One of my clients is a mortgage broker and sends out a monthly email newsletter. In one issue recently, she told a story with photos about swimming with sharks on her first scuba dive trip. Yes, she did also talk about mortgage rates and the housing market in the newsletter, but that issue was widely popular with her subscribers. From that one campaign she got 3 new loan leads, 10 email replies, and a 26 percent open rate! All from a single email newsletter -- with a small list of under 300. And that’s not just a one-off, it happens regularly.
Using email to keep-in-touch with your network is a great way to have regular, direct communication with your tribe. It’s really the only effective way to directly connect with your entire network consistently. That ain’t happenin’ on social media! Social media outlets are serving up your content to only about 10 percent of your followers.
So, if you’d like to know the secret to creating must-read email newsletters that result in new leads and more sales, read on because in this article I have for you the formula for creating winning email campaigns for service-based professionals.
Step 1 - Commit to a regular schedule
This is the most important piece! If you want to build trust with your network, you have to show up consistently, week after week, month after month. Once a week is ideal, but if that sounds overwhelming, let’s start with once a month. Pick the day each month you want to publish and work backwards to create your monthly, weekly, bi-monthly plan.
Step 2 - Take 10 minutes and brainstorm 10 ways you add value to your clients.
You do things a little different than others in your industry, I know you do. Whether it’s your process, you personality, or something else, it’s why your most loyal clients love you. They appreciate how you uniquely conduct your business. Now, let’s list out a few of those ways that you add value better than others. Set a timer for 10 minutes, get comfy and brainstorm a list of 10 ways you do business differently, and why. These can be great bits of inspiration for topics and themes for your newsletter.
Step 3 - Collect stories
If this is not a habit of yours already, start now to become a collector of stories. Whether it’s your own, those of your clients, or any story that makes a good illustration that you can use in your newsletter to make a point or show how you add value. And remember, you can always omit or change names to protect the innocent, if needed.
Step 4 - Make it interesting
The term ‘newsletter’ sounds boring right from the start, right?! (I really need to invent a new term for our regularly scheduled email campaign! ;-) But we can make it interesting and here’s how. Break up each issue into 3-5 sections. Include some of your value-packed news, advice, tips/tricks interspersed with story (from 10 ways to add value brainstorming); then include a personal story, ideally with photos; and be sure to include an offer and/or call to action.
However you organize it, make it interesting and fun to read by inserting your personality, humor, stories, something personal, something very valuable, and call to action and/or offer.
And above all...be consistent.
As for the technology piece, I recommend MailChimp as an Email Service Provider. I know I didn’t cover any of the tech how-to, which is important also. But not to worry, I’ve got you covered! If you would like some helpful, step-by-step MailChimp instruction, I have an 8-Lesson, Self-Study Video Mini-course all about MailChimp that I recorded for you - specifically designed for service-based professionals - that takes you through signing up for your free account, how to set it up, build email campaigns, launch, and analyze your results. There’s also instruction on building landing pages and email automations for the more advanced users. You can purchase this mini-course for $49 by visiting this page.
Creating and sending a consistent email newsletter will keep you front of mind with your network and bring in more leads and sales. So, let’s do this! If you have questions or would like to do some strategizing about your email newsletter and content, schedule a free strategy session with me today!
Cheers,
Melissa
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