Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Consider having the letter focus on your customers. Use it as a way for them to give you testimonials. People trust what they hear from other customers more than what we as business owners tell them. You could profile a customer in each issue and talk about how you helped them.

Think of your newsletter as a way to make it easier for your customers to spread positive word of mouth about your company. Customers are more likely to tell others how they have been featured in a newsletter than they would be to talk about a newsletter that just features you.

Check out www.wordofmouthguru.wordpress.com for more tips on how to use word of mouth marketing for your business. Good luck!

How to prioritize all the things you want to get done.

How to determine if you can do it yourself

When/WHY do you need a permit



Michael

While the "how I did it" section is informative for the CEO, I'm not sure it belongs in a newsletter. Get it published elsewhere for some good PR.

I get servicemasters newsletter-- they send me every season something I should consider about the maintenance of my house. Today's homeowners really don't know how to maintain a home-- only how to scramble when something goes wrong. Being reminded-- its fall and I should get the furnace maintained is helpful to me. I have been single over 7 years and from the men I dated-- this is not gender specific.

I just did a biz plan for a company that is in a related industry. there are 3 strong segments in home ownership that you might want to address. There are more non-traditional homeowners-- single women and men and they are acquiring homes at an earlier rate. (My mother would never have been a single female head of household homeowner as I am), There are more minority homeowners than ever before. And last-- as the baby boomers age there will be some adjustments made to their homes as they strive to maintain independence. Research I did also shows that the over 50 crowd is ineffected by this credit crunch-- they (I am in this group and its true) will buy what they want-- not on price. The decision will be on who can do the job in the way you want it done-- not on low bid.

Your newsletter can hve many topics-- but you should target who are your customers? As in the biz plan I did-- we knew our clients weren't those buying new homes-- but those buying existing homes. target your articles by who your clients are.

BTW, you don't have to write each and every article. there are many trade orgs in the remodeling field that will give you rights to publish. They are trade orgs so the consumer does not subscribe and seeing the industry from the inside slant is very interesting.

Raymond,

Rule #1 is to write about what interests your clients. As you are in the moving/handyman business, there's lots of stuff you can write about that not only interests your clients but also shows you know what you are talking about.

The idea is to build a trusted relationship with your clients, by providing information that is of service to them; that makes their lives better. Just think of the kind of stuff you would talk to them about when you meet them face-to-face.

So, suitable topics might be: How to Fix a Dripping Faucet the Easy Way; Secrets to Protecting Your Home from Damage from the Sun's Rays; 6 Things Every Home Owner Must Do to Maintain the Value of Their Property; How to Move Home Without the Stress; Secrets to Getting the Most out of Self-Storage...

You get the idea.

As for a "how I did it column" - there is some value in giving clients a view "under the hood" of your business - again it helps build trust, humanizing your business. But make sure the column is still about them...not just about you. And make sure it's an honest, from the heart column, not PR spin.

At the end of the day, all your clients are tuned to WIIFM - What's In It For Me.

Shameless promotion - but it's a resource I think you'll find useful: I write an entire blog about effective customer newsletters at [inactive link removed]

Hope it helps.

Simon

[Moderator: Inactive link removed from post. 2/22/2011]

Doh - here's the correct address for my blog: https://simonpayn.typepad.com

Instead of the "how to" articles you could have articles on preventative home maintenance (why it's important that your evestroughs are unblocked), without suggesting they do it themselves.

Also, for busy people, productivity advice is huge right how, unleashed I think by Dave Allen's book. People like information about how to do more in less time.