What It Is, Why You Need It And How To Find It
I recently got a flyer in my mailbox (my real one, not my electronic one) from a real
estate agent. It led with a query about whether I was interested in selling my home and
following this was a list of properties in my area that were on the market. It was a
well-designed piece of work. A lot of thought had gone into the layout, paper type etc. It
was a very professional presentation. So, what do you think I did with it? Yes, that's
right. I did what most other people who received it did. I consigned it to a round file
(garbage bin) without even reading it. That's what happens to nearly all flyers. Similar
results apply to advertisements of all kinds. In our house we use the TV remote a lot—for muting the ads. Reading a newspaper can be a
frustrating experience too. Some have so many advertisements it is hard to find the bits you
want to read (the news!).
Finding Buyers
Let's look again at the real estate agent's solution to her problem of finding buyers.
She has been told, quite rightly, that selling is a numbers game. Present your message to
enough prospects, she has learnt, and the sales will follow. And it's true! It is also true
that if you asked everyone you met, "Do you want to buy a house?" it would be only
a matter of time before someone would answer "Yes, OK. How much?". A long, long
time. Most people would respond with that old cliché, "not interested, thanks".
The flyer is just another way of asking the same question. The only difference is that it
costs a lot more than asking everyone you meet.
A Newspaper Lesson
We can learn something, though, from how we scan newspapers for news. The advertisements
are skimmed as quickly as possible. Occasionally we get caught out by a clever advertiser
framing her ad so that it looks like a news item (this should be a lesson in itself but more
on that in another issue). Then something catches our eye and we stop to read it. It might
be a filler article on a subject we are interested in. It might be a cartoon or a joke. The
point is that people will always stop to read what is, to them, compelling reading. In other words, subjects they
are interested in or that they perceive as useful to them.
Why You Need Compelling Content
So, am I suggesting that this agent is wasting her time? Well, yes—and no! No, because
by putting out something that is potentially less transient than a spoken question, she is
on the right track. Yes, because a flyer is the wrong vehicle for her message. There is no compelling
reason to read it. What she should be doing is publishing a regular newsletter full of compelling
content so that when her prospects are in the market for a new home, she is the one they naturally turn to.
Finding Compelling Content
To provide compelling content there are only two questions that must be answered:
- Who is the reader?
- What are her prime, and in some cases, secondary, interests likely to be?
The key is to choose items for inclusion according to these two considerations. For
example, the newsletter supporting our real estate agent would be distributed to house
owners and house buyers. They, not the agent, are the people who make up the
readership. Key interests for these people are things like home improvement, insurance,
garden supplies, furnishings, home finance, etc. On a secondary level you might look at
an even wider range of interests for the type of readership you are aiming at. House owners
are, on average, family people, car owners, vacationers etc. Any topic of interest to these
groups can be compelling content, especially if it contains advice or help of some kind.
The success of any newsletter depends largely on the amount of compelling content it
contains. In the case of a newsletter which you are producing on behalf of a principal (eg
if you were desktop publishing the newsletter for a real estate agent, as discussed
earlier), she (the principal) will often want to provide an article or message(s) for
inclusion. Aside from this though, the problem of finding suitable supporting material,
which might determine how successful the newsletter turns out to be, would often be yours.
You certainly should be willing to advise in this area if you want the account to continue
and prosper.
© 1999 Mike Alexander (Revised 2003)
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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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