December Poll Results :: January
Poll Question :: Client Spotlight - NW
HR Strategies :: The January Grey Matter
December Poll Results : If given to you by a vendor, what promotional
item are you most likely to use?: (67 responses) :
7% - Magnet
17% - T-shirt
28% - Pen
38% - Notebook/Notepad
10% - Mug/Water Bottle
Answer this month's poll question : When
searching for a local/regional business or service, how do you most
often your enter your search term?
NW HR Strategies
Working with the right human resources consultant to grow your business – one
who understands employment issues and policy - will not only enable you
to run your business more smoothly and avoid compliance issues, but it
will empower you to secure your future and focus on growing your business
and realizing your vision for it.
NW Human Resources Strategies (NWHR) has all the expertise and tools
you’ll need to tackle all of your human resource issues. And NWHR’s
CHART™ Toolkit is the ideal HR solution for emerging to medium
sized businesses... READ MORE
The Socialized Newsletter :: A Better Way to Engage
Your Audience
By Drew Zagorski
January 2010
Click
Here for printable PDF Version.
When you ask someone, "Is it OK if I add you to my newsletter list?," odds
are it's a 50-50 proposition whether they take you up on your offer.
On the other hand, if you're a client of a business or consultant and
you receive their newsletter as part of their extended service to you,
it's a virtual certainty that, while you may not open the email often,
you won't opt out. Because of this, e-mail newsletters are a great tool
to reach and stay in touch with your audience.
From where I sit, I believe there is a right way and a, well, not so
right way to produce and deliver an email newsletter. First, let me say
that any tool you have that will keep you in front of your audience on
a regular basis is a worthwhile pursuit. So, whether you have a newsletter
that goes out via snail mail or your into the online thing, you're doing
something good for your business. Now…
When you're going to commit to a newsletter or blog, think about how
you can leverage it to:
- Position you as a thought leader
- Remain in front of your audience
- Drive traffic to your web site
- Enhance your relevance in search engines
- Increase your presence in the social network space
- Promote not only your business but the businesses of the people who
you do business with
- Oh yeah, and you can present offers to drive sales
Position you as a thought leader
Don't use your newsletter as a coupon delivery system. Yes, you can
place offers in the newsletter, but above all else, be relevant and offer
something of value beyond a discount on goods and services. Provide
an article in each issue that offers useful advice or information to
your subscribers. Make the newsletter or blog about them, not your
platform for talking about the fact you've been in business for X years
and highlighting your service offerings. You don't need to sweat writing
an article each time either. Find an article online and use it, but
be sure there are no 'by permission only' statements on it and do not
forget to reference the source of the article. When you deliver this
type of content, over time, your audience will begin to think of you
as a 'go to' expert.
Remain in front of your audience
Don't go into your newsletter or blog thinking that you'll measure its
success based on how many people actually open and read it. That's
not the real value here. The real value is in the fact that once a
month (or however often you're going to publish) the people on your
list will see your business' name in their inbox. You're etching yourself
on their brains. And by the way, when you'll likely be pleasantly surprised
by how many people actually do open and click through (see the section
below on driving traffic) to your web site. Why? You're a trusted source
because the audience knows you and has some past experience with you.
On this note, do not buy an email list and begin sending to total strangers.
Sure you may get a lead or two out of it, but you're more likely to
be reported as a spammer.
Drive traffic to your website
A big opportunity is missed in emailed newsletters when the entire contents
of the newsletter is contained in the email. And it can be an issue.
First, the opportunity… Create a newsletter section on your
web site where you can place the full contents of the newsletter. Place
only a teaser with a "Read More" link in the newsletter.
This way, you'll be able to see who clicks through and get a gauge
on the issues that are important to your audience. Also, when the reader
comes to your site, they may navigate around it to learn more about
what you do and offer. Traffic to a web site is a beautiful thing.
One other thing you can do is to create a printable version of your
newsletter that people can download from your site. Sometimes, when
printing a web page, type may run off the edge, so the article may
not be very readable. Plus, with a print version, you can also include
offers and other information.
Enhance your relevance in search engines
Each time you send out a newsletter and create that new page on your
web site, you're adding content. Be sure that you optimize the page
well and present content that's relevant to what you do, even if only
tangentially so. The more content you present to search engines, the
better off you'll be. If you're blogging, be sure you use all the tools
available to you to optimize your piece, from titles, to excerpts,
to keyword and categories.
Increase your presence in the social network space
Whenever you send out a newsletter or put up a new post, be sure that
you ping the social networks you belong to. And be sure to include
a link to the article on your web site. If the site has a long URL,
you can use bit.ly (http://bit.ly/) to shorten it - this is a very
slick tool created exclusively for social networking. As services like
twitter limit the number of characters you can place in a tweet, this
tool allows you enough room to put some context ahead of the link.
Every time you send one of these pings out via a social network, it
will be picked up by search engines. Another idea is to do a talking
head video, where you present the topic, and post it to YouTube.
Promote not only your business but the businesses of the people who
you do business with
A bit of goodwill goes a long way. Put in a "Someone you should
know" type plug for one of your business partners or clients. If
they're successful, so are you!
Oh yeah, and you can present offers to drive sales
Keep your coupons or offers in their place by presenting them at the
end of the email or in a side channel. If your audience sees only the
offer and it dominates the top of your newsletter, they may never go
any further, and worse, they may unsubscribe because the perception
is that you're only blasting them with sales offers.
So, what to use? My personal favorite is Vertical Response, for its
ease of use. It has a much easier editor that allows you to edit all
the content in one place. Constant Contact requires you to open each
article separately to edit it.
If you're doing a newsletter or blogging, keep it up! If you're not
using these tips to help extend its reach, make the commitment to implementing
them as soon as you can. If you're not doing either, you're missing a
huge opportunity to grow awareness of yourself and your business!
Drew Zagorski is the Principal of LeftBrainRightBrain
Marketing. You can reach him at drew@lbrbmarketing.com.
LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing © Copyright 2010. All rights reserved
Call LeftBrainRightBrain
today at 503.629.8674 and do the logically creative thing to move your
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