Newsletters have long been one of the communication tools of choice for decades. While social media has dominated the marketing world for the past few years, newsletters, printed or digital, continue to serve a vital marketing and public relations role as a preferred communications tool. Newsletters work, regardless of the size or type of company.
Just visit newsletteraccess.com to see a list of over 9,500 newsletter subscriptions for every imaginable topic. Interested in signing up for newsletters on any topic related to women’s health and other issues, visit ivillage.com for another of example of how powerful newsletters can be in promotion and public relations.
Benefits of Using ompany Newsletters
There are 8 major benefits to using newsletters to promote a business including:
- Presenting a professional image.
- Ramping up customer or client communications.
- Targeting customers directly through newsletter mailings or email campaigns.
- Growing your business through referrals.
- Lowering marketing costs.
- With digital newsletters, getting faster feedback from customers.
- Also with digital, tracking clicks, opens, etc. acts as a measurement tool.
- Using social media to distribute newsletter or open up chats about items in the
newsletter.
Professional Image and Customer Communications
Newsletters serve as a tool to project a positive, professional image both inside and outside of the company through the use of technical articles, support tips and other industry specific news and advice. Distributing a newsletter allows the company to drop some of the promotional language and talk instead as an industry expert.
While customer communications are enhanced both through the inclusion of expert articles and through the ability to communicate professionally, the writing can be more open, friendly and
candid. Companies can include fun and exciting news about the company or the people in the company, share best practices, include statistics in a fun manner or highlight growth among a slew of other topics.
Targeting Customers and Growing through Referrals
Newsletters continue to be directly targeted to a company’s customer base and potential customers through the target market. Be it printed or digitally distributed, newsletters can be a mass communications tool that is directed at a particular audience. Sending a healthcare newsletter to several hundred or thousands of persons aged 55 or over, is a good example of a mass mailing that is directed at a specific market.
When writing as an expert and not as a promoter, newsletters garner referrals. People read the expert articles and call or stop in for more information. Keep the articles short and to the point making it them more attractive to readers.
Lower Marketing Costs with Digital Newsletters
Newsletters can be distributed through printed copies or through digital using e-mail or offering on company Web sites. Digital distribution does save printing and mailing costs. While distributing only through mail can be expensive, the best distribution plan includes a combination of digital and printed copies.
Newsletters as Measurement Tools
One distinct advantage to distributing newsletters digitally, is the ability to easily track who clicks on the newsletters, who reads them or who deletes them. Effectiveness can also be tracked through printed copies by including a coupon or an offer coded to the newsletter.
Newsletters Can Be Fun to Produce
Once a newsletter is started, those involved with the company start to help with articles, photos, topics and distribution. Once again, keep the writing accurate, and professional but also light and informative and you’ll soon see lots of people in the company having fun trying to get their own content or content about their contribution to the company in the newsletter.
