Marketing Secret #65 Direct Response Newsletters

First of all, you should be sending out some form of correspondence to all of your clients/leads and any other people you want to connect with repeatedly. This is about building relationship and providing insightful information. You benefit, and eventually, we get more business and recommendations from you.

That secret not only applies to you, but your database, as well. They need to get regular communication from you to keep learning why they should start and/or continue to do business with you.

IF you are going to send out newsletters, a big mistake, in my opinion, is to buy most “pre-done” newsletter. There are many of those out there. The biggest problem with them, is that they're either:

• Very “professional”, creating no interest, and/or
• They talk about a topic in a way you don’t agree with, or
• They are ridiculously wasteful and filled with worn out clichés.

There are many options to improve your 'image' or to 'get your name out there', through direct response communication. It can be very simple, AND very effective. So here are a few tips for your to consider:

• KISS - Keep it Simple Silly - If you get bored with it, so will the reader
• Conversational is best - write as if you are talking over coffee
• Personalise where possible - include 'feel-good' stories, about your staff or customer stories
• Be industry relevant - if you are going to share industry news make sure it fits with your opinion or view

Your content could include information about Client Dinners (Secret #75), Client Appreciation Day and Client of the Month  (Secret #76), or recommendations. It most certainly should contain testimonials (Secret #80)!

In other words, it should…no, must…be designed to stimulate people to take some sort of action that you want them to take.

But, whatever you do, do not lose sight of the fact that newsletters are a waste of time if they don’t get you more clients! Why should you offer them, if the end result isn’t more clients and more recommendations?

And, another thing. Your newsletter must go out each and every month! If you don’t keep a relationship up with prospects,  or clients, and outside professionals, you’re missing a tonne of business! Notice I didn’t say, “once in a while”. I said each and every month!

Let’s look at a brief example of something you could include that won’t bore people to death:

Remember that next week is our quarterly Client Dinner at the Novotel. Don’t forget that we will be having a drawing for a $500 travel voucher for any clients who come with a guest, and another $500 voucher for the guest of the winner! Please call to make your reservations!

The Client of the Month awards is going out to Bill and Sue Shillen. Bill and Sue have won a FREE night out with two of their friends to go to dinner at Nick’s and then to see the Symphony! As you may know, the Client of the Month award goes to the clients who qualify by answering our monthly quizzes and other activities. Let’s hear from you, and see if you will be the next Client of the Month!

Congratulations to Sam and Mary Smith! They had a beautiful baby boy named…

I don’t see many business people turning a newsletter into business, which is the only reason to do one! Now, people may appreciate your insight, and if you want to incorporate that kind of news, that’s fine. Just don’t leave out the direct response stuff!

Here’s another example of something that gets responses, instead of just “name recognition”:

Here are the new clients who became members from the company’s recommendation network this past month! We’d like to welcome you publicly and wish you all the best!

Name of member (Referred by…Thanks!)

We love giving recognition to our new friends and our wonderful existing clients who are kind enough to refer their friends and relatives to us! We’re all helping each other, which is the whole point of all this! Right?

Make sense? Good. Now, go out and start your own newsletter today! If you’re a one-person shop with only 22 clients for now, don’t let me hear how you don’t have enough people to do this for! Each client doesn’t know that their copy is going to only a few other people!

All I can say to sum up is that mostly all of the highest earners in any field is a powerful direct response newsletter once a month! It’s not a coincidence, either! Think about this.

Also, don’t forget with online platforms and email, that sending out direct response newsletters can be done online either as an addition to, or a replacement of, a printed newsletter! 

The cost of using your website as a newsletter distributor can be way, way cheaper than printing and snail mailing your piece.

Plus, you can get away with more frequent communication with an online newsletter! We have some we send out weekly and you could even send a message daily (refer marketing secret#95).

The key is that newsletters, done properly and written in the style we’re teaching you can be one of the biggest Profit making items you ever do!

I’ve had a couple of businesses that weren’t able to get new customers at a cost that was affordable, but because of the monthly direct response newsletters, either offline, or online, or both…I was able to make money from the existing customer base for a long time!

Most people miss this one, and don’t understand the importance of communication in an emotional, direct response way to your existing patrons!

In fact, less than 1% of all businesses send out newsletters that mean something to the recipients, that they actually look forward to getting, that they drop everything they’re doing when your message comes across their desk!

But, these same businesses are the ones that kick every one of their competitor’s butts!

See, many people are too lazy, too unmotivated, too unaware, too whatever, to send out a regular, interesting and emotionally impacting newsletter to their customers.

Others feel that they are intruding and bugging their customers by communicating information and making additional offers in each piece sent out. That they are too “pushy” if they do this.

Either way, I couldn’t feel stronger about anything, and disagree with these non-communication approaches.

See, just like Glenn Close told Michael Douglas in “Fatal Attraction” when she was mad at him and said, “I will not be ignored!" your customers feel the same way!

They may not come at you with a butcher knife when you ignore them, but they certainly don’t like being ignored any more than she did in the movie. If you don’t communicate with them, you are ignoring them, and thus, causing the exact thing you wrongly think is going to happen if you communicate with them!

By ignoring them, and not making constant offers to help them even more than you did when you started with them, you are telling them you don’t care about their continued and ongoing success. You are telling them that you were only interested in making a quick sale and that you don’t value them or their patronage!

No, sending them a well put together newsletter is not bugging them. It is the glue that will hold your relationship with them together for years and years to come!

If need help with your monthy newsletter or your marketing message feel free to reach out to us at admin@yourmarketingmachines.com.au or book a 15 minute no-obligation call with one of the team.