The Marketing Potential of Your Company Newsletter
by Dera DeRoche-Jolet

The same people who say that their ads aren’t working, are probably saying the same thing about their company newsletter. They are probably right, but only because they are not taking full advantage of its marketing potential. By failing to put out an effective and quality piece, they wind up shooting themselves in the foot. Instead of potential customers wanting to do business with the company, the exact opposite happens.

If you take the time and effort to produce a high-quality piece, you’ll be seen as a high-quality company. Before you put out a newsletter, make sure you have the resources to do the job. If you are going to produce it in-house, you’ll need the proper equipment, money and people. The only thing worse than a poor-quality newsletter is one that is here today and gone tomorrow. You're telling clients that your company doesn’t have the ability to follow through on important projects. In that case, you are better off not doing a newsletter at all.

Don’t overlook the need for a professional graphic design and layout from either an in-house graphics person or an outside service. Another important aspect is your editorial resources. Find someone who has an inside knowledge of your company, our industry, the writing skills, and the necessary time. As owner of your alarm company, you are probably not the right person for the job. Sure you have the knowledge, but do you have the time to do it all? Remember, you run an alarm business, not a newsletter business.

An effective, quality newsletter works and is a good marketing tool because it:
Establishes your expertise. When customers and prospects see your company as a source of expertise, your chances of becoming the alarm company they pick to do business with will be greater.

Maintains ongoing contact. A quarterly newsletter puts you right in front of your customer at regularly scheduled times. That will improve the chances that when the customer is ready to buy, he’ll turn to your company.

Provides a way of informing customers about all your products and services. Have you ever heard, "I didn’t know you did that?" Newsletters solve the problem by allowing you to describe the full range of your products and services over a period of time. Don’t be self-serving. The goal of a newsletter is to pass along information, not sell a product or service.

No matter how good your newsletter is, it won’t do anything for your company unless it reaches the right people. Send it to everyone who comes into contact with your company. A newsletter should cultivate customers. Anyone who reads your publication and finds something of interest, may become a future customer. That’s why you should immediately put prospects on your newsletter distribution list. Even though one or two issues may not sell a potential customer into purchasing an alarm system, the repeated exposure will help make you the alarm company of choice when they are ready to buy.

A newsletter works because it allows you to talk to your customers on a consistent basis in ways that you can’t achieve through advertising, brochures, direct mail, cold calls, or personal contact. If customers don’t read your newsletter, you’ve not only wasted a tree, but your time and money as well. Your newsletter will be read, which is your point in the first place, if it contains what your readers want to see in it. Provide information of immediate use to your potential customers that will make them actually want to read your newsletter. They want to know:

o How you solved problems for other customers.
o New ways to use your products and services
o Tips for using your products and services
o Expert advice

The key is to provide information your customer is looking for and can use. You have that information. In the years you have been in the alarm business, you have acquired the skills, experience and knowledge from helping your customers solve problems.

You’ve listened to their questions and provided solutions. More than likely, your other customers and prospects have the same kinds of questions. Now, take that information and give it to others. By giving out that kind of valuable information they’ll see your company as both helpful and knowledgeable, two very important traits most people look for in a company. If they find those two characteristics in your company, why should they go anywhere else?