It's hard to imagine a more effective and efficient business tool than an online, email newsletter. What other marketing tool fits this description:
- An email newsletter is free (no postage, no envelopes, no printing costs),
- Because subscribers must opt-in, your newsletter reaches the people who want to hear your content,
- A newsletter can be set up on auto pilot so it requires relatively little time and effort,
- It builds a strong bond between you and your subscribers,
- It keeps you on your prospects' mental radar until they are ready to buy from you,
- It educates your subscribers in small, easy to digest "bytes,"
- It gradually converts strangers into friends and friends into buyers (to quote Seth Godin, author of Permission Marketing), and
- It positions you as an expert in your field.
Since I've already mentioned Seth Godin's book, "Permission Marketing," let me use his own words to explain why this works:
“Interruption Marketing fails because it is unable to get enough attention from consumers. Permission Marketing works by taking advantage of the same problem – there just isn’t enough attention to go around.”
With that said, let me share one of my favorite e-newsletters. Every week, Marcia Yudkin sends out her Marketing Minute, a brief but very informative "morsel" of useful marketing wisdom.
By way of example, here is the Marketing Minute I received last week about why a marketing plan can make such a huge difference for any business:
A Plan Cuts Suffering
Years ago, psychologist Neil Fiore led a support group for graduate students making little or no progress on their dissertations.
To his surprise, these strugglers worked many more hours than those who finished their writing projects on time.
The strugglers put friends, recreation and enjoyment on hold. They suffered, constantly busy without accomplishing much.
The successful students worked, but only up to a point. Then they played. By not waiting to play until they'd finished their years-long project, Fiore points out, they felt better, stayed on track and got more done.
While a 200+ page dissertation can seem endless, marketing has no finish line at all. No wonder so many business people work and work at it without feeling they're getting anywhere.
A marketing plan structures your efforts. It lays out what to do and what not to do, then lets you put your energy elsewhere with a clear conscience.
Feeling overwhelmed? Create a clear, limited list of which tasks to do when. That's really all a marketing plan is.
With a realistic plan, you have less frazzle and less fizzle.
Notice that Marcia does not waste your time. She fulfills her promise to take no more than a minute of your time. If you'd like to subscribe to the Marketing Minute, you can subscribe here: http://www.yudkin.com/markmin.htm
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COPYRIGHT © 2009, Charles Brown
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