The creation of a newsletter is a serious decision because initiating one without the infrastructure and commitment to sustain it can wind up doing more harm than good. Your e-mail newsletter, once launched, will create an expectation among recipients and if you fail to deliver on that expectation it could lead to a backlash as your customers cll your reliability or commitment into question. The infrastructure you need includes content sources, graphic sources, and the e-mail capacity to send the newsletter. The commitment is eased when you create a timetable that details when the content needs to be concluded, when the graphics need to be completed, and when the newsletter needs to be edited and then ultimately sent. In choosing your send date, you need to think about the other newsletters your readers are likely to receive and make sure that you do not become just one more newsletter in their inboxes. We recommend you send it during a time of the month when there is traditionally less traffic. For example, Tudog sends its e-mail newsletter at the end of each month because most of our competing newsletters are sent either at the beginning or middle of the month. We have found that this increases our readership by approximately 20%.
The construction of a successful newsletter has 6 phases. They are:
1. Content The newsletter you send stands or falls on the relevance and quality of the content you incorporate. If your website is meant to entertain you content needs to be entertaining. If it is meant to educate, your content better be educational. Tudog does not believe in using the newsletter for self-promotional purposes, as we think that readers rapidly grow tired of reading commercials and self-serving material. There are other forums to engage in self-promotion. Your newsletter is a service to your customers and needs to be written from the perspective of what they need, and not from the view of how it can serve you. By having your newsletter serve your customers, it will ultimately serve you too.
2. Frequency You need to decide how often you are going to issue your newsletter. There are two primary considerations that need to make up the decision. The first is how often your customer base would engage you newsletter. If your sector is flooded with newsletters, you may conclude that there is an excess of reading material and that a quarterly newsletter is appropriate. Conversely, you may notice that there is both an absence of other newsletters and a hunger for information, leading you to conclude that a bi-weekly newsletter would provide you with an excellent opportunity. The second consideration is your internal capacity. You do not want to create an expectation for a newsletter that exceeds your production capacity. How many newsletters you are able to release each month needs to be the underlying driver to the decision how often your newsletter is released.
3. Design How your newsletter looks is crucial not only because it represents your company, but also because it could determine how people receive the newsletter and whether or not they are drawn to read it. A well designed newsletter includes a clear delineation of all areas of content, integrated, relevant images, and an identity that is consistent with your company's identity. It is important that you view your newsletter as an extension of your company and that its personality is representative of the image you transmit to your sector.
4. Database Your database is the list of people to whom you send your newsletter. Your list should be extracted from your client/customer base, prospective clients/customers, and your sector influencers. You should make sure that everyone receiving your e-mail newsletter either requested it or has a way to be removed from your list (clearly and easily marked in your e-mail). Your newsletter can be sent via snail mail, but the costs of printing and postage make e-mail a much more realistic and cost effective often. Using e-mail, you are able to send your newsletter as HTML, text, or in PDF format. You should select your format based on customer preferences. Tudog uses PDF after our inquiries indicated that our clients were most interested in receiving our newsletter in that format. You clients/customers may prefer a different format, but it should be noted that the content, design, and frequency are not influenced by format.
5. Marketing Your newsletter needs marketing support so that it can reach out to a wider audience and better serve your company as a marketing tool. The support it receives can be as simple as being listed on your website (with a sign-up option) to advertising and special attention. Tudog markets its website by permitted reprints of our articles in magazines and other newsletters, drawing attention to the company, our expertise, and that our newsletter offers continuing exposure to the ideas and hints we publish.
6. Testing We recommend that you test your newsletter before you send it out to your widest audience so that you can benefit from the feedback of your test group and ultimately send out the best newsletter possible. You should select a random group of people (between 50-200) to send your newsletter to, alongside a brief questionnaire asking for reviews on your look and content. Once you have their responses and incorporate some of their comments, you will know your newer version is close to the needs and wants of your target market.
Your e-mail newsletter is an excellent way to reach out to and become meaningful to your clients/customers. Embark on an e-mail newsletter only if you have the resources and commitment to sustain it. Done properly, it is a powerful and continuing tool for exposure and reinforcement of your expertise.
Because of its many benefits, there is no legitimate reason why every mortgage professional shouldn't be using an e-mail newsletter as a marketing strategy. We all know that the money is in the list, and here are three reasons why creating and maintaining an e-mail newsletter can help you generate extra mortgage leads each month.
The first immediate reason why you should have an e-mail newsletter is the extremely low cost needed to deliver your marketing message. For example, how much would it cost to send your request for referrals to 1000 former customers via direct mail, as opposed to e-mail? The postage alone in the direct-mail method will cost you almost four hundred dollars, not to mention the expenses for letterhead, envelopes, ink, etc. Using the same numbers, if you did this each month, you would save $4680 in postage fees alone! The only real fees associated with e-mail newsletter marketing is the autoresponder service, which handles your list management and e-mail broadcasting. This runs about $20 a month.
The second reason why mortgage professionals should have an e-mail newsletter is because of the amount of time saved through automation. How long would it take you to prepare 1000 mail pieces? This includes printing, folding and stuffing them into the envelope, sealing the envelope, printing or writing the address on the envelope, applying the appropriate amount of postage, etc. It would take several hours to several days before those thousand mail pieces were ready to mail out. Now compare that to the time it takes to write and send an e-mail out to a thousand individuals. Think about the time you would save over the course of a year.
The third reason why e-mail newsletters are an effective form of marketing for loan officers is that it allows you to contact your customers more frequently. Because of the time and costs involved, connecting with your customers more than once a month using direct-mail is just not realistic. But some researchers believe that the ideal amount of marketing contact is once a week. So what can you do? You create and run an e-mail newsletter. It helps you create a stronger bond with your customers by allowing you the opportunity to contact them on a weekly basis.
If you are looking for an effective and low-cost way of keeping in contact with your former customers, there is no better way than by using an e-mail newsletter. The amount of time that is saved because of automation will allow you more time to focus on selling your loans, and your weekly contact will help solidify yourself in the minds of your customers.
Both Duran Inci & Joe Pahl are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Duran Inci has sinced written about articles on various topics from Internet Marketing, Information Technology and The Internet. Duran is a technical writer for & by Netspace International.. Duran Inci's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.
Joe Pahl has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing Campaign, Real Estate and Finances. Joe Pahl is a marketing consultant and co-creator of the Loan Maker Gold System for Loan Officers.Find out how can help you create your own mortgage lea. Joe Pahl's top article generates over 2900 views. to your Favourites.