Successful Newsletters

Proper planning is critical for getting the most out of these important tools.

By Martin R. Baird

While I was speaking at a conference for a large financial services company, a question about newsletters came up. An advisor wanted to know if newsletters are effective as a direct-mail marketing tool and whether it would be worth her while to publish one.

Yes, a newsletter is an effective marketing tool, but you need to give it careful thought before you take the plunge and invest time and money. Here are some important suggestions for planning, producing and distributing a client-prospect newsletter.

Step 1: The first thing you must do is decide on your target market. You must start here because you need to know who you are writing for. If you have more than one target market, you may need to consider more than one newsletter.

Step 2: Next, what do you want your newsletter to accomplish? Do you want it to be strictly educational? Do you want it to generate new clients or to increase the amount of assets you have from current clients? Do you just want to share your ideas with your clients and prospects?

Step 3: Take time to think about what your target market would want to read. What kind of content would cause them to stop whatever it is they’re doing and actually read your newsletter? What information would cause them to pick up your newsletter eagerly each month and start reading? If you’ve done your marketing research and truly understand your target market, you will know the answers to these questions.

TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOUR TARGET MARKET WOULD WANT TO READ.

These are very important questions to ponder before you get started. Too often, I see newsletters that try to be all things to all people. The more focused your newsletter is, the more effective it will be. Marketing that is highly targeted is more cost and time effective.

Step 4: The answers to all the above questions will make it easier for you to take the fourth step: Decide if a preproduced newsletter works for you. I’m not for or against such newsletters. I think they work very well for some applications. If your target market is looking for generic financial information, a preproduced newsletter could be the answer. If your target market wants your ideas, then you will need to do your own custom newsletter.

Step 5: If you decide to do your own newsletter, you must make the commitment to invest some money to have it designed by a professional. Your newsletter needs a look that screams “This is a professional publication!” Once the design is set, you can use it for several years. This is an important investment to make.

Step 6: Make sure you have time to research and write articles for the newsletter. All that blank space must be filled, and you will have to come up with the material. Writing copy for your newsletter is a time consuming, never-ending responsibility. One way to ease the burden is to ask colleagues in noncompeting markets to contribute articles.

Step 7: You need to distribute your newsletter so often that your clients come to expect it. If you’re going to invest the time, energy and money producing a newsletter, then I recommend you publish it at least six times a year. Twelve times is even better if you can do it. Anything less than six times a year makes your newsletter seem random, almost an afterthought, and that’s not good. Also, your newsletter should always be the same number of pages. Don’t do an abbreviated newsletter from time to time because you did not have enough copy.

Producing a worthwhile newsletter takes time and money. You should address all the questions I have brought up before you even get started. A newsletter is a great marketing tool. Make sure you do your homework up front, however, and provide information that your target market really wants.

Go to www.naifa.org for more information on customizable newsletters from NAIFA affinity partner Liberty Publishing.

Martin R. Baird is president of Advisor Marketing, an Annapolis, Md.-based consulting firm, and author of The 7 Deadly Sins of Advisor Marketing. Contact him at mbaird@advisormarketing.com or 480-991-6420.