MARKETING HOW-TO CONTINUED ...
without the relationship aspect the newsletter provides, you’ll cripple every other benefit to the point that, for most readers, it has no value.
There are three factors that will help you increases referrals. 1. CONTENT: Is the content relevant, and does it build relationships? Do people consume it? All of that matters. 2. FREQUENCY: In a perfect world (for me), all of my customers would wake up and want to help me grow my business, but that is not the world we live in. Instead of wishing for that to happen, my goal is to provide value on a regular basis, which is why I recommend monthly print newsletters and weekly email newsletter marketing to make sure you’re in your customers’ thoughts. Of course, the only way a customer is going to be willing to consume all this content is if you’re not boring. You have to build a relationship, and you should help them with their problems and issues. 3. ASK FOR REFERRALS, AND HAVE A GREAT OFFER: One simple rule of getting more referrals is to simply ask. That seems obvious, but few people ever ask. Many times, people don’t ask simply because it feels uncomfortable. One way to bridge that gap is with an amazing offer. One of the most successful marketing campaigns we’ve put together to generate referrals was for a doctor, where he gave away a trip to Disney World for a family of four. Over a seven-month period, we generated 348 new patients who all showed for appointments and paid for services. By having an amazing and exciting offer, the team and doctor didn’t have to simply ask for a referral; they could tell the patients about the contest, instead, and then ask them for the referral. If you’re a small business, you may think you can’t afford a trip to Disney World, but one of the best reasons to offer an amazing referral program with a gift is that you get paid before you typically have to give away the prize. In my above example, this dentist got 348 new paid patients before he had to cut a check for a trip. One big mistake I see people make with a referral campaign is trying to save too much money — they go cheap on the gift and then wonder why it didn’t work. Another rookie small-business mistake is to send a bulk email once and then complain about not getting enough referrals. A simple marketing email isn’t enough to get people to take notice. In my above example, we advertised each month in our print newsletter, sent emails, and promoted the referral contest in-office. Having a killer newsletter marketing strategy that integrates print, email, and social media can easily be a home run for any small business.
Step 3: USE OMNICHANNEL MARKETING WITH OFFERS
You want to make sure you’re sending the same offer that’s in the newsletter in emails, on social media, and via direct mail as well. Combining the powers of these medias will make your efforts much more effective. Step 4: GIVE THE OFFER TIME Newsletter marketing isn’t like social media marketing or email marketing, because the media isn’t consumed the same way. With email, people are just trying to get through the 120-plus emails they get a day. With social media, people are really looking to see what their friends and family are doing and don’t care much about the ads. With a newsletter that is done right, people actually look forward to getting it and set it aside to read when they can focus on it. This means it might linger on their countertop or in their work bag for days, or even weeks, before they have time to consume it … but they inevitably will, and at a rate much higher than digital content. Step 5: ROTATE YOUR OFFERS You can’t show the same offer month in and month out without “offer fatigue.” You need to have multiple offers, and make sure you rotate through them for the best results. If you don’t have multiple offers yet, you’ll have to rest offers periodically, or they will lose all effectiveness. One of my favorite newsletter marketing strategies is to get more referrals using your newsletter. We’ve found that simply sending a newsletter that is personal and filled with useful content will get an increase in word-of-mouth marketing and referrals. This is because you’ll get what we call “pass-around value,” which is where one person reads your article and then hands the newsletter to a friend or family member they feel the article would be useful for. Studies have shown that you only get top-of-mind awareness with customers for a maximum of three days after each no-sales contact with them. Each day after the third, they are thinking less and less about you. This is one reason you should mail monthly and communicate 2-4 times per month at a minimum. It is during this top-of-mind awareness period that you’re most likely to get a referral. Promote and generate new referrals.
Part of your overall marketing strategy must include churn reduction if you want to see real growth, and the single best way to do that is with a print newsletter and using the newsletter marketing techniques we’re talking about here.
Sell more to existing customers.
We just talked about building relationships and reducing churn, but another way to reduce churn is to actually sell more to existing customers. The more lines of business a person does with your company, the less likely they are to churn out. If you use your newsletter marketing campaign to build relationships and then make sure that your customers get a free-standing insert (FSI) with that newsletter that sells your other products and services, you’ll see an increases in sales and referrals but a decrease in churn. Those factors combined equal a nice increase in profits. Below is a simple marketing strategy to make more sales to existing customers. Step 1: REFINE YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY When you’re first starting your newsletter, 100 percent of the content should be focused on readership. Without readership, you have nothing. I recommend that you spend the first three months building up readership of your mailing list. With few exceptions, you simply don’t want to promote anything during the first few months. After the third month, promotions should happen every month, but with the exception of an event or referral campaign, all promos should be done on your FSI (free-standing insert). Do NOT do coupons or other promos directly in the newsletter, and especially not on the back page (the first page they see in a self-mailer). Step 2: MAIL MONTHLY If you can’t mail monthly, you may as well skip the newsletter marketing strategy as a whole. You can’t build a relationship with quarterly communication, and
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