Maximize
Your Newsletter's Impact by Using a Variety of Marketing Tools
If you produce an external newsletter, you already know how it helps you achieve
your communications and marketing goals. Your newsletter fosters a sense
of stability and commitment among your current and prospective customers,
and provides them with timely and helpful information.
Of course, the long-term success of your publication (and company)
usually depends on your ability to establish and maintain your
presence through other marketing
and communications means (including radio, television, and newspaper). Still,
your newsletter represents a valuable supporting element of your overall sales
and marketing strategy.
Tying in your newsletter with other collateral materials serves several
other often-overlooked sales and marketing functions. This practice:
•
Increases name or product recognition,
•
Enhances your image as a professional organization,
•
Keeps your organization at the forefront of clients' and customers' consciousness,
and
•
Promotes long-term loyalty. By using a strong media mix, you'll appeal to a broader
range of potential new customers. You can choose from a wide variety of supplementary
materials. Some will complement your newsletter's role as sales tool. Others
will prove equally effective on their own.
All should help you bolster your company's image and achieve your
marketing goals.
Brochures
Brochures that showcase a particular product or service are powerful
marketing tools that will increase the value and recognition of the
product, while
reinforcing the value of your company and its capabilities. Depending
on your industry,
a brochure can also help you create or maintain consistency with the
messages you're
sending to clients and customers.
For example, a car dealership can benefit greatly by producing a
newsletter to highlight the benefits of buying its cars, and
how the dealership
would work
with customers before, during, and after the sale. Supplementary
brochures could then provide details on specific product information
and model
specifications. Such an approach will help cultivate a more personal
ongoing relationship
between the dealership and buyers.
Seminars
In-house seminars can serve as a low-cost mechanism for delivering
important information to clients and prospects. Start by determining
(via your
customer service or sales staff) areas of particular interest and/or
concern to
existing or potential customers or clients that would make interesting
and informative
seminar topics.
Next, evaluate your in-house resources. This includes the staff member(s)
best suited to lead the seminar, slides, and any other materials
that will provide
seminar attendees with the best knowledge. You might also consider
inviting guest presenters from a non-competitive vendor.
After establishing these criteria, determine how much time you'll
need (usually a half-day or one work day) and solicit attendees
from six
weeks to two months
in advance, perhaps via a notice in your newsletter.
It's crucial to remember that, while a seminar can act as an invaluable
tool for establishing yourself as an expert (and perhaps generating
new business),
it only benefits you as much as the knowledge you provide benefits
attendees. In other words, don't hold a seminar just for the
sake of doing so — make
sure it will be worth attendees' time.
Web Site
While not specifically a marketing tool, web sites have become
important sales and marketing resources. Your web site gives
many users their
first look at
your company and its products or services. Your site also gives
many customers their
first impression of your company. As more and more companies
get a site, their competitors (which may include you) must
make sure
their
own sites
are current
and informative.
A web site is also an ideal tie-in tool for your newsletter.
By putting your newsletter on your site, you'll give the
newsletter a geographically
boundless
base of readers. Thus, you'll increase your newsletter's
strength as a marketing tool.
And the reverse also applies: To get more "hits," put your web site
address in your newsletter. This could compel your readers to check out your
site and learn more about your company's history, products, and services.
Company Folder/Catalog
This tool can often put your company above the competition
by providing a detailed description of your products
and/or services.
You could
include detailed paragraphs
or pages for prospects, and more personalized information
for existing clients
who might not be aware of some of your capabilities.
Taking the time to showcase your products in this manner will
also show
clients and
customers that your
company takes great pride in its services and products.
Business Reply Cards (BRCs)
BRCs usually serve as response mechanisms. From a marketing
standpoint, reply cards serve another important function:
If they're strategically
designed,
BRCs can serve as a graphic reinforcement of your company's
message or product — again,
increasing name recognition. They'll also help you capture reader input and other
valuable information that will help you improve your newsletter and mailing list.
In today's highly competitive marketplace, you must
look beyond traditional marketing methods and provide
customers
with a
variety of materials
to maximize your success
and response level. Carefully executed newsletters,
brochures, seminars, folders, web sites, and BRCs
will generate
business and help you
maintain your presence
in an ever-changing business world.
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