Ezine newsletters: brand building secrets
Posted by: Krishna De | Posted on: February 12th, 2007 | 0 Comments | Posted in: Ezines and newletters, Ireland, Marketing online, Writing
Every month I browse thousands of websites as part of my research for my own business and my clients. Less than 3% of professional services firms in Europe offer their website visitors an opportunity to register for a newsletter, ezine (an online newsletter delivered by email) or special report.
Your website is a very valuable marketing tool and if you don’t provide the opportunity for someone to register for your newsletter or ezine, you are effectively missing our on the opportunity to market to potential clients.
Very often professional services firms are hesitant to start a news letter usually for the following reasons:
- It is too expensive – the reallity is that to set up and deliver your news letter over 12 months will mean an investment of less than €400 (US$500)
- They do not have the time – compiling a newsletter can take less than 2 hours every month yes you could reach tens of thousands of people. What other way could you invest 2 hours a month and meet with tens of thousands of prospective new clients?
Put aside these questions, we then get to another obstacle – what do you write about in the ezine?
To determine what to cover in your newsletter two inital steps you can take are to:
- Research your competition - review the newsletters that you receive and those of your competition who have taken the decision to provide their potential clients with a news letter. Consider how they are taking to reinforce their brand through the newsletter. What are the different elements of the newsletter that you believe will add most value to your clients and potential clients?
- Ask your current clients – speak to some of your current clients and ask them what information they would find useful for your to cover in your newletter. What subjects in your field of expertise they find helpful? How often would they like to receive a newsletter from you?
A key mistake that many professional services firm make is to make their newsletter over complicated. This means that it lacks focus and is difficult to follow for your ezine reader. It also does not position you as the expert in your field.
I recently read a newsletter from a coach who covered articles on personal branding, recruitment and job hunting tips, business development tips and technology tips in the sames ezine. Remember that you should be focused in your niche and target market – in your newsletter you need to address the issues that are relevant to them so if you serve different communities and different topics:
- get focused on your content - writing to so many people on so many subjects in your news letter postions you far from being the expert – instead you will be leaving an impression that your newsletter is a collection of unrelated articles and hastly put together
- get focused on your ezine reader - segment your audience of clients and potential clients so that you write your newsletter focused on your ideal client and the challenges and obstacles they face. So for example if you are a recruitment and training company, write one newsletter focused on your corporate clients who are purchasing your services and are interested in market trends and write a second newsletter for the candidates who are interested in job search.
This may mean that you deliver more than one newsletter, but it will ensure that you are positoning yourself as a professional services firm providing relevant information for your clients, reinforcing your brand and positioning your practice as the experts in your field.
Remember that less than 3% of professional services firms in Europe, and less than 1% of professional services firm in Ireland are providing a newsletter to their clients and potential clients.
With these statistics, it is not going to be difficult for you to stand out from the crowd, build your brand and attract more clients through publishing an ezine. So what’s stopping you?
Consider what actions you can take to create and distribute your newsletter in the next 30 days.
