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Newsletters
- The Newest Fashion in Marketing in Uncertain Economic Times
Hemlines, So They Say, Go Up and Down With the Stock Market
Just as fashions in dress tend to follow economic trends, so do fashions in marketing.
During boom times when money is sloshing around (like the 1990s), drawing attention
to a company's message is difficult, so marketing tends to be as ostentatious
as are clothing fashions of the time: lavish television advertising, full-page
color ads, and elaborate direct-mail and sales pieces. When the economy tightens
up, however (as it is now and last did in the 1980s), the focus of wise marketers
turns toward guerilla marketing techniques, those strategies that are high-credibility,
inexpensive, close-to-the-customer, and communicate quickly.
Of all the traditional techniques for tighter-times marketing, newsletters
are the most powerful. And, as the steam has been let out of
an overheated economy,
newsletters are again becoming the focus of strategic, cost-effective marketing
campaigns. Newsletters establish credibility, because they're viewed as news
instead of advertising. If they're interactive - as with reader response cards
or in online versions - they also establish a relationship with the reader,
one of the key elements in keeping customers over the long-term.
Newsletters establish you as an expert, because they contain useful
information as well as marketing messages. Just like newspapers
- which, more than ever
in these uncertain times, are turned to for authoritative and in-depth news
and
information - newsletters can inform, entertain, and even contain overt advertising.
As long as the advertising doesn't exceed the 40 to 60 percent threshold
maintained by most newspapers, the perception of the reader will
remain in the "news" realm
and the newsletter will be considered informative rather than overtly advertising-oriented.
Newsletters build brand loyalty because they are read regularly by
your clients and potential clients. They visit the office every
month or every quarter,
and are always new. While people seeing identical ads and flyers over time
tend to
become numb to them, tossing them or turning the page without even reading
them, newsletters - like newspapers - are always perceived as being fresh
and informative.
As the Internet has come to play a progressively more important role
in many companies’ marketing efforts, so too have e-mail and online newsletters.
The key is to use your Web site to invite people to "opt-in" for the
newsletter, rather than simply spamming them. The explosion of opt-in newsletters
all across the Web is a clear testimonial to their effectiveness.
The Newsletter Factory can help you design an opt-in box into the
pages of your Web site and produce regular e-mail newsletters
for your company,
as
well as
provide traditional printed newsletters. As popular a marketing tool
as the Web has become, the lesson of newspapers is that paper will
never go
away
- people
can hang onto your printed newsletter, read it on the train or plane
or at home, and pass it along to colleagues. And combining a printed
version
with
an e-mail
opt-in or Web page newsletter is one of the most powerful techniques
for ensuring the widest possible distribution of your marketing message
at
the lowest cost.
--Thom Hartmann
The author is the founder of The Newsletter Factory, the former CEO
of The American Marketing Center, and a best selling author. You
can opt-in
for
either of his
two e-mail newsletters on his Web site at www.thomhartmann.com.
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