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Giving Customers News They Can Use

Guest post by: Traci Hayner Vanover

Article Overview: In times when your marketing budget may be tight, utilizing resources like your customer newsletter can pay dividends.

Giving Customers News They Can Use

How many newsletters are you currently receiving by email? I don’t have an exact number, but I know there are several dozen. Over the last few weeks, I started to trim the herd a bit, as I noticed that I was receiving less information — in favor of more sales messages.

Now, let me be clear here…I don’t begrudge anyone for trying to make a living — your customers don’t, either. I fully support those businesses whose mailing lists I subscribe to; however, in return, I do expect to receive information or news that is useful to me, or to my business.

If you offer a newsletter or periodic mailing to your customers, now is not the time to depart from the tried-and-true formula of providing news, content and value. Instead, use this tool to connect with your customers like never before. Enlist their cooperation, their opinions, and their suggestions. How can you improve your business, be more attentive to their needs, or utilize their knowledge to broaden your existing content?

Such measures will not only gain their respect and loyalty, but it will help you to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Providing more valuable content – some ideas to get you started:

• Are you offering products for resale? Offer your customers PDF sales materials that they can use, and personalize with their business information.
• Create short tutorial videos or audio podcasts with product information, instructions, or providing answers to common technical questions.
• Do you serve a tight niche market? Compile information that is of use to your customers from complimentary (but non-competitive sources). Sharing content builds allied relationships in the marketplace, and doubles the value you bring to your customers.
• Keep a pulse on market developments by using tools like news feeds and news alerts. Posting recent headlines in your newsletter. Your customers will appreciate the time you have saved them in searching.
• Set up a Twitter account, and start asking your customers what they need. You’ll gain quick, succinct responses that you can immediately put to use. Your customers can be a great resource for stories you can share in your newsletter.

In times when your marketing budget may be tight, utilizing resources like your customer newsletter can pay dividends.

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Article Tags: building rapport with customers, customer service, marketing, newsletters



Related Forum Posts
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
How to Do Great Marketing with (Amost) No Money - I've given this presentation to CEOs many times. Now i can share it with you. But I cannot because I do not yet have 20 posts. Jeff Ogden, President Find New Customers
Enterpreneur News - Hi Don - do you have a good Entrepreneur News feed that you can recommend?
Re: Quote of the Day - ?"If you want to stand out and win busine - Great post Evan, I agree 100% with GT, it's good to learn from others who have trodden the same path and found success but the time comes to branch off and discover ourselves and what we can bring to the business that others haven’t thought of. Giving extra value to a customer is a sure fire way to stand out and build your reputation as a unique service in an established market. regards, Mal.
Re: Are Business Owners too Old School to be Sold by a blog - [quote:140e27hj]Customers Pick Static Documents over Blog Entries 8 to 1 on Average[/quote:140e27hj] Interesting study. Just as a commenter said on your post... don't call it a blog. I agree.


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