How often do you send out e-newsletters or email communications? Once a week? Monthly? Whenever you remember to do it?

What? You’ve never sent one out? Eek! Let’s turn that around, shall we?!

First of all, I assume you wouldn’t be reading this blog if you didn’t agree that e-newsletters are very important for your business. And they are, they really are. 

So why aren’t more small business owners writing, preparing and distributing e-newsletters?

From my experience, there are a few reasons.

Some people say they don’t have the time. My response? MAKE THE TIME PEOPLE! Working ON your business is often more important than working IN your business, as it’s how you keep those customers coming in your door (whether we’re talking about a physical shopfront or virtual door to your email inbox here). Make it your aim to send out one a month. Schedule it into your calendar now. No excuses!

Other people don’t know their way around email communication platforms. If this is you, I highly recommend trying out MailChimp. It’s free to use if you have a smallish distribution list and fairly easy to use. If you do get stuck on anything, feel free to drop me a line and I can talk you through it.

And some people are unsure of what to include and how to structure it. Honestly, there’s no need to overcomplicate things. A simple 200-word message from you as the business owner with latest personal and/or business updates, a couple of links to recent blogs (Check out the benefits of blogging here), and a link to a product and/or service on your website would be perfect. If you do want to tinker with a cool layout, MailChimp has some awesome templates to choose from.

And some people are scared of the SEND button! Sorry to say, but this fear may never go away. I still get the wobbly fingers when I’m about to press the ominous button. Try to think of it from my perspective – I’m a copywriter so I need to double, triple and quadruple check my e-newsletter for any spelling mistakes and grammar. Because how bad would that look?!

Still not convinced?

Here are 5 reasons to stop procrastinating about e-newsletters

1. Keep in touch and build relationships with your past, current and potential clients

What do you do with all those valuable business cards you collect? And those contact details from recent sales? You need to be utilising them to stay connected with these people. They have either shown interest in your business or actually done business with you – so keep up the enthusiasm with regular e-newsletters and don’t let them forget how awesome you are! Remember that it’s easier to keep a client than source a new one.

2. Build up a level of trust and personal brand

E-newsletters give you the chance to show the person behind the business. So let loose and don’t be too official. Be conversational in your language and don’t be afraid to show your personality in an introductory message before sharing links to products, testimonials etc. Aim to be as transparent and authentic as possible (Two key biz buzz words there!). People like that.

3. Improve traffic your website

This is especially effective if you have an e-commerce site and want to remind people about the products you have on offer. You can use your e-newsletter to announce new products for sale or promote recent blogs that you spent hours working on! (Like this one…)

4. Improve your social media following

It’s a great tool for reminding people about other ways to connect with you and follow updates. If they’re seeing you on social media AND in your inbox once or twice a month, you’re likely to stay even more top of mind! Just make sure that you’re not being annoying in your messaging and avoid being too ‘salesy.’ Otherwise, you may find yourself heading down the unsubscribe portal. Provide valuable content to the client and keep their needs in focus at all times.

5. Track your open rate and interest

Unlike individual emails, sending an e-newsletter via platforms such as MailChimp means that you can actually track and see who is reading your communication and interested in your products! You can see which links are being clicked on and you can amend your content for next month.

Are you ready to write that e-newsletter now?

Ultimately, try not to look at email newsletters as a chore. Crafting a long, in-depth email newsletter is fine, but in most cases it’s unnecessary. Try to make it fun! And perhaps allocate a bit of time to it over a few days so you don’t have allocate a massive chunk of your working day preparing it all. (I should probably take my own advice here…)

Selecting a single (and simple) goal for your newsletter means it’s easy for you to build and stay on schedule, and you avoid spending too much time into it. Single-topic emails are actually easier for readers to digest and focus on anyway! 

If you need any further assistance with preparing e-newsletters, please contact me via email or phone on 0412 861 685. I’m here to help you out and overcome that procrastination!

Keep on writing,

Leanne