The Competitive Advantage
If you are an independent sales agent or consultant, or a tradesman who works for
himself, a regular newsletter is one of the best ways there is to promote your business. The
better and more effective your newsletter, the more your standing will grow as an expert in
your field, the more trust you will generate and the more loyal will become your readers
(and the more readers will therefore become customers).
Despite these benefits, most self-employed people never publish one. The question then
is, why not? Since newsletters are my field, this was a mystery to me at first. There are
many answers, of course, but for the majority of go-ahead self-employed people, two reasons
predominate. Most quote either cost, or a lack of content ideas (in other
words, what to put in it)—or both. It took me a long time to realize that these were the
reasons. Our online mailing lists and websites were born from that realization.
Right now though, you can turn this antipathy to your advantage. The chances are that if
you start your own newsletter you will have a major competitive advantage over your peers.
Minimizing Costs And Maximizing Benefits
Let's look at 'cost' first. Virtually the first thing that salespeople learn is not to
mention price before they've had a chance to talk about benefits. When I managed a sales
team I used to advise everyone to simply ignore the question "How much?" if they
were asked it by a prospect. That's right, pretend they didn't hear the question. That they
had temporarily gone deaf! In the case of a persistent price query, they were urged to
respond by saying, "I'm coming to that" and then continue talking about benefits.
Why? Was I encouraging some sort of devious sales ploy? The answer is that talking price
without an appreciation of benefits translates into cost alone (something that appears on
the debit side of a ledger) without a balance (something that counteracts it on the credit
side). In other words, cost is perceived as a loss.
The truth is that, because of modern technology, there are a lot more choices than there
used to be. Nobody is restricted any longer to the rigid, third party solution of taking the
job to the nearest printer. Now, there are a range of choices, including using one's own
personal desktop printer. The result is that virtually anyone can afford to produce one.
It's just a matter of choosing the production method most suitable for your budget.
Content: The Vital Ingredient
That brings us to the other most common reason why even self-employed people who
understand the potential benefits of newsletters (for promotion of themselves and their
business) don't use them; because they don't know what to put in them. 101 Newsletter Answers ,
both the website and the ezine, aim to simplify things for you by providing advice and, with
ClipCopy Content Solutions*, actual
material for you to use. Looking more closely at 'content' for newsletters for the
self-employed let us consider some hypothetical cases as examples:
- Computer Consultant. Technology is evolving at such a rapid rate that, if
anything, it would probably be advisable to concentrate on a specific area. A computer
consultant probably already would anyway. She might work in IT, or networking, or
programming or any one of a dozen or more particular fields. For the purpose of this
article, we'll assume her specialty is application training and, to tighten the focus
even further, that she only teaches Microsoft Office applications in the corporate
sector. In this case her newsletter might have a similar focus though broadening on the
computing angle as necessary. Those items most likely to appeal to readers would
probably include any Microsoft news (but especially news of upcoming developments in MS
Office) as well as a regular feature on an aspect of the suite, a 'tips & hints'
column, a few jokes, maybe a cartoon, and even a computer-focused crossword. Some kind
of 'focus on a reader' item is also usually very popular. This might be 'Most Improved
Student' from her last training assignment, especially if the student was an employee of
a prestigious company.
- Plumber. Here the theme would necessarily be somewhat less focused but not that
difficult to work out. Once again, a 'tips & hints' feature, this time on
maintaining a plumbing system in good order and with due regard to seasonal
considerations. A general household hints column would also probably prove popular. News
of developments in water transport and storage and associated areas such as 'How to
install solar heating' would also be complementary (How-to articles are always popular
in the right context). Plus, of course, appropriate filler items to provide balance.
- Realtor. Home improvement would be the likely choice for the overall theme of
this newsletter. The possible range of appropriate articles is vast and might even
include, for example, landscaping. 'Tips from the expert', in this case, would probably
be along the lines of 'how to add value to your home'.
- Life Insurance Agent. 'Providing for your retirement' might be deemed a
suitable title for a regular feature in this newsletter though I would advise something
snappier like 'Planning for a Great Future' (i.e. unless the agent's specialty is in
another field such as key-man insurance). Associated topics might include anything of
interest to the target market. For instance, if the TM is young families then babies,
education, household budgeting etc might all be appropriate.
There are endless possibilities when it comes to providing your readers with content that
they will appreciate. For the self-employed it is a matter of seeing beyond your field and
looking at the world through the eyes of potential customers. Acquiring the necessary
material is also now greatly simplified by making use of such solutions as are provided by
101 Newsletter Answers in the form of ClipCopy.
© 1999 Mike Alexander (Revised 2003)
*http://www.clipcopy.com/
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Mike Alexander is the creator and owner of '101 Newsletter Answers', the 'How-To'
place where the focus is on 'Power Communicating' with newsletters. http://www.101newsletteranswers.com
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