For the past three years, I’ve been publishing a bi-weekly Construction Marketing Ideas e-letter. We send this newsletter to people who request it (often from this blog) and to our current clients and advertisers. The distribution varies somewhat issue to issue (for example, if the e-letter includes information specifically relevant to members of an association we may add those names to the list for that issue) but distribution generally is around 2,500 copies.
Usually, each week, we receive a dozen or so “please stop sending” requests, but the more interesting element is the business the e-letter generates. Response isn’t usually “we’ll buy this now” but some readers respond with personal communications which then lead to relationships and profitable business. Overall, the email letter has generated about $30,000 in directly attributable sales — not a huge number, considering our overall business volume, but certainly worthwhile. I expect there are other more subtle advantages, especially in retaining top-of-mind awareness and relationships for future business.
If you aren’t currently producing an e-letter, you should consider idea. Email service providers provide templates and support resources. You of course need a list to send the letter and you need permission from your readers first. Spam may work for some scuzzy businesses but I doubt you are in that category.
A ground rule for eletters is that you should not be selling but sharing. Focus on what you can give rather than what you have to market. The more you push product or services in your eletter and the less you provide valuable insights and information, the less likely your eletter is to succeed.
In case you are wondering which email service to use, our primary service is Constant Contact. (A click on this link will give you a discount and us a modest referral commission.) As a backup, we also use MailChimp, with a rather different interface but one which I find quite intuitive and easy-to-use. (The Mailchimp is part of our repertoire because we inadvertently set an option within Constant Contact that stored several names of readers in North Carolina which cannot now receive our e-letters unless they specifically request them; trouble is, they don’t know about the e-letter to make the request.)
The advantgage of Mailchimp is you can maintain a small list indefinitely for free. Constant Contact offers a free trial period, but that ends and you will need to start paying. Neither service will charge you outrageous fees for the full paid service — our bill from Constant Contact for a list base of more than 5,000 names is about $150 a month.)
Other considerations in your emailings:
When to mail?
This depends on your market. You can survey your readership. Many business-to-business newsletters are sent on Tuesday morning, early enough in the week to allow for decision-making that week. There are studies indicating response rates are better in the morning. However, some successful marketers send their eletters on Friday afternoon. This I think is because the readers are chilling out for the weekend and have time to read material away from the rush of day-to-day-business. Consumer emails may also be most effective on the weekend.
How do you best gather names?
Obviously you can invite inquires from your website, but you also can provide a form or sign up at shows, events or your receptionist can gather email information when potential clients call. Whatever you do, you must be careful not to send emails without permission and if they even hint at not wanting to receive it, remove their names from the list.
