By Guest Blogger Sandra Martini
Ahhh, the ezine – that digital piece of foundation upon which many online-focused businesses have been built.
What role, if any, does it play in your business today?
The answer, as with most *good* answers when it comes to business and marketing strategy, is that “it depends”:
- It depends on your industry, that is “Who does your business serve?”
- It depends on the consistency you publish – Weekly, biweekly, monthly, when you feel like it?
- It depends on what’s IN your ezine – Is it 75% info and 25% promotion. . .or the other way around?
- It depends on the relationship you have with your readers – Do they open it when it arrives, do they move it to a “read later” folder or do they ask “What’s she selling now?”
- And it depends on which other media (blog, audio, video, direct mail, social media) you use to communicate with your peeps and, of course, how often you use them.
And, once you choose whether or not to offer an ezine, the next question is “Why should your peeps subscribe/read it given that:
- If you have an ezine, you’re likely to have a blog and post regularly to it. . .so readers can get your thoughts there.
- You may be submitting your articles to article directories to further build your exposure and spread the word. . .so readers can get your articles there.
- If you’re staying current with marketing and promotion, you’re out on Twitter and Facebook and are linking your articles and blog posts to each of those. . . so readers can keep up with you there.”
WOW. . .sounds like I’m making a pretty compelling argument that we shouldn’t be putting out ezines — after all, why do all the work if readers can get the information elsewhere?
Truth is, that’s not my thought at all. Email newsletters or “ezines” are a fabulous way to maintain contact with your peeps and are a great place to share things that you’re up to.
However, given all the other places your clients and potential clients can read your information and hear about what you’re doing, your ezine needs to offer something special, something different that they can’t get anywhere else — essentially a reward for them to keep receiving, and opening, it each issue.
Several ideas to ponder:
- Offer “reader only” teleseminars
- Offer to showcase a different reader’s business each issue in a “spotlight”
- Offer to review something from a reader each issue (just be sure this is within your expertise)
- Offer “reader only” incentives — extra bonuses with products, etc.
- Mix things up a bit with “mini-ezines” rather than a larger issue, for example, my ezine last week was 2 paragraphs with a link to an educational video I created
- Break out of the standard ezine mold and do something a little different with yours — for example, I like to share information about my clients in most every issue — what can you do?
If you choose to include an ezine in your overall marketing plan, what are you going to do differently from here on out to ensure that it’s consistently opened and read?
I’d love to hear your thoughts — just comment below. . .
About the Author:
Sandra Martini (www.SandraMartini.com), creator of Escalator Marketing™, is a strategic marketing and productivity mentor who shows creative heart-based entrepreneurs how to create sustainable businesses without losing their integrity or their minds.
