As a small business owner, a lot of responsibilities fall on you. Sometimes, you are the only person working full-time in your organization. It's overwhelming to manage all the moving parts that are associated with running a business. Between overseeing your product, processing, ordering, dealing with customer feedback, and making sure you get paid, things like marketing and sales can fall through the cracks.
Once you do actually sit down to craft a marketing strategy, it's a staggering job to consider the various tactics and options available to you. Since you will most likely be running your marketing yourself, it’s important to keep it simple. You need a basic but impactful process that keeps your current and potential customers up-to-date with what you are doing and the value that you offer.
A weekly newsletter is a proven marketing tool that helps keep your brand top-of-mind with your target audience. You can utilize a free service such as Mailchimp to create a basic template to get started. When used correctly, it allows you to engage with your public without directly selling to them. It is an option that helps you communicate with your customers at the same time as you work on other parts of your business. Here are five ways a newsletter can help you grow your brand and increase your sales.
#1 - Provide Free Educational Value
Once you create your template it may be tempting to go straight into sales mode. You may want to fill your page with different product lists and pitches as to why they should buy your product. However, if you do this, you will turn off a solid part of your distribution list. Consumers are conditioned to expect free, educational, and engaging information when it comes to newsletters or social media.
Before you launch your newsletter, create a list of 10 things your customers should know, but probably don’t, about your company, industry, or products. This is an ideal task to delegate to a virtual assistant so you can focus your energy on bigger things. Once you have created your list, be sure to include at least one “fun fact” for your reader to enjoy. This is also where you will include content you create such as blog posts or case studies.
#2 - Tell Your Brand Story
People buy brands and personal stories more than they buy actual products. What we mean by that is if a consumer has to choose between you and a competitor, they will choose you if they like your story and what you stand for. If you are going to be reaching out to your customers every week, take this time to educate them on why your brand is unique.
Each newsletter should include a section that educates the customer about your brand. You can start with why you started your company and include things like who inspires you and what type of impact you want to make on the market. This is also where you can highlight members of your team or recall company milestones or events that contributed to your organization and its current state.
#3 - Provide Special Discounts
As much as people love learning about your brand, they also love a good deal. If someone is taking the time to read your newsletter each week, they should be rewarded. Once your reader realizes that your messages include special discounts, they will be more inclined to open them. Plus, if you make it a point to mention they are only for readers of the newsletter, this will make them feel especially appreciated.
The discount you give your newsletter readers should not be shared with anyone else. This includes your website or on social media. Also, remember your audience when choosing what discount to provide. Your readers are most likely current customers and therefore may already own your more popular products. This is a chance to motivate them to purchase a lesser known item they never knew they needed. Lastly, make sure to keep track of how many people are using the discount code to gauge its popularity.
#4 - Highlight Products
After you have provided educational and entertaining content and rewarded your reader base, you can move onto selling. However, it is not enough to simply encourage people to visit your website or buy the more popular products. You must be strategic about it. As we mentioned before, you probably have products that are not selling as well as you would like. This is most likely because your customer base does not know they exist. You can change this by highlighting one or two products each week and combining them with the aforementioned discount.
When highlighting products, be sure to include more than just the standard description. Whenever possible, include real customer reviews that will impress your readers. No type of marketing is more valuable than one customer telling another about how great your products are. You can also use case studies to showcase how your product or service helped a customer or solved a major problem. For example, if your company does landscaping, you can tell the story of the new homeowner whose lawn was a mess that you were able to make look like new.
#5 - Make Special Announcements
Sending out a weekly newsletter increases your visibility and credibility among your audience. It also conditions them to expect emails from you. They will open those messages because they know they contain valuable content. Once you have gained that trust, you can occasionally send out additional emails outside of your weekly newsletter. These are reserved for special and major announcements that are important enough to be made on their own.
The most common special announcement you can make is the launch of a product. You can make your entire newsletter about this one product including pictures, descriptions, and special discounts for those who are the first ones to buy it. You can also write a special blog post talking about the types of issues your new product solves. The second type of announcement you can make is for an upcoming event either online or in-person. The reader is more likely to register for this event if it is the only topic being presented to them.
Conclusion
Harness the potential of newsletters to cultivate a loyal customer base and foster brand growth. By providing valuable content, sharing your brand story, offering exclusive discounts, highlighting products, and making special announcements, you can effectively connect with your audience and drive meaningful results for your business. Embrace the power of newsletters as a versatile tool to nurture customer relationships and elevate your brand's presence in the market.
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