Don’t Leave Money On The Table

“Leaving money on the table” is an idiom which means ‘not getting as much money as you could’. If you’re not sending a regular newsletter to your database, then you’re DEFINITELY leaving money on the table.

Neil Patel – my absolute favourite digital marketing guru – says, “an email list is the single most effective way to market your business online”. He also says “the money is in the list”, we say “your database is GOLD”. Same thing at the end of the day – as long as you’re aware of it and growing and nurturing it.

Before we get going, let’s be clear about the definition of a newsletter – it’s an EMAILED PUBLICATION distributed REGULARLY to your SUBSCRIBER BASE with NEWS ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS.

My top FIVE reasons your business MUST have a newsletter are as follows:

1. If you’re not talking to your customers and potential customers, there’s a chance someone else is. Newsletters allow you to have ONGOING CONVERSATIONS with your subscribers.

If you owned a physical store, you’d be having conversations with clients all the time. This is how you have to do it in the digital space and if you do own a ‘bricks and mortar’ business, how do you think you draw them back into your shop to do more business with you?

2. You need to BUILD CREDIBILITY with potential clients and remind existing clients why they do business with you. Newsletters help to establish your expertise in your field and they convey a credibility you generally don’t get from a brochure or flyer.

Your blog does a whole host of the credibility work for you but you need your newsletter to let people know that you have a new blog up – and to tell them what it’s all about. If you’re still not one hundred percent sold on blogging, you may want to read two previous blog posts:

• Why your business needs a blog, and
• Why it’s okay to blog for yourself.

3. Newsletters belong to you – there’s no dependence on social media trends or terms of use. You own the mailing list and you know who your newsletter reaches, who opens it and who ignores it – because YOU CAN TRACK EVERYTHING!

NOTE:

Make sure that no matter which service you choose to use, you always have a backup copy of your database. I’ve heard of costs suddenly escalating or relationships turning sour and businesses losing their whole database in the negotiations – or lack of them. Don’t let that happen to you!

4. A newsletter is a chance to OFFER YOUR SUBSCRIBERS REAL VALUE – whether it’s a unique opportunity, a subscriber’s special or a really targeted conversation because you’ve split your database and you know exactly who you’re talking to.

You also know what converstion you need to have with them. If they were there, in the flesh, in front of you, you’d know what to say and what offer would seal the deal. THAT’S exactly what you need to be doing in your newsletter!

5. Newsletter provide a vehicle for MARKETING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS because you can tell them about new products, special offers as well as changes or developments in your business.

It can be used to convince potential clients to make the purchase, it can be used to cross-sell and up-sell to existing clients. You’re talking to a warm or hot audience here so, you know what to do!

If you want to stop leaving money on the table, there are two things you need in place right away:

1. A mechanism on your website for CAPTURING DETAILS and building your subscriber list (even if you haven’t got a newsletter tool), and
2. A NEWSLETTER PLUG-IN for your website – our recommended approach – or an account with Mail Chimp, Constant Contact or one of the many email marketing services available.

You may want to look out for OUR NEXT BLOG. This one covers the WHY, but next time we’ll cover the HOW and hopefully get you up and running quickly and effectively – and put a stop to that really bad habit of leaving money on the table!