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Use a Newsletter to Stay in Touch With Prospects Effectively

What if I could offer you a marketing plan that does it all? A subtle advertising program that prompts past clients to act on that “next” project, turns the uncertain into prospects and touts a positive image to your targeted audience? I promise you that a newsletter — undertaken with those intentions and done well — will do that and more.

Make Sure You Have a Plan

We began our newsletter with the goal of “staying in touch” with all past clients, prospects and a community of associates from various segments of the business community. Essentially, our

For our newsletter, I chose three focus areas:

• Promoting our business locally, what we’re working on, what we’re up to, etc.
• Incorporating information on products, methods and processes that would educate a potential customer. We also highlight a current project.
• Endorsing the industry. I include information about my membership in NAHB and described board meetings, shows and conventions I attended, committee work and association news, etc.

Your focus may differ, but there are several points to keep in mind when creating an effective and successful newsletter:

• Presentation and Image. Your newsletter represents you, so make it count. Put in the time, effort and money to make it good looking and informative. Remember, it has to be something your readers will value. It has to be worth opening, reading and keeping.
  
  
• Content. Readers should find your newsletter useful. Include current information about the latest trends and offer tips on relevant subjects. With the right content, you give your readers (or their associates, friends, neighbors, etc.) a reason to believe you are the right choice for them.
  
  
• Target. Newsletters don’t necessarily work in a “shotgun” approach to marketing. Sending one to every apartment complex in town, for example, is not the most efficient use of the format or your resources. Instead, choose the right target audience — the zip codes, home values, median incomes, etc., that you want to target for your business. You’re not wasting marketing dollars because you are talking to an audience that can identify with what you have to say. To target effectively, enlist a company that specializes in developing mailing lists to suit your needs. Be specific and know what you want.
  
  
• Don’t Forget the Reason. Remember why you are investing so much time and money into this newsletter: to grow your business. Promote your company’s activities and qualifications in a subtle way. Let folks know what you’re doing, highlight a past project, talk about the latest meeting or convention you attended, mention any credentials you’ve earned or renewed, etc. Make sure the reader understands what you do, how well you do it and how they can contact you to work with them.
  
  
• Bonus Content. Consider including bonus content that would be useful to your audience, such as listing a few of your trade contractors. Of course, you need to make sure you have the kind of trade associates who will maintain loyalty regarding lead sources. You can probably receive some financial support for your newsletter from various trades and suppliers, too. Just be careful not to make it look like an ad supplement to the Sunday paper. You also could include a “‘referral coupon” for successful referrals from readers (such as a dinner for two or four).

Don’t Do It All Yourself

Remember, you can approach this “project” just as you would any remodeling project. That is, you don’t have to do it all yourself.

Freelance writers are almost as prolific as remodelers, and local publications can be a good place to find them.

Then find a printer who can provide some basic layout and design; add a database supplier for the mailing list and data sorting of each issue (you’ll want to have them hold the addresses, with your own personal and permanent list held in house, perhaps); and have someone to mail the newsletter (database suppliers sometimes provide those services, too) with the bulk mail permit you purchased.

We send out about 30,000 newsletters three times a year, and the actual personal time I spend on each issue is usually no more than four hours. The specialists do the other work required. Of course, it takes some administrative/management time on our end, too.

Just remember, like a remodeling project, if you’re going to do it, do it right and at a level that makes you proud of your product. Sure, with all the computer programs and desktop publishing available, you can create your own. But only you can decide where your time is best spent — publishing or remodeling.

For us, it’s remodeling, and we hire the publishing components. Once you distribute your newsletter to more than a very minimal list (which you need to do to make the quantity efficiencies work), desktop publishing just isn’t going to keep up. Besides, you don’t really want to spend a week of evenings folding and stapling, do you?

Results — The Bottom Line

How are we doing with our newsletter? We know we have increased our name recognition and enhanced our reputation with a quality publication. We can track jobs to specific mailings. We also know that, combined with other efforts, the newsletter is often that crowning signature of a professionally managed, quality remodeling company that makes us the choice.

Also, by leaving our latest copy at each consultation, we leave behind something that impresses upon the prospect the value and performance they can expect from us. By alternating areas and area codes, we will soon have hit all the “ideal” profiles in the marketing area.

Even if the newsletter doesn’t generate a call when it is sent, or the recipient doesn’t have an immediate need for our services, what do you think happens if there is a need at a later time and the recipient remembers getting our newsletter? And what do you think happens when, because of our coordinated marketing approach, someone sees our truck or our job sign and then gets our newsletter in the mail?

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