Keep in Touch- and keep at work- with a company newsletter

You have files full of names and addresses of past customers. Here’s a great way to profit from that: A newsletter.

In previous articles, we discussed how direct mail could work for a contracting business. It can. Think of a newsletter as a more personal direct mail campaign. A company newsletter can come out once per month, or once per quarter, but it should be regular. The length can vary depending on the size of your company, as well as your marketing budget. Your newsletter goals should be clearly defined, and once they are, the content can follow.

Some possible goals would be to promote your services, highlight what you have been up to between issues, educate the reader on new products and services available, as well as to promote the industry in general.

Here are some ideas to get you visualize your own newsletter. The front page of your newsletter could include a feature story about a recent big project or even a work in progress, as well as a table of contents and your contact information. Then, your pages to follow can include tidbits about any professional organizations you belong to and what you have done as a part of them, any community service projects you donated time or money to,
news about any of your employees, a story from a pleased customer and more. You could also give project ideas that pertain to the specific time of year.

Another good idea is to offer some sort of referral bonus in each issue, perhaps with a cutout coupon. The reader can mail it in with the name and address of a referral, and then be rewarded with movie passes or a dinner gift certificate.

The number of people you send the list to can vary. If you are a smaller company, perhaps you will want to stay within your customer base. If you are larger, or just have a larger budget, you could even purchase a mailing list and target a certain demographic. Either way, in addition to mailing, you will want to have extras so you can leave them behind at estimates, or give them to any business associates you may have- vendors, realtors, etc.

Doing the work yourself is fine, but if you are too busy, this good idea could fall to the wayside after issue one. The newsletter is such a worthwhile marketing tool, that hiring someone to produce it for you is a minimal investment. Freelance writers are available through local college journalism departments, ad agencies (probably more expensive), or online at www.elance.com. After your newsletter is written, you just need to connect with a local printer to print off the newsletter. (And perhaps, vendors or other service providers (insurance, etc) can help offset the printing cost as they can advertise their services.)

Next- it’s off to hundreds of mailboxes to garner you repeat or new business.