The power of newsletters depends on your perspective.
For example, within the past 30 days, I’ve had two people contact me that led to large consulting projects. During our initial conversation, I asked each person, “Why did you contact me?” Both had a similar response, “I’ve been reading your weekly newsletter for the past two years. Your helpful advice convinced me to call you.”
To be honest, most of my newsletters don’t produce a lot of immediate activity. That’s okay. I’m not trying to hit a home run with each issue. Demanding big results every time is a short-term perspective that’s unrealistic.
Sending newsletters is all about value and consistency. You must take a long-term perspective. I like to call it the “Velvet-Hammer Approach,” which is a process of constantly “hammering” people with “velvety” blows of advice, entertainment, or inspiration. As you softly hammer away at people using newsletters, you begin to make an impression over time. The result is people calling in the future saying, “I’m convinced of your value and I’m ready to buy.”
If newsletters don’t seem to work for you, check the quality of your “Velvet Hammer.” For instance, if you send newsletters once a month or once a quarter, you’re not hammering enough. You’re too infrequent and people will forget you exist. Worse, if you send newsletter articles that people don’t consider relevant and interesting, then your recipients will ignore future issues. It’s like a hammer missing the target.
Every organization, no matter how large or small, needs an efficient, inexpensive way to attract future business. Newsletters may not seem sexy because they don’t usually produce instant results. But, sending newsletters consistently is like securing customers for the upcoming year. People may not respond immediately, but they will come. When they do, you’ll be glad you kept softly hammering away time after time.
Not sure how to create a good newsletter? Read my popular free article:
8 Elements of Effective Newsletters
Newsletter image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
