When it comes to online marketing tools, email newsletters continue to offer a lot of benefits for small businesses and you should be taking advantage of them. Chances are you’re probably signed up for and receiving several newsletters in your own inbox. Businesses use email newsletters with solid success for a host of reasons, a few of which we’ll cover below:
Email Newsletters Drive Sales – A newsletter gives you the chance to highlight a certain product or service, include discounts and/or coupons, and also put out a call to action. Think of it as a little push for your recipients to get headed the right direction.
Personal Connection – Newsletters are important because they give you the opportunity to connect with customers on a personal level, which establishes trust and earns loyalty. Your reputation is a foundation on which you build your business, and it starts with a personal connection.
Newsletters Increase Your Exposure– Newsletters give you an opportunity to highlight your social media accounts, increase your exposure, gain followers, and boost traffic to your website.
Everybody has an email account, not everybody has a social media account – Well, ALMOST everybody has an email account–holdouts are few and far between. Facebook posts only reach an estimated 10% of their target audience, whereas newsletters go straight to a personal email account; both can be effective but one is guaranteed direct.
User Friendly And Low Cost – Most basic email subscription services are fairly simple with user friendly templates. Some email newsletter services even free if your subscription list is less than 500 and after that, user fees are relatively low. As far as marketing costs go, email subscription services are extremely budget friendly.
So Do I Need a Newsletter?
Only if you want reach your customers on a consistent basis, let them know about specials, maintenance tips, ideas, and service recommendations; and have your business delivered straight to their email inbox. Email newsletters are a simple and direct way to communicate with your customers and keep your business in the forefront of their minds. Take these few important points into consideration and check your options out, the benefits are clear!
*Check out this post on email marketing 101 for some tips on how to make that newsletter into something worth reading.
For more insights on marketing strategy that actually works for small business, subscribe to the FreshLime Newsletter here. Connect with Jay Bean, Founder of FreshLime and Small Business Marketing Expert on LinkedIn and Twitter.