Simon Payn's Effective Customer Newsletters

'Bore me and I block you' - how to make your newsletters interesting

About a year ago I got really into Twitter.

Maybe a little too much into it. Huge timesuck.

I'm still on it, but I ration myself. Now I waste time on Facebook.

But I tell yer - it's rough and tough in the Twitterverse!

Some people on there really work it. They post many times a day and, most importantly, they add value when they post. They don't share what they had for lunch, but they post interesting, provocative, useful information. All in 140 characters.

I got twittering (I think that's the right verb) with one of the twitterati (I think that's the right noun) and she came out with this zinger: “Bore me and I block you.”

I felt like I'd been put on notice.

You can imagine the stress.

But she was right.

In today's mega-multi-channel universe, attention is at a premium. People will decide in five seconds if you are worth another 30. It's like a bar in Manhattan.

Bore them and they block you.

The same goes for newsletters, of course. Bore them and they ignore you.

The good news is, most newsletters are boring - and that means you don't have try that hard to be interesting. The bar is pretty low.

So here's 5 ways to avoid being boring:

1)    Don't be that guy at the party who just brags about his latest triumphs. The harsh truth is that nobody cares about you - all they care about is themselves.
2)    Think about what interests your readers and what will make their lives better.
3)    Be yourself, not some dull corporation. People like people, not organizations.
4)    Take a risk. Be brave. Get naked.
5)    Engage in conversation, not a monologue.

Still with me? Good. Glad I haven't bored you yet.

Feel free to share your ideas. If they're interesting, I promise I won't block you :)

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Newsletters: the bar is pretty low. Really.

I got a call on Tuesday from someone who is thinking of joining my newsletter service for real estate agents.

She's been receiving emails from me (not these, but others you can sign up for on my websites.)

But she said something that disconcerted me.

"The information is great, but it's kind of putting me off doing a newsletter."

Hmmm, I thought...that's not how it's supposed to work.

The reason, she said, was that she felt she could never do the kind of things I suggest to make her newsletter really sing - elements such as personalization, local content, and must-read headlines.

The whole thing sounded like too much of an elephant to eat. So maybe she should not do a newsletter at all.

SO WHAT DID I TELL HER?

Simply that the elements I suggest will make her newsletter soar, but the most important thing is to do a newsletter in the first place. Period.

After all, so very, very few people bother to keep in touch with prospects and clients that if you do, it's easy as pie to stand
out.

The barrier is so low that even a chipmunk can jump it.

Think about this.

How many stores do you happily buy from...and then never hear a peep out of again?

How many people come to do vital work in your home...and then just sit silently waiting for you to call again?

How many restaurants do you enjoy visiting...yet never hear from?

I'D BE WILLING TO WAGER that 99% of businesses don't bother to keep in touch with even the people who love what they do.

Sometimes after I leave a store I get so mad at their lack of marketing savvy that I pledge to set up a store right next door, doing exactly  the same thing... just to punish them for being so dumb.

This isn't meant to sound like bragging, but I think I could go head-to-head with 99% of businesses out there and crush them simply by building a solid database of clients and prospects and then keeping in touch with them regularly

Like I say, it really doesn't take much. Just a matter of collecting names. The tools are there to do the rest.

THIS IS WHAT GETS ME UP IN THE MORNING. The big mission of my company is that every business (even funeral homes) should have a newsletter.

That's why I make ready-made print and email newsletters that businesses can send. As the bar is so low, you can send them without any customization and they'll still work. Or make them really yours and you'll be the #1 person in your business in your
town.

I guarantee it.

Now, it seems like a big job - a gigantic elephant to eat. But take it a bite at a time. Even a chipmunk can feast.

[Picture credit]

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A Newsletter for Every Business:
http://www.anewsletterforeverybusiness.com

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How to Get Your Newsletter Articles Read - the Easy Way

"Service journalism" is the reliable older sister of the newspaper world.

If it wore clothes, it would wear a cardigan. With pockets.

It sure ain't glamorous. There are no scoops (such as they are these days), and there are no celebrity interviews or witty columns.

Service journalism is the simple reporting of stuff that's useful, such as "where to get your H1N1 shot," "which roads will be closed this weekend," and "how to get your drivers' license renewed."

I like it, because it gets read.

People want to know this stuff. It's one reason why they buy newspapers.

It's no accident that the default title of the newsletters I make is News You Can Use.

After all, readers want to know WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) Is this article going to help me live my life?

When it comes to writing headlines for your service journalism articles, clearly telegraph how the article will help.

Typical service journalism headlines go like this:

•    How To Insulate Your Home
•    Where To Get Your Flu Shot
•    When to Book Your Vacation Travel

But, as a reader of this email, you know you can go one step further.

If you can add a benefit to your service journalism headline, you'll increase readership.

So consider:

•    How To Insulate Your Home for Under $500
•    Where to Get Your Flu Shot Without Lining Up
•    When to Book Your Vacation Travel - For the Best Price to the Sunniest Destinations

Now that's something I really want to read.

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News you really can use: http://getreadynewsletters.com

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Why Some Businesses Succeed and Some Don't

A bit of a rant this morning.

Here's the thing. There are no doubt lots of businesses sitting around complaining right now. The economy's bad, customers are gone - and when customers do call, all they want is the cheapest price.

And then there are others that are doing just fine.

What's the difference? Hear my experience ordering 1,000 postcards.

So some questions:

Are you really serving your customers?

Are you actually there to answer the phone?

Are you giving them what they want?

...Because if you're not, you've got no right to complain.

(If you're interested, the company is Vertical Printing and Graphics.)

How to Be Like Oprah

I got the shock of my life on the internet last night.

There on my favorite news website was a big, blue headline: "Oprah Talk Show Going Off Air."

Now, I know she had Sarah Palin on this week, but it can't have been that bad.

I thought Oprah was stronger than that.

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Turns out, of course, that Oprah is - in her own way - going rogue. Doing a bit of that mavericky stuff.

Because instead of doing a show for that mainstream icon CBS, it looks like she's going to have her own cable channel - the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Betcha they'll be a talk show on there.

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Oprah, as we know, is one smart businesswoman. She's got a brand as big as Jupiter and more power (and probably money) than anyone in the media.

So it pays to take note of what she does.

So what is she doing? She's taking control of her own distribution. Instead of being a slot on CBS, she's going to own an entire channel. 24 hours a day of Oprah doing what she pleases.

SO WHAT LINKS OPRAH - AND YOU? Simply, that you can create your own distribution - your own network.

Now, I wish I could say this was all my idea. But Seth Godin blogged about it first.

Seth was talking about real estate agents - but it applies to any industry. Real estate agents, he said, should create their own publication (their own newsletter) rather than being forced to advertise in newspapers.

Imagine if a local business put out its own weekly publication. It needn't be fancy, but it does have to be interesting and relevant. Pack this publication with local news, what's on events, profiles of local celebrities, details of the H1N1 clinics, sports reports, pictures of newlywed local couples, reports on what the municipality is doing.

Sounds a lot of work - and it is. But imagine if that business joined with other (non-competing) businesses to share the costs.

Your publication would be the talk of the town. Indeed, an essential resource.

And which company would have unlimited space for advertising? The owner of that distribution channel, of course.

OK, I know this sounds crazy. But it's worth at least listening to what Oprah does.

Going rogue does make some kind of sense.

[Picture credit]

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http://getreadynewsletters.com


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The Perils of Newsletter Personalization

Yesterday I received a Facebook "be my friend" request. It went like this:

"$Name$$, Facebook considered you as a friend. I enjoy meeting like minded people, hope you feel the same."

Personalization is a wonderful thing. And so is technology. Mix them and you have a powerful cocktail - or a recipe for disaster.

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It's proven that personalization can boost response to your marketing efforts.

That's why I use it myself. You'll see this email has your name at the top.

Like our Facebook "friend", you've got to be careful. Use it too much or make a mistake with the technology and you look an idiot.

SO HOW DO I USE PERSONALIZATION?

I use it (sparingly) in text emails like this because they have a kind of intimidate nature. The fact that they are text (not pretty HTML) makes them more personal - more like a real email. I've noticed I get more response from "text" newsletters than HTML ones.

I don't, however, use personalization in my monthly HTML email newsletter. There's something about the nature of the design and the content that make it more like a publication, not a personal note. It just seems wrong.

HERE'S WHAT I THINK. Personalization can make someone notice you.

But you want to go beyond that.

If you've succeeded in building a strong relationship with your clients, focus on being authentically you in your communications - not faking intimacy with technology.

(By the way, what many people don't know is that you can include personalization in your printed marketing. It costs you more, of course, but I'd be willing to bet your return on investment is higher, if the price of the product justifies it. Disclosure: I haven't tested print personalization myself yet.

When 1 + 1 = 3

As someone smart enough to be reading this blog, you know math.

So that means you understand that:

1 + 1 = 3

And 1 + 1 + 1 = 9

And 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = a-heck-of-a-lot

This isn't some kind of wacky math. It's the power of groups. They work "to the power of."

Kind of an exponential thing.

Last night I was the guest speaker on a teleseminar for business owners in a particular industry. The theme of the call was - naturally - newsletters. I supply a newsletter that these business owners use as the core of their marketing programs.

Although I was the one doing most of the talking, the power of groups is such that you always get back as much as you give. Often more.

(This is the reason I'm a member of a mastermind group here in Toronto. I know that I've added thousands of dollars worth of income to my business through being a part of this - ideas multiply when several smart people are in one room.)

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you some of the things I learned - or at least had reinforced - last night. There's a kind of random nature to this - but I hope you find it interesting anyway.

• One person put a folder of newsletters on the side of his car when he was out on a job. People could pick a newsletter up as a kind of business card as they were passing by.
  
• Someone else said that the most successful real estate agents in his town used newsletters. We talked about why that might be - I suggested that it was because they had long-term perspective, because they understand a value of a client over time. (One of the reasons people leave my program is that they want to get results instantly - they're not thinking of a client's lifetime value. Instead of building a viable business, they go from shiny object to shiny object, never building any customer relationships.)
  
• On the theme of lifetime value, we talked about the cost of sending a newsletter over the lifetime of a client vs. the income you get from that client. (Understanding that the newsletter is one of the tools that keeps a client with you forever.) I did that math once for real estate agents - see http://tinyurl.com/lifetimevalue
  
  
• Treat nodes in your community with extra respect. Nodes are people with lots of connections to the kind of people you reach. If you're in real estate, for example, a node might be an interior designer. Make sure they get a newsletter -even several. These people could be power-distributors for your message.
  
• Focus on marketing your business, not doing your business. This is an old one, but something people often still don't get. You can leverage your time by investing it in marketing and systems instead of trading hours for dollars by working "in" the business. (I shared my story about why learned marketing as my first step into being a business owner - because I knew that without knowing how to market my business, I would have no business.)
  
• The power of customer profiles. A great way to get engagement with your clients and to share their success stories. Goes back to the old newspaper law that says it's names and pictures that sell papers. People like to read about people who are like them.

Anyway, like I said, this is all a bit random. But I hope you can see how much value you an extract from just one hour.

If you can get together with other business owners - preferably outside your industry - you'll be able to get the same wacky math value that I got last night.

[Photo credit]

The trouble with 'newsletters'

I hate it when people ask me the question: So what is it you do?

A cocktail of adrenaline and tears rushes through my veins.

Do I give my pitch speech? "I help businesses build profitable, long-term relationships with their clients."

That often works only in an elevator.

Or do I just come out and say: "I make newsletters."

The trouble is, when I mention the word "newsletters" their eyes freeze over as they search for an escape route.

The conversation turns to the weather.

Guess it serves them right for asking.

You see, "newsletter" is such a terrible, awful word. I hate it. And I've been trying for years to find an alternative.

Trouble is, the synonyms I've found so far are also hateful.

There's "ezine" for the newsletter's email cousin, but to me that sounds like something a teenager would write.

Or there's the "drip campaign" for the automated series of emails designed to help convert prospects. But that sounds like a water torture.

And then there's "auto-responders", which is basically the technology that delivers the drips. Where's the soul in that?

You see, the newsletter - when done right - is so much more than some cynical use of communication.

When I contributed to the first Age of Conversation book (we're working on Volume III right now - stay tuned) I wrote about a store owner called Peter.

Peter was old-school. He remembers the days when people used to drop by his store just for a chat. He knew everything that was going on in the neighborhood. He would refer people to vendors.  He would help.

He had a relationship with his clients.

I tried to say in my chapter that a newsletter should be just like Peter.

You see, a newsletter is about developing a genuine, long-term relationship with people by providing useful, entertaining and interesting information. It's about sharing what works and what doesn't. It's about sharing stuff that happens in life. And it's about a conversation.

A newsletter is about being part of the community in which your readers exist - be that local or virtual. It's about being of service, for the long-term.

A newsletter integrates you into the lives of your customers as a valued, trusted partner.

Hmmm...that definition is 81 words long.

Anyone condense that into just one or two?

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My mission: Every businesses (even a funeral home) should have a newsletter: http://anewsletterforeverybusiness.com

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The efficient newsletter article

The chicken has 11 parts, I was told with huge authority by the 16-year-old KFC employee.

That was why I would receive only two breasts - the rest of my order would be made up of the other nine parts of chicken.

I guess that's fair, although I've wondered ever since what constituted that odd 11th part. Chickens, I had supposed, were symmetrical.

Indeed, I was pondering that question yesterday when I pushed not one but two chickens into the oven. That's 22 parts of chickeny goodness, plus an unknown quantity of soup, to be enjoyed over the next few days.

A super-efficient use of time and resources - a two-in-one combo roast coupled with full use of the chicken's parts makes an economic menu.

NEWSLETTER ARTICLES WORK THE SAME WAY. Never just write one and forget about it. Use it again and again. And when the words are flowing, write two and save yourself heating the oven of the mind next time.

A newsletter article can be posted to your blog or pasted on your website. It can form part of an auto-responder sequence to be sent out automatically to prospects who sign up on your website. You can submit it to one of those article repositories, such as ezinearticles.com, that help boost your search engine ranking.

You can also keep it in a library to pluck out when a client or prospect poses a relevant question.

(Indeed, that can work the other way too. It can pay to answer a client's emailed question thoroughly in the knowledge that you can use an edited version of the response in your newsletter. You'll have an impressed client and your newsletter written all in one.)

And once you're in the writing groove, crank out more than one article. You never know when the mood will strike again, so keep on writing while you can.

See - that's using all 11 parts of the article.

A bit of stuffing, and you're done.

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A Newsletter for Every Business: http://www.anewsletterforeverybusiness.com

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Beware the Apostrophist - Your Newsletter and Those Pesky Typos

I'm glad the Apostrophist doesn't read this blog. He'd be
after me with his big, black Sharpie - and I'd be in
trouble.

More about this grammar vigilante in a sec.

The thing is, when I re-read one of these messages a day or
two after I've posted it, I always spot a typo or seven.

That makes me cringe.

In my defense, let me say that I write these emails in my
head while in the shower, rush to the computer and dash them
out.

But listen: do as I say - not as I do.

Because typos - spelling errors, clumsy grammar, shoddy
constructions - should be avoided in your newsletter. They
make you look bad.

The newsletters I make for my clients are pored over by a
professional proof-reading company (http://www.proofreadnow.com),
where not one but two editors painstakingly highlight every
glitch.

And yet the occasional mistake still slips through. Such is
life.

But in the interests of preserving your newsletter dignity,
here are some tips:

1)    Put it away in a drawer for at least a day. There's
nothing like fresh eyes to make the invisible glaringly
obvious.

2)    Read it backwards. It's a great way to spot that
most evil, stealthy typo, the the repeated word.

3)    Have someone else read it. You're blind to your own
errors; a friend can see better.

4)    Use the online spelling and grammar checker made by
After the Deadline. You can paste your text into the window
at http://www.polishmywriting.com for a multicolored summary of
your errors. It's miles better than the Bill Gates version
in Word.

However, don't get hung up on it. You're writing to
communicate, not please your Grade 9 teacher.

Just make sure you strike a balance between appearing like a
slapdash writer and a dreary pendant.

Speaking of which - back to the Apostrophist.

He's a 62-year-old English accountant who was so incensed by
the missing apostrophes in his neighborhood's street signs
that he corrected them with a Sharpie. St Johns Close in
Tunbridge Wells was transformed into St John's Close with the
stroke of a pen.

"I think one should stand up for things and language is
worth standing up for. The trouble is that everything is
dumbed down now," he said.

I have to agree.

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A Newsletter for Every Business: http://www.anewsletterforeverybusiness.com

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