Yesterday I was talking to a business owner who was interested in having me design a customer No Hassle Newsletter. He asked me two things that I haven’t heard since…well…a few days ago! He asked me how I got into the newsletter business and whether I thought newsletters were an effective way to market upscale products.   

I gave him the short version of my history, and then proceeded to tell him why I think a customer newsletter is not only effective at selling everyday products but is equally effective at helping to sell high-ticket items.  

My “high-ticket proof” story goes like this: About 10 years ago I was the director of operations for a national franchise. I was also still responsible for putting out this company’s newsletter. Whenever prospects contacted our company with interest in our franchise program, I immediately put them on our company mailing list, which meant that they would now receive our monthly newsletter. I remember at least one prospect that was initially interested in a franchise, but then seemed to lose interest and disappeared off the radar screen. 

However, after many months they recontacted our company and ultimately purchased a franchise — a $150,000 franchise!  

When these people came to our offices to begin their training program, I asked them why they ultimately decided to purchase a franchise. They told me that while they were initially unsure, after reading our newsletter every month and learning about our company’s continued growth and the various franchise success stories, they decided they wanted to be a part of that success! 

Did I mention that the franchise was $150,000?! Now you know why I can unabashedly say that a customer newsletter is the perfect marketing vehicle for ANY business. 

If you are still on the fence as to the value of a monthly newsletter, and whether or not it can be an unbelievable marketing weapon, please reread this posting!

Like many of you, I’m sure, my wife, Stephanie, and I got our two daughters settled in for another year of school this past weekend. They are both sophomores — Jessica is a communications major at Temple and Amanda is majoring in recreation management at Lock Haven. This can be a difficult time for many parents, filled with a combination of pride, sadness, fear (do you know how many newsletters it takes to pay for two tuitions?!), and hope.

We are incredibly proud of all our children (we also have two older sons) and are happy that they have become confident and self-sufficient adults. Last year, we noticed that right next to Lock Haven University is the West Branch Susquehanna River, and it is beautiful. So this year we took our kayaks, and after we got Amanda settled in, we went paddling! Paddling either a canoe or a kayak is one of the most relaxing things ever! It is incredibly peaceful, and it is amazing what flows into your mind when you are that relaxed.

During my reflection, I thought of many topics about newsletters and newsletter marketing. By the way, did I ever tell you that I offer a free five-day course, “The Awesome Power of Newsletter Marketing”? You can sign up at www.nohasslenewsletters.com/course.   Speaking of newsletters, here is what I want to share today on the subject! Many times, customers ask me what they should put in their newsletters.

Here are two surefire ways to get your newsletter read and to generate some results. 

1. Provide real-life success stories. Describe a problem you’ve solved for a client/customer and use that as a springboard to offer more general advice. Show your readers how you’ve helped customers address challenges. 

2. List frequently asked questions. Think of the questions that you get asked most often about your product or service. If some people are asking, you can bet that others have the same question. You can either have a FAQ section in your newsletter or simply write a story about the question and how your company effectively solves the challenge. 

As I said, I have more ideas to share with you over the next few weeks, so don’t miss out. Sign up to get every posting sent directly to your e-mail in-box. Also, have you checked out my new company’s Web site yet? Turn up your speakers and click here: www.nohasslemarketing.com. By the way, that is a picture of me sporting the school colors on the Susquehanna!

In just the last week I received 3 questions via e-mail about how often a company should mail their customers a newsletter. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been asked this question in the last 10 years, I could probably fly first class to my next convention!

Even though the question revolves around budget and ‘how hard it is to create a newsletter,’ my answer is always the same. Hands down, you WILL achieve the highest results with a monthly newsletter.Here is why a monthly newsletter is so important to your company: because it arrives every month, it is looked at as a regular “publication.”

Think about it, magazines arrive monthly, and sometimes weekly; newspapers arrive daily; even bank statements arrive monthly! The point is that people see things they receive on a regular and frequent basis as having value, or at least important, and they generally anticipate them. Things like advertisements that arrive sporadically, including postcards and other marketing pieces, are just that — solicitations.  

So start off a new regimen accepting the fact that your customers will find more value in your newsletter if it arrives monthly.  

You may be surprised how many people resist my urging to do a monthly newsletter by saying, “It’s too expensive.” Quite frankly, this astounds me and I find it somewhat shortsighted. As a business owner, you need to figure out what you currently spend to attract new customers and clients, and also what the lifetime value of a typical client is to your business. If you can figure out what each new client costs your business, and what the lifetime value of a client is, I predict that you will start to see that building and maintaining these client relationships takes on a whole new meaning.