Is Writing a Newsletter Important to My Small Business?

Yes, friend, a business newsletter is right up there with ezines and blogs as one of the least expensive ways you can reach out to your clients and customers and continue to forge that "personal relationship".

Anyone in a small business knows that competing with the "Big Boys" (as I call them) can be difficult.  They are able to offer better promotions than you do.  They can undercut prices more than you can.  They have a national marketing campaign and you don't.

What you do have is a customer list. This should be made up of anyone who has ever come into your small business.  If they are interested at all in your products/services, it doesn't matter if they didn't buy from you.  A smart business owner will do everything in their power to get that potential customer's contact information.

Once you have that information, you need to keep in touch.

I don't mean sell all the time.

I mean, create a relationship with that person.  If you have a way of discovering what they're interested in, and why they came to you in the first place, you can try to anticipate problems they may be having and then help them with those problems.

Some newsletters can be a FAQ sheet that other customers have asked over the years. Type up those questions and answers and suddenly you have a very quick newsletter that doesn't do a whole lot of selling, but does a whole lot of helping.

Customers like businesses that are interested in helping them.  If they had a choice between your business and the small shop down the street who doesn't bother with forming a relationship, who do you think they'll remember the next time they need your product(s) or service(s)?

That's right.

The one they've been forming a relationship with.  They'll come to you.

That's reason enough to start a newsletter.

But don't worry, I have a lot more reasons coming up.

Best,

Kathleen