On the weekend I attended a workshop by Australian copywriting expert Pete Godfrey.
The room was full of a variety of people and I was pleased to hear that it wasn’t all about Internet marketing. There was a lot of advice handed out for small business owners in any market and plenty of people in the room were from traditional companies who do normal things like sell widget type stuff – you know, physical goods offline. People like mechanics and printers were in attendance, and also a few people looking to become better sales writers like journalists and budding freelance copywriters.
Today I want to pass on some of the biggest lessons from the workshop that every small business owner needs to think about.
The Money Is In The Relationship
Pete was quick to point out that the money is not in the list but in the relationship you have with your members. He teaches that you need to foster a “tribe”, a group of core customers who buy from you not just because of your good service, but because they have a real vested interest in you and what you do.
To facilitate relationship building Pete recommended the use of a newsletter, but in this case not your typical online email newsletter (though Pete certainly agreed you want one of them too!), but a print newsletter you send to people via oldschool snail mail.
The Print Newsletter
Pete showed a copy of his print newsletter that he charges $49 a month to subscribe to and also a copy of a free print newsletter one of his clients use (a car parts wholesaler).
To picture these newsletters think of a basic print newsletter you might receive from your tennis club or any sporting group or even from the school your kids go to. It’s nothing flashy, a few black and white pages full of news, behind the scenes info, educational articles, details about upcoming events and a little sales pitch about special offers.
For businesses that cater to a more sophisticated clientèle or when the market demands a polished presentation, Pete recommend a color glossy newsletter (for example a printery needs to impress with their newsletter for obvious reasons), but for most small businesses a simple black and white newsletter created in a word processor using a few well placed text boxes and graphics is all you need.
Pete advocated the use of a free print newsletter to keep in touch and foster relationships with your current customers. It’s your current customers where the most gains can be made and because of the tactile nature of a print newsletter you generally have much better open rates than using electronic media.
Pete was pretty clear that there is no better marketing tool than the print newsletter and based on what I hear from some other people it’s something that all businesses should make standard marketing practice. Perry Marshall has leveraged his paid print newsletter (Renaissance Club) to grow his entire business for years now and Rich Schefren’s Strategic Profits company just released a print newsletter as well.
All these guys are following in the footsteps of Dan Kennedy and I have to admit, I’m seriously tempted to offer a print newsletter one day too. I’ve seen the power of email lists and I can only imagine that the open and conversion rates are even better when you go physical. Plus it’s just fun to write newsletters.
It’s All About Your Ability To Make Friends
I was reading the sample newsletters and listening to Pete and something struck me.
There’s a point I keep hearing from direct marketers who use newsletters of any kind – offline and online. The key to a successful newsletter is making friends with your subscribers.
It doesn’t matter if you are saying the same thing that other marketers publish. The point is to create a personal connection with your members so they like you and are excited to hear from you. It’s more like the relationship between people indulging in a hobby together and your newsletter is like a hobby magazine full of fun, not a sales publication full of pitches.
The key is to create a level of engagement with your subscribers (or members as Pete prefers to call them). As anyone who is marketing online knows, it’s very challenging to foster strong relationships and capture engagement, especially when you are also marketing your own products and services. Any steps you can take to enhance engagement can only do wonders for your business since people will actually pay attention to you.
If you currently run a small business you might want to sit down and think about the feasibility of creating a one to four page print newsletter for your clients. It could be the smartest marketing decision you make all year.
Yaro Starak
Writing Newsletters