One of the easiest and most cost effective ways a solo entrepreneur can stay in touch with clients and contacts is with an e-mail newsletter. E-mail is a convenient, reliable method of getting your marketing message out there.
I think the worst one I’ve received lately was a blatant sales pitch to everyone in a networking group from a personal e-mail address AND all the recepient’s e-mail addresses were displayed. This is someone I’ve met, so I sent a gentle e-mail explaining how to use bcc with a link to an article on e-mail newsletters.
Your newsletter should present the same professional image as your other marketing materials and use consistent colours and graphics.
The first consideration is your message. Your content has to be interesting enough that the recipients will read it. What’s your are of expertise? What’s new in the industry? What tips can you give that will help them in their business?
I like to keep the newsletters short, no more than three main points in the article. No matter how riveting the topic, I lose focus after about 5 minutes reading an e-mail.
In my newsletter, Tips From the Technology Coach, I give recipients tips that help them to use their computer more efficiently.
My last newsletter explained what Microsoft Service Packs are and why it’s important to keep your system updated and I’ve recently added a "green computing" tip. The feedback from these basic computer tips has been positive and several people have commented on a particular topic they enjoyed.
I’m now known as the person to go to with questions about new technology and I’m able to keep in touch with my clients and contacts.
For the next several blog posts, I’ll discuss some considerations for your newsletter.
- how often should you distribute your newsletter?
- subscriptions methods
- statistics .. who’se reading? .. who’se clicking?
- spam? Not me …
- adding offers, coupons, and links
- should I hire someone to write it?
- should it be sent from my web mail server?
Do you have an e-mail newsletter? How often do you publish it and how do you measure it’s success?
Bonnie,I don’t have an email newsletter yet. I’m interested in your information and in the answers you get from your readers.
Great post, Bonnie, nice conversational tone, you bring your own experiences in and that’s important to me as a blog reader. I don’t like to be lectured to, and you don’t do that. You give me the important facts, in an easy-to-read fashion.
One thing you didn’t mention, that I’d like to see you address, is the importance/difference/confusion between communicating via a blog or an ezine.
And I’d like to subscribe to your blog via an email subscription form (Feedblitz or Feedburner), please?
Thanks for the great suggestions Patsi. As I was writing the blog it did occur to me that there were similarities between a blog post and an ezine article.
Hi Bonnie,
Greetings from another Seattle resident!
I will be speaking at the SBA WNET on June 20
in Belltown. Come say hi!
Are you a technology coach? A great niche…I’d love to see more about that here.
Hi Bonnie,
Greetings from another Seattle resident!
I will be speaking at the SBA WNET on June 20
in Belltown. Come say hi!
Are you a technology coach? A great niche…I’d love to see more about that here.
Hi Bonnie,
Greetings from another Seattle resident!
I will be speaking at the SBA WNET on June 20
in Belltown. Come say hi!
Are you a technology coach? A great niche…I’d love to see more about that here.
Hi Bonnie,
I just set up a blog recently, and was just talking to my business coach today about starting an ezine, so the timing of me reading this is perfect. (I have just very recently started an online business.) I’m looking forward to future posts!
Hi Bonnie,
Great post! I love your breezy, conversational style. Good content, too. I enjoyed reading it very much. Can I subscribe to your email newsletter “Tips from the Technology Coach”? Sounds like something that would be very useful. I really need a tech coach!
Looking forward to reading more.
Thanks for the kind words and the request to subscribe to my ezine Cheryl
I’ve put a subscription box on the blog for my ezine “Tips from the Technology Coach” Welcome and I hope you find the tips helpful.
Bonnie