7 Reasons Why You Need an E-Newsletter
It’s E-Newsletter Time
If you've been contemplating whether or not you need an e-mail newsletter for your small business, let me be the one to tell you:
It is probably a good idea.
While you're probably thinking of an e-newsletter as "another thing to do," the fact is that it adds SO much brand value. Not only does it help you bond with and reach more potential customers but it is also a robust marketing tool with numerous benefits that will help your business grow and thrive in the long run.
Here are seven reasons why you need an e-newsletter for your small business:
1. They're a cost-effective way to market your business.
No matter how big or small your business is, sending just one e-mail to your list of prospects and clients to advertise or share information is MUCH more cost-effective than the old-fashioned snail mail method.
Just think of how much time and resources you'd have to spend on printing individual marketing pieces! That doesn't even consider the cost of postage, the time it takes to send it, and the time spent handling all of those inevitable "non-deliverable" pieces that end up coming back to you.
On the contrary, a free or low-cost e-marketing tool can blast off hundreds or even thousands of eye-catching e-mails anywhere in the world. Additionally, it can help you monitor delivery and open rates (something you can't do with snail mail) and makes it easy to update outdated information with a few button clicks.
Mailchimp is one of my favorite platforms for sending e-newsletters. It is cost-effective, with a free option for up to 2,000 contacts and 10,000 sends, and it is also very easy to learn and use. Flodesk is another one of my favorites that makes e-mail design, branding, and automation easy.
The more your audience learns about you and your mission and sees that you are dedicated to helping them solve their challenges and problems (whether they buy from you or not), the more it helps them build their trust and loyalty in you.
2. To provide another touch-point with your audience.
Unlike social media platforms where you are competing against the algorithm and their friends and family for their attention, an e-newsletter gets delivered straight to their inbox and encourages responses to your calls-to-action. In other words, it keeps you at the front of their mind.
3. To build trust and loyalty.
E-newsletters not only position you as an expert in your industry by giving you a vehicle to deliver topics important to your audience, but it also provides a way to share more about yourself as a business owner and your brand.
The more your audience learns about you and your mission and sees that you are dedicated to helping them solve their challenges and problems (whether they buy from you or not), the more it helps them build their trust and loyalty in you.
4. To keep your audience "in the know."
E-newsletters are key for keeping your audience informed of things happening in your business, whether an upcoming event, a new product or service, or prepping them for forthcoming changes. While it is true that social media can serve the same purpose, as mentioned earlier, an e-newsletter will show up at the top of their inbox, keeping you at the forefront of their minds.
E-newsletters can also dive into the above information even more by allowing you to include links and photo descriptions that will attract more readers as well as encourage engagement and interaction.
5. For a more permanent way to connect.
When you build an e-mail list, it belongs to you and only you. However, if you depend on social media to interact with your audience, you'll have a problem if those platforms go down for some reason. Or, imagine if they disappear altogether? Just like that, so do all of your contacts!
(Remember that one time in October 2021 when Facebook and its subsidiaries went down, leaving many online businesses in the dark about what to do next? Businesses with e-mail lists didn't flinch because they knew they had another way to reach their audience outside social media. If anything, I'd say that alone was a huge wake-up call about how critical e-newsletters are!)
6. To make it easier to connect one-on-one.
When done right, e-newsletters can encourage your subscribers to engage with you directly and privately. For example, sending a poll or a request to reply to your newsletter can open up doors to having a one-on-one conversation in your inbox versus a public one under a social media page or thread.
The one-on-one conversations help you learn more about what is important to them and put you in place to provide them with a more custom solution to their problems (see #3 about building trust and loyalty)!
7. The content is an excellent tool for repurposing into other content.
Last but not least, the content you put in your e-newsletter doesn't have to stay exclusive to the e-newsletter! The written content you provide can be repurposed in many ways and turned into educational videos, social media posts, reels, or blog posts.
Likewise, suppose you're looking for content to put in your newsletter. In that case, you can use transcripts from your existing videos, social media posts, or blog posts and turn them into short e-newsletter articles or sections. Again, repurposing content helps expand your reach to an even wider audience and continues to provide valuable information to those who haven't yet signed up to receive your e-newsletter.
How often should you send an e-newsletter?
So now that you've decided that you want to start an e-newsletter, the next question is, "How often should I send it?"
When deciding the frequency of your e-newsletter, think about what is realistic and sustainable for you and your small business. You can choose to send it weekly, biweekly, or even monthly. What's important is consistency and that you don't commit yourself to something you can't stick with in the long run!
Once you decide how often you want to send it, stick to it so that your audience knows when to expect to hear from you. It will also get your audience looking forward to hearing from you!
If you've been considering starting a newsletter for your business but don't know where to start, we should chat. Contact me today for a complimentary 30-minute call!
