In a relationship business, it is so important to stay in touch with clients, strategic alliances and prospects on a consistent basis. Email is still one of the most effective tools to help do this - specifically e-newsletters.
Here are ten tips to be successful sending out e-newsletters:
1. Leverage Outside Technology
Several services help provide canned content, but advisory firms should look at dedicating resources to create their own customized content.
Constant Contact is one vendor that helps small business market like Fortune 500 companies by providing robust e-mail capabilities, templates, list management, detailed reporting and more.
Marc Freedman, president & CEO of Freedman Financial Associates, Inc. (associated with LPL Financial) says, "E-mail is great to reach a large group of people at a low price. Our e-newsletters are designed to drive people to my Web site. The Constant Contact cost is minimal and the time isn't enormous."
Freedman shared that taking advantage of e-mails actually saved his firm a lot of money. Originally they sent out a quarterly newsletter that was more time consuming, more expensive, because of postage and printing, and less environmentally friendly.
2. Build Lists
It starts with capturing e-mails for all the groups that you want to e-mail. For clients, capture information during the onboarding stage or send out an annual survey requesting the information. Also, have e-newsletter sign-up feature on your Web site and Facebook page. (See byrnesconsulting.com for an example of this.)
As you grow your contacts, it makes sense to have multiple lists, allowing e-newsletters to be customized to the specific audience (e.g. clients, prospects, strategic alliances, media, etc.)
Freedman Financial Associates was able to expand it newsletter to include a lot more prospects when they transitioned from paper to e-mail. If you are still using paper mailings, way them against this electronic benefit.
3. Have A Strong Design
Use appealing templates, utilize white space, have a consistent font that is not too small, show your logo and possibly head shot, stick with your standard colors, and use images to help capture the recipients' attention, while also helping deliver your message.