1. Establish
yourself as a trusted expert. People search online for information and
will look to you, as a subject matter expert, to provide it to them. Every week
(or whatever schedule works) provides an opportunity to build on this, while
reinforcing your brand.
2. Build
a relationship with the people on your list. It's common knowledge
that people like to buy from people they like. By using ezines to connect with
readers in their homes, you can develop a relationship of familiarity and
trust. Be sure to share a little about yourself or your company in every issue,
whether it is an anecdote, event, or employee spotlight.
3. Keep
in touch with prospects and clients. Consideration should be given to
eventually developing two ezines: one for prospects and one for clients, as
each require different information. This is a great way to notify your readers
of weekly specials or upcoming product launches, offer new articles or customer
stories, and provide links (or urls) to update FAQs, blogs and splash pages.
4. Drive
traffic to your website or blog. As noted in #3, remember to call
attention to new blog posts or other changes to your website with links
directly to those pages. Remind readers of your online newsletter archives.
Promote special sales (maybe with discount coupon codes only for subscribers)
with a link to the sales page. Use links to turn your ezines and newsletters
into 'silent salespersons'– driving traffic to your website and building your
lists around the clock.
5. Build
content on your website. Make a habit to adding your ezines and
newsletters to your website in an archive area. This serves a several important
purposes:
o
Visitors can read an issue or two to determine
if your ezine will be of interest to them, which could help to increase
sign-ups and potential sales.
o
If you optimize your article placements, you
will not only make your website 'meatier', but you'll also bring new traffic
from the search engines.
6. Get
feedback from your readers. Make it easy for you to stay in touch with
prospects and customers and vice versa. Ask them to take action and comment on
your articles and offers. Conduct polls and surveys. Start a 'Letters to the
Editor' column in your ezine. Feedback allows you to fine tune your messages,
target your marketing, and expand your product line. It's also great for
relationship building!
7. Develop
an information product. If you deliver your newsletter once a week and
include two articles, at the end of a year you'll have 104 well-researched
articles in your portfolio! Pick the best-of-the-best and turn them into a
bonus eBook for opting-in to your list, submit to download sites to build your
list, or sell in PDF-format!
8. Grow
your mailing list. Let your ezine subscribers work for you. Be sure to
remind your readers that it's okay to forward your newsletter to anyone they'd
like. In addition, it's important to include sign-up instructions for those who
received your ezine from viral marketing methods. A simple line titled, 'Get
Your Own Copy of XXXXXX', with a link to your squeeze or opt-in page is all it
takes! I use getresponse.
9. Gather
demographic data. By offering surveys, feedback forms, and niche
reports, you'll be able to get valuable information about your prospects and
customers. Learn what makes your readers tick, how to better serve them, and
how to give them what they want. Make sure they become repeat customers!
10. Save
money! All of the above benefits of publishing an ezine are free or
almost free. The small cost of a top-rated ezine publishing system is
nothing compared to the cost of brochures, business cards, advertising, direct
mail, pay-per-click or other means of promotion. Not only that, but someone has
to manage that production! Because your newsletter is delivered online, you can
grow your list to be as large as you want without worrying about the expense. Bottom
line − it's proven that email marketing is the most cost-effective marketing
solution for companies just like yours!
