As you may or may not know, I advocate the use of print newsletters as a means for connecting with your clients and building a relationship.
However, far too many make the mistake of sending something just for the sake of sending something and miss the purpose of the newsletters altogether.
So, IF you are going to put one together, here are six things to try to include in every edition:
1. ENTERTAINING information.
Sorry, folks, but you’re competing with Netflix and the ENTIRE Internet. At a minimum, the information must be interesting to your readers, so leave out the “How to pick a firewall” if the audience is nontechnical.
2. Articles (arguments?) to support your advocated positions.
An advocated position is your particular stance on a topic. For example, one of my advocated positions is that there is NEVER a “good” reason to stop marketing. Never.
Another: money earned is the ultimate measure of success in marketing – not likes, fans, followers, hashtags, rankings, etc.
Yours might be that cyber security is the responsibility of the C-suite and should not be totally relegated to the IT department. Another may be that technology is a smart investment, not a cost center. You want to know what those advocated positions ARE, and then continually drive them home as often as possible to reinforce your agenda.
3. A BIT of controversy.
Yep, you heard me. But the key is to know what controversies to pick a fight over so you fall on the side of the majority of your clients. The best example of this is Mike Rowe’s posts on Facebook on the topics of Covid and his stance on college educations. I poke the bear similarly, calling out those who are less ambitious to outright lazy about growing their business and not putting in a full effort.
4. Client success stories.
Always, and I do mean ALWAYS, be sure to highlight clients making good decisions and aligning with your advocated positions.
5. Promotions.
While I don’t believe in going too crazy here, you certainly want to throw in a promotion or two that cross-sells other services, fuels referrals or drives attendance to events and/or webinars you’re hosting.
6. Actual company news.
Last but not least, you want to use this as a means for providing your clients with updates on new hires, changes in pricing, products, services, to launch NEW services, welcome new clients and keep them abreast of any additional information you want them to know.
Of course, the big question on everyone’s mind is “Should I do digital or print?” My answer: both.
