You may genuinely want to educate people on your product or service (and that is a great way to do it). Yet, the prime motivation for that is to get your target audience to do something.
Whether it’s buying more mutual funds, making a charitable contribution, or renewing a membership, there’s always an objective beyond putting out information. Your story selection should never lose sight of that fact.
For example, Company Y puts a blurb in their client e-newsletter about their employee Bob Jones celebrating his 40th anniversary with the firm. It’s a nice human interest piece and makes a small statement about Bob’s loyalty and the quality of Company Y. Yet it really does nothing for the customer other than make them say “wow, that’s a long time,” or “when is Bob going to retire?”
Now, if Bob Jones’ department adds a new server that’s going to help Company Y process orders 10 times faster than the competition, that gets people’s attention. Especially if you are a potential client or a former client who may have stopped using Company Y because of slow service.
Make sense?
The Fix:
When creating a story list for your e-newsletter, take a step back and try to imagine what your customers want to read. What’s bothering them, making their day-to-day business life more difficult?
If you come up with a blank, ask one or two of them with whom you have a relationship. Most customers, when asked in a casual, non-confrontational manner, will tell you what’s on their mind and then some. From there, you have a good start to developing a story list. And if the stories in your publication make your customer’s life easier, solve a problem, save money, or make money for them, they will read your e-newsletter. Promise.
Addendum:
Giving your readers what they want is only part of it. You must give them the next step or call-to-action as well—even if that seems fairly obvious. So, if they read your article, enjoy it enough to want to receive more similar articles, you have to tell them how to do that: click on the attached link to sign up for future newsletters or our special report. You can even make a case that every article you include in your newsletter must ask for some type of action.
This blog was originally in Nobody Reads Your e-Newsletter…And How To Fix It.
