The biggest missed opportunity and wasted asset I see in most businesses is their customer and lead list.
Today, I’m going to reveal to you the simplest, most cost-effective and impactful system that you can implement to turn this withering, wasted asset into one of your most powerful, profitable, and reliable sources of new business.
Ready?
Send a damn email newsletter.
Oh, did you know I was going to say that?
Well then, are you sending one?
At my last business, email marketing comprised 80% of our marketing strategy, drove nearly all of our sales, and sold millions of dollars of product. Today, I’m going to share one tiny but important slice of that system – the lowly email newsletter.
Oh, I know why you’re not sending one….
- It doesn’t work.
- You don’t want to annoy people.
- Your customers don’t buy like that. 🙄
- It’s too much work.
- You’re not sure what you’d say week after week or month after month.
These are misinformed and inexperienced excuses for letting your lowest lying fruit rot on the vine. 🍑
So let’s break it down.
- It does work. Email is one of the most tested, cost-effective, tried and true marketing channels there is, and repeated examination shows that it delivers somewhere near a 40:1 ROI.
- People aren’t annoyed when you deliver value in your email. Those who don’t see the value aren’t your leads, prospects, or referral partners. Let them unsubscribe, it’s fine.
- Are your customers people? Do they have email addresses? Yes, they do buy like that.
- Too much work? Aye, there’s the rub. You don’t have a system.
- Not sure what to say? BINGO!
Your newsletter doesn’t have to be a weekly time-consuming thought piece. It doesn’t need to be fancy visually (and I’d argue it shouldn’t be). And no, you don’t even need to be the one to write it when you implement this system.
At the time that I sold my last business, we had 25,000 email newsletter subscribers even though we relentlessly culled non-engagers and we enjoyed a nearly 30% open rate often much higher. Imagine 8,250 people hearing from you each week. That’s more people than live in the town I grew up in tuning in, receiving value from my company, recognizing us every single week.
But I digress… today’s post isn’t about growing your list, it’s about engaging it.
When you have systems in place that run without you and drive revenue, you create more revenue and more value in your business.
When I determined that I wanted to sell my business, there was no question that I could no longer be the sole content authority in the business. That meant that I needed a system that any appropriately skilled person could run and manage AND deliver value to the reader, and that is exactly what this system provides.
7 Steps to the Easiest Effective Weekly Newsletter System Ever
This system will work in 90% of industries. Here’s how to implement it. It is wicked effective 😉
- Pick a schedule so your readers know what to expect. It doesn’t really matter what it is, but I like weekdays for this kind of email. Yes, I know I send this one, the one you’re reading now, on the weekends, but it’s different. Do 10 AM on Mondays, or 11 AM on Thursdays, it’s not the most important decision you’ll make.
- Aggregate the news in your industry. Any industry worth being in has news and information being published about it constantly. Maybe your blog is a source. Do you read news each week from your industry? Do you like and share things on social media? So do people on your team. When you read or engage with something, simply save that item to a central repository. I like the Notion Web Clipper and I just send everything to one database.
- Write 1-3 paragraphs, a summary, and insights for what’s in this week’s newsletter. This is where you demonstrate a bit of knowledge and expertise and you also “tell’em what you’re gonna tell’em” about what’s in today’s newsletter.
- Insert your “call to action”. If you don’t have a CTA then you probably won’t get any… um… action.
- Choose and insert links to the 3-5 most important or interesting items you collected that week. Insert the link, write 1-3 sentences that summarize the benefit to the reader. That’s it.
- Sign off and restate your CTA.
- Send it every single week.
Now you’re an authority on what’s happening in your industry.
Your readers love it because you save them time and bring important information to the fore.
Your sending reputation goes up because people are opening and engaging with your emails every week.
You have an automatic follow-up system for everyone who isn’t ready to buy today.
You convert more leads to prospects because they come to know, like, and trust you.
You get more referrals because you are top of mind with your partners and vendors.
You close more business, you make more money, and your business is worth more because you have higher sales, a proven channel, a captive audience, and a reliable system that converts leads to revenue.
Or forgo all these benefits and just make excuses for why you don’t send a newsletter.
