Last week, I spoke with an Indie who said that one of the things she learned on Indie Business Podcast is the importance of having an email newsletter. She emailed me to tell me that she got a sale just hours after sending out her first ever email newsletter. It was the first sale she'd had in 10 days.
I can't imagine going without a sale for 10 days. But that's probably because I have an email newsletter. If you don't have one, you should. Here's why.
1. Email Newsletters Keep You In Touch With Customers. How often do you have something fun or important to share with your customers, but you don't have a way to get the information to them in an efficient and cost effective manner? You could update your website and hope people come and visit. But it's better to share this kind of information regularly with your customers in a newsletter that links to pages at your site.
Lots of reputable companies offer email hosting services. Check with your hosting company or check out companies like Sparklist (the company I use) and My Emma, which tends to be a little on the pricier side. At another one, Constant Contact, you can get a 60-day free trial and choose from dozens of templates. Just plug in your company name, logo and pictures and make multiple customer contacts with the click of a mouse.
2. Email Newsletters Increase Sales. Earlier this week, I consulted with an Indie who has been in business for several years. She said she was about to toss in the towel because she's still not making a profit. When I began to explore her situation, we uncovered a lot of things to work on. One was her email newsletter.
She said she had a monthly newsletter — but she didn't send it out monthly. That's not a monthly newsletter. It's a periodic waste of time. I shared my recommendation that she decide once and for all whether or not to have a newsletter. She decided to get back in the saddle and that night, sent out her first newsletter in over a month. Within hours, the first sale came through.
3. Email Newsletters Create New Ways To Generate Income. If your newsletter contains interesting articles, you can archive them at your website for site visitors to read for years to come. This gives people a reason to visit your website often, and they'll tell their friends about it too. When that happens, website traffic increases over time, and you know what comes next right? That's right. Increased sales.
If you're really interested is expanding your brand, you might one day combine your best newsletter articles into a book. This is what Oprah Winfrey did in her book, “Live Your Best Life,” a collection of her favorite articles previously published in O The Oprah Magazine. Work once, get paid twice. You could submit your book idea to agents or publishing houses, or format and sell it yourself as an e-book or print on demand book.
You Do Have The Time
I don't want to hear that you don't have time for a newsletter. I don't want to hear that you're not a good writer or that you are too tired at the end of the day to produce a newsletter. Yadda yadda yadda. Don't you think it's worth it to make the time to do just about anything that will increase sales, make your business run more smoothly and enhance your customers' experience — all at the same time?
Newsletters that combine interesting information with gentle product pitches work. To maximize results, be consistent, use pictures and send it out at least bi-monthly. Weekly is best.
My Newsletter Is A Cornerstone Of My Business
I've published the Indie Experience Newsletter every week for nearly 8 years. When I published the first one back in 2000, I had no idea that it would become a cornerstone of my business. It puts me in touch with exciting people from around the world and has helped fuel countless numbers of new business ventures.
I get a lot of great ideas for my improving my newsletter by subscribing to other people's newsletters and seeing what works and doesn't work for them. You can subscribe to my newsletter here. Check it out and let me know what you think.
