Great Reasons to Market with Newsletters

Great Reasons to Market with Newsletters 

By Frank Marafiote, President
Emerge Communications

With unlimited advertising options and very limited marketing budgets, small businesses have some tough choices to make. Here are ten great reasons why small businesses should consider using newsletters and email newsletters.

1. Increase sales from your current clients. 80 percent of your sales come from the top 20 percent of your clients. A marketing newsletter is an effective way to reach top buyers in a non-intrusive style and inform all clients of any new services your offer.

2. Keep current business coming in. This is the "bathtub" theory. While expanding your customer base -- filling the tub with new clients -- you want to make sure that existing clients don't escape down the drain. A newsletter shows people that you value their business.

3. Add value to your services. In a rapidly changing world, newsletters are a vital part of keeping people up to speed. Make getting the newsletter a prime benefit of using your services from you. Give clients "subscriptions." Place a cover price on the newsletter but send it free to top customers.

4. Lock down your niche. Most businesses survive because they offer specialized products and services not provided elsewhere. A newsletter with specialized content locks in your expertise.

5. Educate prospects. Newsletters work well when people must be educated about your products or services before they will buy from you.

6. Establish expertise and credibility. New companies find newsletters a great way to overcome first-time buyer resistance.

7. Save selling time. People who respond to your newsletter are better informed because they already know more about what you offer than someone coming in from other advertising.

8. Spur word-of-mouth referrals. Newsletters have pass-along value. A good newsletter will be shared with an average of three other people.

9. Network though news. Keep in touch with everyone who can help your business -- your local government, the press, recruits, and peers within a related industry.

10. Draw readers to your web site. A helpful newsletter can do double-duty as content for a web site. Or, the newsletter can advertise additional information available only on your web site, pulling in online traffic.

Frank Marafiote, MBA, is the president of Emerge Communications, a marketing planning and public relations consulting firm located in Gilford, NH. He has more than 25 years experience providing marketing, advertising, and public relations services to small and home-based businesses, non-profit organizations, and large organizations in industries as diverse as health care and financial services. 

Frank is also an adjunct marketing instructor for Southern New Hampshire University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in marketing, advertising, and strategic planning.