Page 129 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

101 WAYS TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS

48 Start your own newsletter

Another great idea is to start your own newsletter. If you
have established a good database of past clients, why not
take the time to produce a newsletter once a month or
once every few months to keep your customers updated on
what is happening in your business and in your industry.

I see hundreds of businesses that could really benefit
from this type of promotion but they rarely do because it
is too hard to think of new ideas and to get someone to
write it. Remember, newsletters are exactly that—a brief
letter telling the news. They do not need to be works of
art or fifty pages long but they do need several elements
to be successful:

1. newsletters must be well laid out and easy to read;
2. they need a few pictures or line drawings;
3. they must come out regularly;
4. the information must be relevant and accurate;
5. the writing must be interesting;
6. try to be light and humorous;
7. articles should be short and to the point; and
8. encourage people to contribute articles to the newsletter.

I used to buy my fishing equipment at a store in
Western Australia several years ago. This business started a
monthly newsletter and I could not wait for it to arrive
each month. It contained excellent information that was
very relevant. The fishing newsletter had pictures of the
best catches that month, a brief product review of new
fishing rods and reels, an article on bait by one of the staff,
the next month’s tide charts, advertisements for fishing
charters and a schedule for any fishing television shows
being aired during the next month.

What a great newsletter. The icing on the cake was that
a fishing equipment manufacturer sponsored the newsletter,
paying for all costs in return for an advertisement. The

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