The ABCs of Customer Newsletters

26 Things a Customer Newsletter Can - or Shouldn't - Do 

Advertise a sale, of course
Bring in referral business
Collect customer data
---Go beyond demographics - find out where your customers buy related products, and use the info to partner with other businesses. Do it right and you'll both be able to increase sales!)
Deliver something extra
---What that is depends on your business model and your clientele. It doesn't have to be much, but you better figure it out, or no one will read past your first newsletter.
Erase misconceptions 
--A local restaurant owner I know casually has said to me about five times in the past five years, "Everybody thinks we're more expensive than (competitor), but we're not." To which I reply, "I know; you've told me. Why don't you tell all of your customers?" A newsletter could do it. I hope he gets the message before the place goes out of business... 
Fix a problem
Go green. 
---Paper isn't totally passe, but if you can deliver electronically, do it.
Help others
---Highlighting a (deserving) charitable organization or cause can not only improve your business's reputation, it can actually help others. Pretty nice feeling, isn't it?
Increase repeat visits
Jokes... are something you should leave out of your newsletter.
Kill 'em with kindness. 
---Let's hope you and your employees do this in person, on the phone, and every chance you get. Just in case, though, it's wise to take a really, really courteous tone in your newsletter.
List all of your products and services. 
---Even your most loyal customers probably don't take advantage of all you offer because they really don't know about everything you offer. 
Mold customer expectations
Name your products. See 'list' above.
Open new lines of communications
Prepare customers for what's next
Q & A sections are easy to read and are a great way to train customers so they can better use your store and your services. They can also help reduce confusion (and increase satisfaction) at purchase time.
Reward customers for reading
Surprise employees!
-----What better way to get them to read than to slip in a little personal recognition?
Thank your customers
----Offer a no-exceptions $10 off a minimum order coupon, or something even better. They're your customers. They're worth it.
Urge action 
---Successful newsletters do what successful salespeople do. They ask for the sale.
Validate customer concerns
Weed your list 
---Always provide an obvious, easy way for customers to opt out of the communications loop.
Xtra, xtra
---Even if your newsletter is delivered electronically, keep some (paper) copies on hand for new customers, employees who don't read it, or anyone who might send new business your way.
Yield to the demands of business, and the rest of life, if need be.
---You know your business better than anyone. If a legal complication or personal health crisis demands your attention, you can hand off the next issue to someone you trust, or just skip a newsletter. Return to your publication schedule as soon as you can.
Zoom in on your core competencies and position them well, making it oh-so-obvious that your organization is the best at what it does.

----Hey, if you don't do it, who will?

Want to get your message out to customers old and new? 
 Let's get started on your 2011 newsletter, on your schedule, within your budget. 

DOH! Catholics Deserve Better PR

Newsflash: Homer and Bart Simpson are Catholic, according to the Vatican, yesterday.

Which begs the question, so what?

Media and religion analysts have stated it's an attempt to make Catholicism more relevant. The Vatican's press release further suggested The Simpsons is good family entertainment. And from there it grew even...less relevant.

Sorry, folks (especially Catholic folks) PR should do a lot better than that. Maybe the Vatican needs a refresher course in public relations. A list of do's and don't's or better yet, a "Doh!" list.  Here's mine:

• The conversation cited as "evidence" Homer and Bart are Catholic occurred in a 2005 episode. 

Doh! Any high school journalism student knows press releases are supposed to be confused with news. (News that's five years old is called recent history.)

• Homer and Bart talked about religion in general, and broached the subject of converting to Catholicism, but didn't. 

Doh! Jumping to the conclusion that they are now Catholic, based on a single scene in a single episode is called faulty logic. Or unclear evidence. Or a weak argument. Until now I thought the Vatican was really into fact-checking. Didn't it take the Catholic powers-that-be more than a few years to come to the conclusion that yes, in fact, the Holocaust actually happened and was a really, really bad thing?

• "Few people know it and he does everything to hide it but it is true: Homer J. Simpson is Catholic," according to the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. 

Doh! Repeat after me: it's OK to lead with a quote, if it's a really good quote. IF we're going to ignore the fact this little gem is five years old, IF we're going to buy the argument that the Simpsons are Catholic, and IF we're going to accept the idea that the Simpsons being Catholic is good or that it matters at all, can we at least get a better quote? IF I were considering converting because Homer and Bart did (if they did) well, sorry L'Osservatore, you lost me at "...he does everything to hide it..."

Hey, I'm all for churches using PR. And I believe (to some extent) that "any publicity is good publicity." Unfortunately, this isn't. It's getting lots of airplay but none that really furthers the faith, good news, thoughtful dialog about religion. In other words, doh!

I'd love to see an effective PR effort  - like (pick a denomination) saying "God said meet me on Facebook!" or something even more relevant. Facebook may have had its 15 minutes...but the Simpsons,  converting to Catholicism? That's so 2005.

Recommended reading: Anything by David Ogilvy, a dead guy who's still relevant, or about him, like this:
http://www.copyblogger.com/the-david-ogilvy-playbook-for-business-blogging/

Short, sweet monthly caption contest

National Wildlife Federation editors post an image each month from the previous year's photo contest. Your mission, if you choose to accept it: write the winning caption. For rules and this month's inspiring photo, visit http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/PhotoZone/Archives/2010/caption-contest-2010-enter.aspx   
- and good luck! 

From National Wildlife Federation - credit Hira U Punjabi

Punctuality and Punctuation Take the Cake

So many articles have been written for writers about time management that no more should be written. Ever. Here's what you need to know: An effective writer finishes on deadline. The very, very rare writer finishes ahead of deadline. Too many ignore deadlines altogether; they are the ones that give all writers a bad name.

Earlier this week I finished a fairly large project - the completely updated, second edition of a 220-page nonfiction book. I finished about 90 minutes ahead of deadline. (Whew) I am sure it's not perfect; I hope there are more punctuation errors than spelling or factual ones; and I am grateful I'll have both an editor and a chance to proofread the book before it goes to press!

Luckily, this hilarious blog entry came my way just after I met my latest deadline, when I could truly appreciate it. If there's one thing bakers and writers can agree on, it's probably that deadlines AND punctuation "really!" do matter.

Enjoy!

Book recommendation for little grammarians

Punctuation Takes a Vacation 

by Robin Pulver

Haiku Contest: Perfect for Teachers - but hurry!

What did you do over summer vacation? Haiku about it! National Wildlife Federation's 'Be Out There' Haiku contest, like summer, is short. The deadline for submissions is August 31.

Entrants must be 18 or older but parents and/or teachers can submit haikus from minors. What a great writing exercise for the first day of school, eh? Find all the details here:

http://online.nwf.org/site/PageNavigator/BeOutThere_HaikuContest_2010      

(More about the haiku form below photo)

Don't worry if you're a bit fuzzy on Haiku form, they're easy to write. Actually, the original Japanese form is quite difficult, but the modern, simplified English version is a snap, consisting of three lines. The first line should contain five syllables, the second will have seven, the last line has five. No need to fuss over rhyme or meter. For the purpose of this contest, that's about all you need to know.

Literary sticklers will point out the Japanese haiku isn't a "short, easy" form of poetry; rather it's a "complex condensed" form.* A work of art, not a formulaic exercise. The key point non-Japanese poets miss is that the haiku is not a poem of 17 syllables, but one made of 17 syllables or less. And there are many other rules! A fundamental one: the haiku should be pure observation - no metaphoric images - and the observation(s) should concern an element of natural beauty. 

Another wrinkle in the American/English version of haiku is that, obviously, the form is designed around the Japanese language. The English translation of 'syllable' is a loose one, intended to describe a sound depicted by a single character, and a line in the Japanese language is not written left-to-right, but top-to-bottom.

None of which should take the fun out of haiku. Or the contest. Enjoy!

* Sagan, M. Unbroken Line: Writing in the Lineage of Poetry, (c) 1999 Sherman Asher Publishing.

Making your website work harder: FAQ pages

Think you know what belongs on your FAQ page? Of course you do - to some extent. But before you publish, reconsider from a different perspective: your users.

Notice I didn't say "customers."

Most FAQ pages have two very different audiences. One is the confused customer with a question about (or a problem with!) a product or service. The other is prospective customers.

Customers deserve answers to their frequently asked questions. FAQ pages that deliver helpful answers keep customers happy, coming back, referring their friends.

Prospects need answers to help them make decisions. How well you answer their questions is directly related to how soon you get the next sale.

Reconsider your FAQ page. Whose frequently asked questions does it answer? Does some of the information belong in a "Help" or "Getting Started" section?

------
Many companies use FAQ pages to sell more than to tell. Want to sell more? Tell me about it!
Call me - I can help you review and revise your site: 330-673-9337
------

Audience management, message management

If you need any more proof that businesses live and die by the words they use, read this article on audience management by Acxiom Corporation's David Danzinger.

So the question of the day is, how are you managing?

Five Reasons Client Newsletters Rock

1. Newsletters deliver repeat business.
2. If you build a website and they don't come, a newsletter can drive clients to your site.
3. Keep your friends close.... newsletters increase customer loyalty.
4. ...and your enemies closer.... um, if you have enemies, you definitely need a newsletter!
5. Newsletters are referral reminders. As in, hey, I should mention Charlie's Landscaping to my new neighbors...


Do you need a newsletter? Well, no. Not unless you really like repeat business...customer retention... client referrals...

Sell your book in 25 words or less

Can you do it? Literary Agent's contest ends Saturday. Great practice!
http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2010/06/one-sentence-summary.html

Whoever writes this guy's stuff...

...has a way with understatement. 


“It’s going to be a very interesting summer and I’m looking forward to it.” -- LeBron James

The Write Way to Respond to Customers

Companies that spend tons of money on ad campaigns designed to get people to buy things seem to understand that words are influential. Sadly, the same companies can fail basic business communication tests.

A recent example: Boeing's response to a letter from a...well, let's say a potential customer. In fact, the correspondence was a crayon drawing of a plane sent to the aerospace company from an 8-year-old whose dad - snicker if you will - is a social media blogger. (A plant? Possibly, but I doubt it.)

If being a writer is a disease, it has an unusually high comorbidity with another affliction, called customerservice-itis. Those of us who suffer from both will attest it's an extremely painful condition.

One of my first episodes occurred in the spring of oh, about 1972. A delicious and well-packaged chocolate bunny in my Easter basket clearly labeled "solid" was in fact quite hollow. My dad said, well, why don't you write a letter to the company? So I did.

The company responded fairly well to my complaint, sending a letter of apology that included a brief explanation about air bubbles in manufacturing equipment (which even to a six-year-old, sounds like an excuse) and a package of hard candy.

I had unreasonably high expectations, I'll admit. I wanted replacement chocolate. And that air-bubble excuse didn't sit well with me. Still, I give the company points for trying.

Obviously, the episode stuck with me, leading me to become 1- hyper-sensitive to customer service slights and 2- a pretty good customer service manager, IMHO.

The real point of the story is this: after nearly four decades and a little brain damage along the way, I still remember the incident, the company (The Franklin Candy Company) and its response. I never bought anything from The Franklin Candy Company and on numerous occasions reminded my parents to avoid their products as well.

Forty years from now, the 8-year-old who wrote to Boeing may be a procurement specialist for DARPA or its lead engineer. Boeing, I suggest you review your customer service communications procedures. And skip any references to air bubbles, just for good measure.

Do You Measure Revenue from Social Media?

By now everyone is convinced that social media can drive web metrics (eg, visitors to a site) but how much MONEY does it MAKE?  If you don't know yet, you'll probably be finding out soon.

But even if you can't exactly pinpoint the dollar amount, making money is the point, isn't it? I mean, while a billion visitors is nice, a billion dollars is even nicer.

You know where this is going: writers drive decisions about where dollars go. Do you need a writer? Only if your business uses words.

• web content
• business blogs
• client newsletters
• sales letters
• brochures
• catalog copy
• targeted e-mail marketing
• product descriptions
• press releases
• employee newsletters
• contracts
• case studies
• catalogs
• employee training manuals
• invoices & collection letters    

  Where don't you use words?

Good Grammar Shouldn't Slow Us Down!

Social media marketing concepts are important and yet they haven't made grammar obsolete, have they?

I don't think so, but then, I still favor complete sentences when I'm texting.

I was very glad to meet the alot earlier this week. (See my last post) The seemingly unassuming beast offers a lighter look at grammar gaffes, but however friendly alots might be, they scare me. I understand (and agree with) the argument "since social media moves fast, so we have to move faster." To that argument I add, we can move faster better with clear communication.

If I'm a grammar snob, I'm a low-level one. Improper use of its and it's and its' and apostrophes in general are my primary complaints. In fact, the rules governing the proper use of apostrophes are so simple, I'm amazed the basic spelling/grammar checker features in most word processing tools can't be programmed to highlight at least half of the potential culprits. It wouldn't be cheating! C'mon. Some of us grew up "cheating" with paper dictionaries before spell-check saved us from countless typos and our own ignorance.

What ignited my rant today: two misused apostrophes in a short blog post by a marketing professional. That is, two remaining AFTER a visitor to the site pointed out another, which the author then fixed. I repeat: we all make mistakes.

When a professional communicator makes a mistake in a blog post (or any other document that remains available 24/7) and can correct that mistake, he - or she - should.

A nifty little tool that catches apostrophe errors and other grammar goofs would make us all look better. Bored programmers? Are you listening?

Grammar snobs can be funny, too!

I like this alot!

YA Fiction Contest

Blooming Tree Press offers The Bloom Award for the winning YA fiction efforts of unpublished authors. To enter, submit your romance (suitable for young readers) between May 17 - October 31...and have your complete manuscript ready. If you make the first cut, you'll have to produce the entire work. Good luck!

Think before you write

I can defend writing for low pay or even for free in some cases. Just remember: even if you're not getting paid, you're still likely to be read - so the writing matters.


Case in point: a website offering the (unpaid) opinions of self-appointed human resources experts. Some sound pretty smart. All are using the site to increase their visibility and presumably get new clients. But I wonder who would hire the one whose bio states he's proud of "restraining himself from beating the crap out of bad managers and employees" and who, in his spare time, enjoys telling "stories about his co-workers with friends over a beer after work." 


The bottom line: think before you publish.

Pros & cons of writing for low pay, pay-per-click

"Anyone can be a writer."

It rubs a lot of writers the wrong way, but it's true. Anyone can be a writer and just about anyone can have an ego-gratifying "job" writing for a website with a pay-per-click/fraction-of-a-penny-a-word/write for exposure sort of payment plan.

I don't like those sites, but I can argue both sides of just about any issue :)

I'll start by defending those in the $15 per article range (like Demand Studios, for example).

Assuming you can crank out a (good) article in an hour, you're making $15/hour. Sound good? It's not, really - that's less than 20% of the low end of the pay scale for professional writers. So why do it?

• You'll have 15 bucks fast. (Demand Studios and other sites typically pay via PayPal.) That'll buy you lunch or maybe refill your printer cartridge. 
• If the site's attractive and fairly well-managed, you won't look bad, and 
• Some sites offer residual income, meaning the initial investment of your time may continue to pay for years into the future. Not much, but 'residual income' has an awfully nice ring to it.

Here's why you might NOT want to do it:

• Few people can crank out a decent-looking article in under an hour. I know it sounds hard to believe, but it's true. No matter how much help you think you get from grammar- and spell-checker, no matter how fast you type and how fast you think you can think, the fact is lucid writing takes time. Lucid well-informed writing takes more time. (We in the business call that 'research.') 
• The articles live practically forever, which means if there's an error, or even a typo, in one of your articles, the error lives forever, too. With your name on it. 

If you're considering writing for a no- or very low-pay site, think hard before you do. There are a lot of 'good' reasons, but when you look really closely, I think you'll find most of them really aren't that good. 

This may look like an obvious segue into a "why blogging is better" article, but it's not. I'll leave that topic for another time. 

Corporate Blogging vs. Hobby Blogging

SPJ member and blogger Mike Consol offers some very reasonable advice in his on-target article on blogging. Ironically or appropriately, it's only available through his LinkedIn blog site or the subscription-based magazine in which it originally appeared. (Foreshadowing the death of free content? I doubt it...but maybe....)

I like the article for what it doesn't do: namely, describe blogging as a frivolous hobby. Can be, sure. Shouldn't be, though, 'specially if you're paying someone to do it.

Corporate blogs, well-planned and professionally written, can and should:

• increase web traffic
• improved customer service
• increase referrals
• further develop your brand identity
• personify your company's products/service

Blogging is writing, folks. Corporate blogging should be handled by professionals, not penny-per-word junk content creators.

Oscars and Writers

OK, I'll admit it, I plan to watch (at least some of) tonight's Oscar presentations. I hate celebrity gossip, in spite of the fact that there's a lot of money in it for writers. (One of the many times a conscience can get in the way of a good paycheck!)

One of my favorite movies (from years ago) was overlooked by the academy and the vast majority of the general population, I'm sorry to say:  Stranger than Fiction is a story about a story, a work-in-progress by a writer (Emma Thompson), and her (unbeknownst to her) real-life main character, Will Ferrell. Will she kill him off in the end? Major spoiler alert: No. But how she writes around her planned ending after she falls in love with her main character - in real life, 'cus she hated him until she met him - makes for a truly entertaining story. Um, film. Well, both.

It's a movie you don't have to be a writer to love, but I haven't met a writer that doesn't love it. :)

But back to tonight's Oscars. Don't you think some of the actors could do their careers a favor by paying a writer to pen a charming acceptance speech... and then follow it? The good news for our profession: those who don't certainly help support the PR industry.

And for that, I'd like to thank the Academy.

Deadlines

The only deadlines you're allowed to miss are the ones you impose on yourself. Sigh. That's an attempt at an eloquent excuse - I've let myself slide on updating my website. Blog posts are easier to manage.

What to look for in the (coming soon) new, improved site: a special rate for employee newsletters in 2010! Know anyone who can benefit from sending a uniform message to all his (or her) employees? Know a business that desperately needs to get all its workers on the same page? Send 'em my way!

An Evergreen FYI

A succinct and well-written article on publishing jargon can be found amongst Media Bistro's many helpful pages, here. It both defines and exemplifies the term evergreen. Kind of like this post :)

Fiction Habit: Critiquing what isn't there

I'm fortunate to be a member of a very talented online critique group. What I've learned from the group over the years could fill a book. But cursed as I am, a copywriter with a fiction-writing habit, I won't have time to write that book for many years. *sigh* Anyway....

One of the many invaluable things a critique group can do is point out what isn't in a manuscript that should be. More than those nagging questions (what happened to the donkey on page 7?)  I'm talking about things like missing elements. Believability. Conflict. An arc. A resolution. If you write without an outline (as I believe most fiction writers do) it is possible to write a story without a very important ingredient. It might look good, but there's a missing ingredient. Think chocolate cake without sugar. Leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you know?

On the other hand, a critique group can also consider what you've (perhaps purposely) omitted and give you an honest assessment regarding its relative necessity. As a story sweeps the reader along, a lot of little details can and should be left out. What kind of shoes the main character is wearing, what he had for breakfast, and whether or not he crossed at the light or brazenly jaywalked. 

If you, the writer, have glossed over a detail that needs clarification, however, it's the crit group's responsibility to call you on it. (You need to explain how the donkey got from Milwaukee to Martinique.)

And yes, it will sting. That's when you say "thank you," and put the manuscript in a drawer, figuratively or literally, for 24 hours. (Of course I recommend you save it to your external hard drive; don't get me started on back-up issues.)  Then, get your red pen, and get the donkey home. 

Structural check on my glass house

I'm planning to upgrade my website, so I've been reading some other writers' sites pretty closely - close enough to catch some embarrassing typos.

I hope they are typos. I've seen sloppy punctuation (missing periods, double periods) "it's" where "its" was needed, and other errors a 5th grade teacher would circle with her red pen. Yes, you understood correctly - all these amateur errors appear on the sites of professional freelance writers.

I was dumbfounded, dismayed, and working on righteous indignation (doesn't ANYONE proofread their own work these days?!) when I realized... errors on their sites probably meant I should stop picking up rocks and check for cracks in my own glass house.

If you see anything off, let me know, OK? (Please knock gently before throwing stones.)

I'd also like to remind those writers (and everyone else) that I'm available to proofread your website. I just might ask that you return the favor - editing your own stuff is especially difficult!

3-minute inspiration

Writers, NPR is doing you a tremendous favor. All you have to do is come up with a 600-word (or shorter) story, inspired by the picture provided here. Too lazy to enter? You can tickle your muse by reading recent winners and the judges' comments on why those particular stories rose to the top.

Twitter works in DC

This smart use of Twitter gets the message across.

Succinct is the word...

...for the Four-word Film Review site.


(Sure, you could call it a waste of time - but an excuse-prone copywriter will more likely extoll the virtues of studying the site for its inherent lesson in brevity.)

My review? Please pass the popcorn.

If you see this, will you recognize it?

I write medical articles for "average" readers. Also known as "consumer" articles - a term that covers a wide and bumpy landscape. The medical articles I write are fact-checked by an editor, first, and then reviewed by an MD.

In other words, I don't write the hype you're likely to see on a glossy magazine (THE SNACK FOOD THAT CAN KILL YOU! see page 64) or blurbs you're likely to hear from a newscaster at 6:59pm ("Are donuts good for you? tune in at eleven!" [big smile, cue music]).

So I'll be interested in following a story on the possible/probable link between sweetened carbonated beverages and pancreatic cancer.

I'm jaded. I'm pretty sure the nitty gritty facts (a controlled study of more than 60,000 adults over 14 years found those who consumed two or more cans of pop each week were more than 87% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who drank less pop) will be obscured in "news reports" or - more probably, and more maddening - simply ignored.

If I think about this too long, I'll start replaying Men In Black in my head; I'm thinking about the scene where K (Tommy Lee Jones) goes to the hot sheets to get some good leads on the bug that's invaded Manhattan.  The hot sheets are the National Enquirer and the like.

The irony is that while most of the "mainstream" media ignores studies like the one described above, a lot of dubious/alternative sites report on such studies to further their own agendas. (Acai berries, anyone?)

Readers beware. And journalists - is there a story in the Singapore pop study? Or is there a story in why it isn't a story? I think so.

Twitter as a 5/8" socket wrench

Strategic Services Director Bryce Marshall of Akron-based Knotice delivers a clear description of just what Twitter isn't in the January iMedia Connection article, Where Twitter drops the marketing ball.

If you have been living comfortably with the notion that Twitter is your marketing slave, expect a little discomfort.  Its an article worth reading in its entirety, but in the spirit of things, here's a summary in 140 characters, or less:

      Twitter is a useful marketing tool, but you can't build a whole campaign with it. Be sure you have some
        other implements in your toolbox.

More worries about the news hole

This, from NPR war correspondent Anne Garrels, says a mouthful.

Top Ten Signs You Need a Copywriter

10. Your website still has a "coming soon" message on the home page.  (Or on any page - "coming soon" tells the visitor "goodbye")


 9.  Your employees don't know what's going on...and it's costing you money. (A short, simple employee newsletter can increase productivity, reduce accident rates, and improve morale and retention rates.)


 8.  You found a typo...in your contract. (Better you than your client's lawyer!


 7.  You rely on the cable/radio/newspaper salesperson to write your ad copy, or...

 6.  ...you do it yourself.


 5.  You lernt all the English you needed in high school.

 4.  Your products are very unique - and you see nothing wrong with saying so. (Don't get it? see #5 again.)


 3.  You're shipping a panda overseas, or doing something else noteworthy.

 2.  You're shipping a panda overseas, but you don't have time to write a press release about it.

.....And the number-one reason that you need a copywriter....


 1.  You're reading this.   --------------------------------------------------(written by a copywriter)


Contact this copywriter to discuss your needs.

I worry about the news hole

You know the old adage about 'sunlight being the best disinfectant?' It's meaningless without news coverage.

-- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, in SPJ's The Quill.

Journalists can't protect society...

...if they can't protect their own careers. -- from a post at Reflections of Newsosaur, one of the most on-target and depressing things I've read about the news biz recently.

Grammar 101 for Job Candidates

In an article not-so-cheerfully titled Seven Ways to Flunk a Job Interview, author Adriana Gardella shares an anecdote about a job-seeker whose Linked-In grammar earned her instant dismissal (as a candidate for said job).

Yes, grammar counts, even when you're engaging in a semi-social media venue.

Would you start a telephone interview with "yo, whassup?"

Of course not.

A little formality (capital letters to start a sentence, for example) is expected in any exchange related to a job.

We're all fact-checkers now?

Could be a good and/or bad thing, I think. Certainly worth considering and if you're willing, participating in the public "calling %v!!$#i+," as the author says. Read the article at regrettheerror.com