Your Marketing Magnet

In last issue’s Produce a Newsletter – Part 1, I provided you with several good reasons why you should create a company newsletter, report or Blog in a style and format that works best for you and your schedule in order to nurture existing leads, strengthen relationships with current customers, increase your online presence and keep your company at the top of your prospects’ minds! I then discussed how long your newsletter should be, how often to publish it and what you should consider putting into it.

Now I’m going to reveal what you can do to expand your subscriber list and get your target audience to open and read what you write – because although it’s extremely important to stay in regular and consistent contact with your clients and let them know about your products and services – there’s also nothing worse in business than pouring your heart and soul into creating your newsletter, Blog, facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter posts, sales letters and other email campaigns and hitting the “send” button – only to be ignored.

I’ve been there and know how much it hurts – often triggering feelings of insecurity, doubt, fear, disappointment, embarrassment — and like all your marketing efforts are going to waste.

However dismal this may sound, I can assure you, all is not lost. You can easily reverse this situation…generate a better response, save your launch and get your targets to stop ignoring you just by implementing even a few of my top 10 suggestions:

1.    Don’t Go to the Dark Side – Do you hit the “send” button and then panic?  Or tend to get all negative about yourself and take it personally when you don’t see the results you we’re expecting?? If so, you must stop.  If someone on your list isn’t responding to you or opts to unsubscribe from your list, it doesn’t mean they don’t like you or your content; you’re not good enough or not going to be successful.  There could be a variety of reasons why they are not reacting including the very real possibility that your email campaigns aren’t making it past their spam filter into their inbox.  So rather than take it personally, treat their lack of interest for what it’s worth – feedback as to how clear your marketing message is, how well defined your niche is and how compelling you’re making your layout and copy.  All of which can be easily changed.

2.    Give Your Campaign a Quick “Mirror Test” – Does your marketing message mirror what your subscribers say they want, or what you think they need?  If in doubt, have a marketing expert review your website copy, newsletter, Blog, emails and other marketing materials and give you honest feedback. Or ask a choice client if your marketing materials motivate them to take action. If not, then find out what they must say in order for them to read.

3.   It’s not to late to save your campaign – Unlike printed brochures, the beauty of online marketing is that it allows you to switch your story line or call to action at any time with just a few key strokes.  So don’t be afraid what your audience will think of you if you decide to make some adjustments to your template. If they haven’t been paying attention anyway, chances are they won’t even notice!  Instead continue to communicate the benefits of working with you and don’t forget to call to action using Click Here.

4.    Frequency outweighs proficiency – Press “send” more often by producing informative newsletters, Blogs, sales letters and other emails that don’t sell your readers, but rather give them a reason to buy.  Let your guard down, show some emotion and start with why you’re offering this particular tip, strategy, product or program.

5.    Can’t resist subject line – Whatever your campaign, if it isn’t read, your email won’t sell. So get your subscribers excited about seeing and receiving your newsletter, Blog, special notices and other e-blasts by using catchy titles and headlines with a stated benefit.  To achieve this consider using their name or asking a question that captures their attention in your subject line – so they can’t resist opening it.

6.    Remember it’s about fostering relationships – If you want your audience to connect and resonate with you and your writings, include some personal details about you and what you’re doing.  You don’t give too many details, but share something of relevance about what you’ve been up to lately, such as some of your interests, a summer vacation that you recently took or plan to take and so forth. Your readers will appreciate this and if you can inject some of your personality or humour, may also find amusing.  This will also help them to gain insight into another dimension or side of you – beyond what you present in your business.

7.    Step up the pace for faster results – If you want to establish a following, you must be prepared to post pithy, useful information that your niche market enjoys and benefits from – and continue posting this information. Keeping yourself in action helps to improve your results and increase your website traffic stats. So go ahead and write more newsletters, Blog posts, emails, special notices, launches and offers and send them out every few weeks.

8.    Promote it! – “If you build it, they will come” doesn’t work on the web.  Once you get your Blog, newsletter, E-zine, sales letters, Tweets, etc. set –up, like any other offer you have, you must constantly promote it in order to drive traffic back to your website.  There are many ways to do this including the use of an email subscription form to track new subscribers as well as all your submissions; printing your Blog URL on your brochures, flyers and business cards and putting a link to your Blog on every page of your website, auto-responder sequences,  sales letters, reports, white papers, etc. as well as linking your Blog and newsletter (if they are two separate identities) and adding a link to both your Blog and newsletter with every other piece of business correspondence you send out.  In addition invite everyone in your network (including your family, friends, colleagues, clients, associates, affiliates, facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & You Tube connections and even the Media) to subscribe.

And while you’re at it, set-up a feed on website, as well as on all your social media accounts and myyaho.com – so your site gets regularly spidered by Yahoo search engine. You can also use a Ping-O-Matic to submit and ping Blog directories every time you publish.

9.    Include an RSS Feed – Make sure you have an RRS – Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication URL feed that your audience can subscribe to. Include your newsletter or Blog headlines, summaries and tags.

10.     Read and Comment – Read and comment on other newsletters and Blogs that are in your target niche. But don’t write things like “nice blog” or “great post.”  Write intelligent, useful comments with a link to your Blog. Also refer to other Blogs, as well as cross-reference and quote or post colleagues links in your own posts and quotes.

To your success,

Watch my video here:

Feel free to leave me a comment and let me how my advice is working for you!

Want to reprint this article in your e-Zine, newsletter or on your website? You can as long as you do not change it, acknowledge me as the author, include its copyright date, my head shot and this paragraph:

Founding Publicist, Prime Time PR and former editor PRtalk (Canada’s only online PR magazine), Janette Burke is a marketing/PR coach, consultant, columnist, trainer, speaker, TV Personality and creator of “The Magnetic Marketing/PR Process TM” (TMMPP) – her customized, cost-effective, step-by-step, guaranteed to get-results-now marketing/PR coaching, consulting and training program.  To discuss how she can help take your business to the next level, call: (905) 882-6893; E-mail: janette@yourmarketingmagnet.com or visit: www.yourmarketingmagnet.com.