Newsletter Marketing: The 2 Most Common Newsletter Mistakes Made Before You Print Your First Edition
Marketing your business with a customer newsletter can be a gigantic 'difference maker' in your business.
However if you jump in before you are properly prepared can mean that you have an unmittigated disaster on your hands.
Be sure that you don't make either of these mistakes.
Mistake #1: Not being in it for the long haul.
A lot of business owners naively judge the long term success of their newsletter on the results of their first few editions.
This is kind of like being disappointed because you didn't get laid on the first date.
They get frustrated and are unwilling to stick with the date or the newsletter and never reach the end result.
Solution:Good things take time.
Building up relationships with your newsletter is the same.
You need to be willing to commit upfront to at least doing twelve monthly issues.
It is the minimum you'd want to try before you judge your newsletter a success or a failure.
You are more likely to get a positive results for your newsletter if you mail your newsletter to your 'A' prospects for 12 months than your 'A' and 'B' prospects for 6 months or your entire list for 3 months.
To give you an example I interviewed someone who has been doing a newsletter for over seven years now and he said that it took time to build his customer base into raving fans but it has been a worthwhile investment.
When he started his newsletter he was getting a handful of referrals a month.
Seven years on he is getting around 50 referrals a month.
And his referral rate has increased every year.
Mistake #2: Not Publishing Your Newsletter Monthly.
A lot of business owners who do start a newsletter want the results of publishing a newsletter every month but are only willing to publish their newsletter bi-monthly or quarterly.
Many that do start publishing monthly hit a wall somewhere along the line and end up missing issues - ruining the effectiveness of their newsletter.
Solution: Everyone who has been doing a newsletter for any length of time will tell you - you get your best results publishing it monthly.
It shows up like their favourite magazine and helps you stay front of mind, maximising your chances of referrals and repeat business.
The first solution is to be prepared and make time to write and design your newsletter.
Writing can be intimidating for many people.
So put together a file of ideas that you can write about in your newsletter.
That way, when you sit down to write your newsletter, you aren't staring at the proverbial 'blank page.
' Failing that I'd recommend outsourcing - because a good newsletter every month is better that a great newsletter done irregularly.
As your newsletter list gets larger you might want to outsource the printing and fulfilment to someone who specialises in newsletter printing understands that your newsletter needs to be out on time each month and can help you do just that.
Now you can improve the time it takes to create a newsletter and you'll be able to get far better results from your newsletter in a realistic timeframe.
However if you jump in before you are properly prepared can mean that you have an unmittigated disaster on your hands.
Be sure that you don't make either of these mistakes.
Mistake #1: Not being in it for the long haul.
A lot of business owners naively judge the long term success of their newsletter on the results of their first few editions.
This is kind of like being disappointed because you didn't get laid on the first date.
They get frustrated and are unwilling to stick with the date or the newsletter and never reach the end result.
Solution:Good things take time.
Building up relationships with your newsletter is the same.
You need to be willing to commit upfront to at least doing twelve monthly issues.
It is the minimum you'd want to try before you judge your newsletter a success or a failure.
You are more likely to get a positive results for your newsletter if you mail your newsletter to your 'A' prospects for 12 months than your 'A' and 'B' prospects for 6 months or your entire list for 3 months.
To give you an example I interviewed someone who has been doing a newsletter for over seven years now and he said that it took time to build his customer base into raving fans but it has been a worthwhile investment.
When he started his newsletter he was getting a handful of referrals a month.
Seven years on he is getting around 50 referrals a month.
And his referral rate has increased every year.
Mistake #2: Not Publishing Your Newsletter Monthly.
A lot of business owners who do start a newsletter want the results of publishing a newsletter every month but are only willing to publish their newsletter bi-monthly or quarterly.
Many that do start publishing monthly hit a wall somewhere along the line and end up missing issues - ruining the effectiveness of their newsletter.
Solution: Everyone who has been doing a newsletter for any length of time will tell you - you get your best results publishing it monthly.
It shows up like their favourite magazine and helps you stay front of mind, maximising your chances of referrals and repeat business.
The first solution is to be prepared and make time to write and design your newsletter.
Writing can be intimidating for many people.
So put together a file of ideas that you can write about in your newsletter.
That way, when you sit down to write your newsletter, you aren't staring at the proverbial 'blank page.
' Failing that I'd recommend outsourcing - because a good newsletter every month is better that a great newsletter done irregularly.
As your newsletter list gets larger you might want to outsource the printing and fulfilment to someone who specialises in newsletter printing understands that your newsletter needs to be out on time each month and can help you do just that.
Now you can improve the time it takes to create a newsletter and you'll be able to get far better results from your newsletter in a realistic timeframe.
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