Customer newsletters are an awesome way to maintain and build relationships with your customers, clients, and prospects. This is the one of the primary reasons that so many companies start a newsletter. Unfortunately, I’ve seen too many instances where the focus of a company newsletter changes over time, from what’s important to the customer to what’s fast and easy to write about so the newsletter can go out the door! I’m sure you’ve read some of these types of newsletters.

And I’ll bet you wondered why the company even bothers to spend the time and money to print and mail the newsletter – surely you weren’t running to your mailbox to read about some employee in customer service who just celebrated a birthday! If you want your customers and clients to read and look forward to your newsletter, stay focused on making your newsletter entertaining, educational, and informative. Another thing that I see all too often is that many companies forget that their newsletter is a great way to sell. Yes, you heard right! Written properly, a newsletter is an awesome way to generate repeat and referral business.

Here are a few pointers to focus on idea that will surely please your sales manager.

1. Talk about the benefits of purchasing your product or service.
2. Describe your guarantees or warranties.
3. Explain to your readers why your product or service is such a good value.
4. Compare a new and improved product to one that they may already own.
5. Point your readers to your Web site for more information.
6. Make sure that your newsletter has a monthly special offer.
7. If it makes sense to do so, include a deadline with the offer.
8. Remember to include your contact information.

When you first begin to put pen to paper on each issue of your newsletter, close your eyes and ask yourself the following: “What is important to my readers, and what would they like to read about?” If you do this on a regular basis, your newsletter will produce more positive results.

 If you want to make big profits running a big or small business, then it is important to remember one of the golden rules of customer relationship marketing—the 80/20 Rule. This rule proclaims that you should spend at least 80 percent of your marketing budget persuading customers you already have successfully sold to once to come back for a second helping. Only 20 percent of your business should be spent on outreaching efforts to new customers, because studies have shown that finding new customers provides less return on your investment then marketing to old customers. 

Perhaps the most effective way to get your customers back for repeat business is to convince them to subscribe to your newsletter. Then you will likely have grabbed them as subscribers to whatever you decide to e-mail them for life. Furthermore, you will be assured that you have attracted only buyers and not people who are “just looking.” 

It is also a good idea to lavish funds on design and text, and to make a concentrated effort to impress customers who are already turned on to your business with a polished flyer. This reminds them that you are always in business and that you operate in a credible and profitable way. A sloppy looking flyer with badly reproduced photographs, wacky fonts or text with spelling mistakes simply tells customers that you are a sloppy, fly-by-night operation. 

You should try to get every visitor to your “real-life” store to sign your guest book. You should also make the giving of the address and phone number the quasi-condition of each sale that you make. That way you can send them good old-fashioned direct mailings that are jam-packed with details and quality information. Sending out these types of customer newsletters is a time-proven, effective way of assuring that you will get repeat and referral business to your store whether you garner their home addresses as leads online or offline.