KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR CLIENTS

We have been so busy here at Nexxite lately that it is a challenge just to get this newsletter out the door. But I feel it is important to stay in touch with my clients this way. I think newsletters are well worth the effort. In fact, I strongly urge you to communicate regularly with your clients through a formal newsletter or if not that, then with less formal, but periodic eblasts.

Some of the benefits of regular email communication:

• Build your relationship and make your clients feel special by providing something useful, or at least entertaining, that is not available to the general public, at no charge
• Invite them to contact you if they need something
• Cross promote your business – Show new products and services you are offering in a “soft sell” format
• Help advertise some of your own clients, for example with case studies and link to their websites. I like to feature a special client in each issue of this newsletter.

Those are just a few of the benefits of a newsletter off the top of my head. I’m sure there are others. But if a newsletter is too much work (and I know it can feel like that), consider short eblasts. You can just offer an article you found of interest to your clients or tell them about a new service you are starting up. Remember to do something that helps or interests them. A newsletter is not a sales pitch.

There are many companies that facilitate newsletters and other eblasts. We use Mail Chimp which is reliable and free (up to 2000 subscribers). But many people use Constant Contact, iContact or Benchmark, to name a few. These services charge a fee, generally from $10-to-$30 per month, but if you have a large mailing list or have frequent announcements, it can be worthwhile to use a paid service.

All email programs take some work to set up because you need to get your mailing list entered and often you’ll want to design a standard template for your messages. But once the list is in place and your format is defined, the eblasts themselves can be sent easily. The challenge then, as I mentioned, is writing content. That can take time. As you can see from this and prior eblasts, I like to have one or two useful articles in my field, as well as something about a good client, a listing of some of the recent sites we’ve completed, and a dash of humor.

Another helpful tool offered by email programs like Mail Chimp and Constant Contact is a simple newsletter sign-up form you can have on your website. It automates the process of adding new subscribers to your mailing list. People see a short form on your website and sign up there. That’s all there is to it. They are then added to the list and automatically receive your next mailing.

So, in short, I am a great believer in newsletters and eblasts. If you are not doing them, consider adding these communication tools to your marketing mix.

Do you have a blog? Do you use Facebook or Twitter? Do you publish articles on line? If you are using any of these outlets to promote your business, good for you. But let’s face it. We know it is not always easy. And one of the biggest difficulties can be simply thinking of a topic.

Coming up with a compelling subject to write about is sometimes a bigger challenge than doing the actual writing. We are all stricken on occasion with writer’s block. To help you overcome this hurdle, here are ten subjects you may want to consider writing about:

1. Customer success stories.

One of the most effective types of blog posts is to highlight your customers and/or client success stories. Not only are you putting the spotlight on a customer, thus bringing them extra exposure and visibility, you are also providing social proof that your product or service works.

2. Industry tips and tutorials.

Your writing should provide your customers, clients and prospects with valuable tips and strategies that they can put to immediate use. For instance, if you are a dog-trainer and have a dog-training blog, then make sure to provide your audience with plenty of dog-training tricks and tips that will encourage them to keep coming back to your blog for the latest strategies. Of course, providing your audience with industry tips and tutorials also positions you as an expert.

3. Information about new products/services.

If your company launches a new product and/or service, use your social media outlets as an announcement service to give your loyal readers a sneak preview. In addition, you can generate additional buzz-builders by offering beta invites, focus groups and surveys that will help keep your readers engaged in the launch process.

4. Relevant news from your industry.

You can certainly position yourself as an industry leader by relating important and timely news stories from your particular industry. If you find any pieces of news that are interesting or would benefit your readers, then make sure to offer the news-story along with your own commentary and opinion.

5. Upcoming events about your small business.

If you’re having a huge, 1-day sale, then post it on your blog. If you’re hosting an online webinar, tweet about it. Whenever you plan to have an upcoming event, make sure to let your readers know.

6. Elicit feedback from customers.

As a small business owner, you will want to generate authentic feedback from your customers about your products and/or services.

The feedback that your customers provide can either be pulled straight from their comments or from blog polling services or plugins. This type of feedback can be an invaluable resource for your small business and help move it from good to great.

7. Educate Your Customers/Clients.

Many small business owners implicitly understand that in order to effectively sell a product or service, the customer needs to be educated. Oftentimes our prospects don’t even understand why they need our products or services.

Therefore, the appropriate education of your prospects is incredibly important. However, it also should be handled with care. You certainly don’t want to use a “hard-sell” approach and bully your prospects into making a purchase. On the other hand, if you help your prospects understand why your product and service is so valuable and what problems it will solve for them, your battle is half-won.

8. “Warning” Posts.

Every so often, it is appropriate to help your prospects understand “what they need to watch out for” in your particular industry. This again, positions you as an expert and helps build trust with your prospects. For instance, the dog trainer could write a Facebook post entitled, “Beware of the dog trainers who use physical punishment.” Of course, you would let your prospects know that you detest this type of dog training and why.

9. Related interests.

If you sell vitamins, you should blog about health. If you own a travel agency, you should blog about the great trips that you take. It’s important to reveal to your clients and customers that you are a real person with similar interests to theirs. As long as your personal blog posts are directly related to your product and/or service, you will find these posts to be an invaluable way to connect.

10. Product, service, or process explanations and stories.

If you own a product or service that needs further explanation, then share this explanation in a YouTube video lesson. Your customers will appreciate tutorials, stories and explanations about how to best use your product and services.

So, remember these tips next time you are struggling to come up with a topic to write about.