Category: Sales & Marketing

Email newsletters are becoming more and more prevalent these days, and their popularity can be both a plus and a negative. On the positive side, newsletters are easier to create than they were just six months ago. Drag and drop formats, pre-designed templates; it’s so easy to make and distribute them that more and more companies are using newsletters to keep in touch with their customer base – and that’s also the down side. In a sea of newsletters popping up in inboxes, how do you instantly hook your readers’ attention and avoid the dreaded “delete” button?

A good newsletter is ultimately based on four tried and true principles: be interesting and engaging, keep it simple, don’t overwhelm yourself or your readers, and keep your deadlines.

1. Engage and interest

Even though I’m not in the market for a new home, I still look forward to a weekly newsletter from a local real estate company. Several of the homes they have for sale are listed at the bottom of the letter and I usually wind up flipping through them, but the reason I read their publication is because of the headlining story. These features might be about a celebrity home for sale or a house with a storied history, with titles such as “Fired bullets found in Billy the Kid’s ranch home, on the market since 2007” or “Famous bootlegger’s home for sale in Chicago.” Of course, the homes for sale aren’t in their portfolio, but the stories are relevant to their industry and they instantly grab their readers’ interest. And if I ever consider putting my own home up for sale, I’ll definitely be in touch with them because I know their newsletter is being read.

How can you think outside of the box with your company newsletter? Your stories don’t have to be about your specific company or even your immediate industry – how can you hook your readers with an interesting story that builds them up to learn more about your business?

Even if you have a bunch of interesting articles, however, your audience may quickly lose interest if you’re not engaging them in the stories. If the articles are poorly written, uncomfortable to read, or full of loud, obnoxious marketing language, your newsletter is almost as good as deleted – and it’s hard for readers to come back from a bad reading experience.

2. Be engaging

“Being engaging” means drawing your readers in to the story by making them feel like they’re a part of it.Write as though you are holding a conversation. For example, instead of bragging about a new award your company received, tell a little bit about the ceremony itself. Maybe the stuffed peppers were just terrific — include a picture! Think about how you can make your readers feel more involved with your company through both your stories and your tone.

1. Simplify, simplify

This phrase should be old hat if you’re a business owner, but it always bears repeating: keep it simple! Readers don’t want to slog through paragraphs of rambling rhetoric before they get to the point of your story. Keep it concise and keep it simple. A good idea for a section in your newsletter might be a “news bites” section, with little facts about some aspect of your business that readers might think are interesting. For example, if you own a stationary store, you could have a section called “from the blotter” with tips on how to learn simple calligraphy. Or if you have a landscaping company, a section called “dirty business” could advise readers on the best types of fertilizer for popular plants currently in season. Be creative! What interesting information can you share about your business? Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box.

2. Don’t overwhelm yourself

As an entrepreneur, you already know that you’re a strong and ambitious person, but think about setting some of those strong ambitions aside as you build your very first newsletter. While you may want to have sections for anything and everything, remember that these are all sections that you’ll need to keep up with in the future. Additionally, readers don’t want pages and pages of information. Rather, a couple relevant articles, some fun facts, and some interesting information about your company is more than enough to draw in your readers, engage them, and leave them feeling like they not only learned something, but that your company is a good source for that type of information. Remember that you will need to put this together on a regular basis, too, so make sure your newsletter is a comfortable size that you can keep up with. Which leads us to the last point…

3. Keep your deadlines

Even if you have the best stories in the world, readers will lose confidence with you and your company if you can’t keep deadlines. If you schedule your newsletter for release at 5 p.m. every Thursday, make sure you keep it! Regardless of how busy it is at work, always set aside the time to ensure your newsletter will be ready for distribution by a set deadline. This will not only grow the readers’ confidence in you and your reliability, it will grow their confidence in your company.

So the next time you’re working on your newsletter, or building your first one, think about these five basic principles: be interesting, be engaging, keep it simple, don’t overwhelm yourself, and keep your deadlines. If you do, you’ll begin gathering a loyal and expanding readership in no time.

About the Author:

Industry veteran Anita Brady is the President of 123Print.com, a leading provider of high quality customizable items like customizable business cards, letterhead and other materials for small businesses and solo practitioners.

For self-employed professionals and small business owners, it’s essential to periodically assess what is and isn’t working in your business, and then to make the necessary adjustments. Because small businesses often don’t have the flexibility of larger firms, this periodic evaluation is even more important for you than it is for larger companies.

A while ago, I realized it was time for me to evaluate which aspects of my sales and marketing funnels were working and which weren’t. I checked my metrics (which I know sounds scary, but metrics can be easy, I promise), and I found out that there were a few points in my funnels where things weren’t going smoothly, and I noticed a few places where my follow-up wasn’t as strong as it should be. What did these shortcomings mean for me and my business? Fewer clients, and less income. So I made adjustments.

Simply being aware of the ineffective parts of your sales and marketing funnels is the first step. After that, it’s time to implement the simple changes that are needed to help get your business on a better track.

Understanding the shortcomings in your sales and marketing funnels is important, but you still have to be able to get out of your own way. This is hard for many small business owners. It’s difficult to step back and view your own business objectively, to be able to tell yourself that the funnel you’ve worked so hard on isn’t working in some areas. It’s easy to see these shortcomings as personal failures, rather than as chances to learn and get better. What you have to keep in mind is that being honest with yourself and recognizing problems is great in the long run. It enables you to take important action, which will make your business much more profitable.

In my work, I’ve noticed that there are two main reasons why business owners fail to examine and implement changes to their marketing and sales funnels:

• Fear: People fear making mistakes. They fear failure, they fear admitting miscalculations, and they fear the embarrassment that goes along with acknowledging mistakes.
• Lack of know-how: Being confronted with a difficult problem is a huge blow to one’s confidence. Pretending problems don’t exist is much easier than educating yourself (or receiving education) with regard to the tools that can help you improve your business.

Giving in to fear is dangerous for any small business owner. It prevents action, it stops you from trying new ideas, and it prevents you from making necessary changes to your marketing and sales funnels. As a result, business owners who suffer from fear never give themselves the chance to turn their disappointing results into fantastic profits. Fear prevents action, and the ability to take action is the most important character trait of successful people.

Lack of know-how, on the other hand, is relatively easy to overcome. If you can get past your fear, you’re well on your way. All you need is to solicit the aid of mentors and coaches who can help you figure out how to create and analyze your marketing metrics. Working with an expert is one of the most valuable things you can do for your business. After all, it’s important to realize that we can’t know everything. Even the most successful people hire coaches and advisers to help them deal with the difficult complexities of running a business. Investing in outside help is an investment in yourself.

Many modern small business owners have given up on the “old-school” practice of cold calling in favor of “new-school” methods of marketing such as social media outreach. While this can be effective, your company can still benefit from some good old-fashioned smiling and dialing.

There is nothing more important to an entrepreneur than generating new business, establishing contacts, and setting appointments. To effectively generate new business, you must be open to all possibilities, regardless of how uncomfortable they may be. There’s an old saying that goes, “anything worth doing is worth doing right”. You must be serious and dedicated enough to do it right.

When launching a telemarketing or appointment setting campaign, there are a few guidelines to live by:

1. Properly prepare before launching your campaign.

Start by establishing an objective for each individual phone call. Write a script detailing an umbrella view of everything you need to say. If you’re really uncomfortable with the idea of reading off of a script, you should take into consideration an outline as an alternative so the call will sound more natural. Write down what you expect the prospect to say in response to your questions. This will help frame the conversation in your mind and keep you from getting caught off guard.

2. Know that you are a nuisance…and embrace it.

This can be critical when framing your mindset when approaching a campaign. You probably know from experience that business decision makers typically try to avoid telemarketing calls. Instead of deterring you from participating, you should use this knowledge to customize your pitch. Be friendly. Let the prospect know that you are a human, face similar challenges, and are only there to help. The trick is to make your cold call feel like an important consultative experience.

3. Be studious and diligent.

There’s nothing that will turn a prospect off more quickly than an unprepared telemarketer. Take the time to learn your prospect’s business and industry as well as your own. It can be immensely deflating to finally get an interested prospect on the phone, only to be unable to answer his legitimate questions. If you fall into this trap, your prospect will quickly lose respect for you and decide that you aren’t worth speaking to. After all, you are representing your business.

4. Use knowledge to your advantage.

If you’ve taken the time to learn industry terminology and company details, don’t be afraid to share it. Casually incorporate industry lingo into your pitch, and show off the fact that you’ve studied their business! Furthermore, understanding the target company can extend the length of your call and help you establish a deeper relationship.

5. Target the right people.

Part of your research should be to determine who makes the necessary decisions for their business. If you can’t get the decision maker on the phone, let the gatekeeper know that it is a cold call, and have them forward you to the right person’s voicemail. Getting shutdown by a person who doesn’t make decisions can derail your efforts.

About the Author

Adam Shore is a former sales and marketing executive, and currently focuses on small business outsourcing services such as cold calling, telemarketing, and lead generation.

Article Contributed by Danielle

Pinterest is the hottest new social networking platform, and is quickly becoming a great way to connect with friends as well as customers. If you are not familiar with the Pinterest concept, it’s easy. Users can “pin” websites as they browse, which creates a virtual bulletin board of interesting ideas they can share with friends on Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter.

Pinterest is mainly used to gather inspiration such as recipes, craft projects, fashion ideas and even decorating tips. Recipes and projects are a natural choice because when people try something like this, they want to share their successes with friends and family. Fashion ideas are pinned when users find a “must have” garment or just want to build a look book and browse all the pretty clothes. Grandiose home interiors and decorating ideas are popular. People pin thousands of DIY décor tips or photos of impressive homes with high ceilings, unique paintings, pool tables and pools.

So, the question that may come to your mind is, “How can Pinterest be used to promote my business?” Unlike Facebook or Twitter where businesses actively advertise to followers, Pinterest is a bit sneakier. The first way to use Pinterest to your benefit is add a “Pin it” button on your page. This is very similar to adding a “like” or “tweet” button. It encourages your traffic to add your content to their boards. But remember that Pinterest is highly visual, so if you want content to be shared it must have an intriguing picture.

Make your website pin-worthy. This may mean adding additional content. Generally Pinterest users are looking for things they can DO, which is what makes it such an interesting networking tool. By adding dynamic content such as recipes or projects, you are more likely to get pinned, and bring in new people to your website who will check out your preexisting content.

No matter what topic is the focus of your website, from poolside fun to pool tables and beyond, you can likely find a way to make it relevant to the Pinterest community. Don’t be afraid to experiment. If you enjoy the Pinterest network you may wish to become friends with many of your customers and website readers. This way they’ll see when you pin — a great way to encourage repeat visitors. Take time to check out what’s available and learn more about this popular new phenomenon which has web users talking and pinning up a storm.

About the Author

Danielle, who blogs on behalf of Sears and other prestigious brands, found her new favorite recipe (Starbucks Frappuccino Cupcakes) on Pinterest. She was also found by her newest client on Pinterest by pinning photos of her product offerings. Read her work at suitsandladders.co.uk.