How to Grow Your Small Business with a Killer Client Newsletter

Have you ever had a friend who would only talk to you if you
called first? Eventually it gets old, and you look for someone
who will pay a little more attention to you.

Your clients are the same way. If you only pay attention to your
clients when they approach and buy from you, they will jump ship
when a competitor begins to appreciate and pay more attention to
them.

Frequent communication with your clients is one of the three
fastest ways to grow your business, keep clients loyal, stop
commodity-pricing dead in its tracks and produce all the
referrals you can handle. A response-driven newsletter is the
best way to do it.

Businesses who try newsletters often get heartbreaking results.
Simply pushing your business in front of your clients repeatedly
will not make them fall in love with you, but a newsletter
designed to build a personal relationship will.

B

How can you create a great client newsletter?

You could choose from over two dozen key elements. My “must know
and include” list is the rest of this article.

• Deliver your newsletter frequently. Every month you ignore
  your clients, the value of the relationship drops by 10%. In
  other words, a client who has not heard from you in 12 months is
  barely a better referral or repeat business source than a random
  name plucked from the phone book. For results you can take to
  the bank, send your newsletter at least once a month.
• How should you deliver your newsletter? E-mail newsletters
  are acceptable, but print newsletters will really stand out.
  While people do not like junk mail, they will welcome an
  entertaining personal and newsletter written by someone they are
  getting to know. Use a real, live stamp and address the envelope
  specifically to your client. Nothing screams “throw me away”
  more than bulk mail indicia on an envelope block-addressed to
  “recipient.”
• Make it personal. “I feel like I’m a number to them, like
  they don’t really care,” is a common complaint about doing
  business with big companies. Yet many small businesses go out of
  their way to copy the same empty corporate-speak. Powerful
  newsletters are personal. Your clients should feel like they are
  sitting across from you, sipping a cup of coffee, as you let
  them in on the skinny. They discover more than just the next big
  widget you’ll be carrying, they learn a little about you, the
  person, as well.
• Introduce your newsletter each month. A short, personal
  introduction should kick off each newsletter. The same person
  should write it each month and sign it like a letter. Include a
  picture to make it more personal, and tell your readers what
  they are going to get out of this issue of your newsletter.
• Recognize happy clients. People are starved for recognition.
  Take a picture of you or your staff with a “client of the
  month.” Tell how you helped them, and let the client, in their
  own words, explain how thrilled they are with your product or
  service.
• Highlight your referral program. Remind your readers that
  you appreciate and reward referrals. (You do have a referral
  rewards program, right?) Tell them how to refer business to you,
  and what they will get in return.
• Give special recognition to people who referred last month.
  Make a big deal of thanking the people who referred to you over
  the last month. Mention the gifts they got, and get other
  readers thinking about how they would like to a) get a gift and
  b) be featured and appreciated in your newsletter.
• Introduce new employees. Has someone new joined your staff?
  Take a snapshot, introduce them to your clients, and tell them
  how this addition will make them even happier clients of your
  business.
• Make offers. The core purpose of your newsletter, like all
  marketing pieces, is to produce a response that leads to a sale.
  Present at least one offer in every newsletter. Your offers can
  relate to the time of year (“a spring spyware- cleaning
  special”), a new product or service just released (“preferred
  client prelaunch special”), or even a personal event (“my son
  graduated from college this month, and, to celebrate, you can
  take an extra 10% off our ‘back-to-school special’ computer
  systems).The final tip is most important of all.
• Waiting for perfection is a certain way to fail. It is more
  important to get your newsletter in the mail than it is to
  perfect it. You build a business by interacting with the
  prospects and clients in your market. Get it done consistently
  for three months. Each month will get easier and better, and you
  will be amazed at the results.

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Michael Cage posts weekly local small business marketing advice
at Entrepreneurs Life

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