A Newsletter Should Be One Of Your Most Valuable Business Development Tools

It is easy to lose sight of one of your most valuable business development tools – your newsletter.

People want information fast. They grab their phones and send text messages. Consumers jump on the Internet and look up a topic, quickly. Email is almost becoming too slow. So, the idea of a mailed newsletter might sound a little archaic.

If you have put away your paper newsletter in lieu of some trendy form of advertising, you could be making a big mistake.

Some small business owners will balk at the idea of a newsletter. They’ll make remarks like, “that’s the oldest thing in the book after a sign on the building.” These are the business owners who are going to be ignoring a major marketing opportunity and will basically be letting valuable business slip away.

If you ask other Virginia business owners who are mailing newsletters, they will tell you that they are attracting customers. Here’s the secret to newsletters and why they work – everyone who receives it will already know you. They will trust you and put faith in what you tell them.

Who Should Be on Your List?
How do you build your newsletter list? You should be tracking every lead who has ever expressed interest in your products and services. Whenever someone contacts your office or requests more information, add that person to your database. You might also include your past customers, current customers, business acquaintances, family members and friends on your newsletter list.

Don’t Think You Have Time?
A newsletter doesn’t have to be time consuming. Create a newsletter file and whenever you find an interesting article topic, store it in the folder. You will find that you will have too many article ideas to choose from, which is not a bad problem to have. Also, you might consider featuring other local business owners in your newsletter or let people write guest articles. Both will save you time.

Marketing experts, like Dan Kennedy, preach about the significance of the paper newsletter and how you would be crazy not to send one out every month. If you decide not to mail out a monthly newsletter, it is pretty much the same as grabbing a pile of money and burning it in your parking lot every month. You get the point.