How small business owners are using email newsletters to succeed

To stay in business these days you have to prospect for new clients, get those prospects to buy and keep in touch with your past clients. Email newsletters will allow you to do that and more, easily and without breaking the bank!

Many small business owners fail to recognize the power of constant communication with their clients. Your clients are probably not actively seeking someone else to provide the service that you do, BUT if they do not hear from you regularly, they might be tempted to change vendors if another company comes along with a powerful message.

Email newsletters give small business owners the power to maintain contact with their clients and prospects even when they are not actively searching for that product or service. By communicating with their past and potential clients on a regular basis, the consistent small business marketer will stay top of mind, without having to beg for business.

A powerful email newsletter includes things like a relevant article about your industry, advertisements for your goods or services, related vendors who could help them and any kind of industry statistics that are available. It is vital that your message be timely and relevant to your industry. Do not send unrelated information out in your email newsletter or your clients could become confused.

While there are many companies that will help you send out your email newsletter, I recommend using a company like Aweber or Constant Contact. Both of these companies offer easy to use interfaces and will make sure that you are in compliance with all anti-spam rules. They also will make your deliverability rate go up and offer information about your open and bounce rates.

I often get the question, how regularly should I send my email newsletter. Well, every business is different, but I would not recommend sending more than two times per month unless you are very good at generating content, highly relevant content. Because of the low cost, it is easy to get carried away and send lots of emails out, but it could tire your list and you could wind up with a bunch of unsubscribes, not a good thing!

The easiest way to grow your email list is to ask everyone you meet for their email address! Check out any associations you belong to, and if you are a member of your local chamber of commerce you may be able to get the member email addresses also. You can also hold a contest for new newsletter subscribers, giving away an item of value in exchange for them giving you their email address.

While you are busy writing your email newsletter, make sure you are also growing your email list by asking your past and current customers if they have anyone they can refer you to. Let them know that you welcome the opportunity to provide great service to their friends and family and that you would love to add them to your informative email newsletter list!