As photographers, we aren't the type of businesses that people need on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. We are more of your special occasion type of business. The down side to this is that our clients don't necessarily have a relationship built with us to remember us for every need. So how do we combat this inability to be on our client's minds constantly?
The answer my friend is constant contact with your clients!
Keep your writing in your newsletter very clear and easy to read. Talk in a casual pattern like you would normally speak in a day to day basis. If it helps, record yourself talking about the topic you want to address and then type it out. This will keep your newsletter friendly and inviting feel for your readers.
Know who your reader is! For my business, my readers are most likely loving mothers. Put yourself in your client's shoes for a moment. What would they like to read about: Tips on parenting, craft ideas to do at home with the kids, child safety articles, toy and product reviews, or trivia games to call in to win prizes? Of course your client will also want to hear about new and exciting things happening with your business, which includes special promotions that you have coming up. Just be sure to talk about what they are interested and less of yourself and your business.
Don't forget that the way your newsletter looks is just as important as what its content is. If you have the extra funds in your budget a single page, front and back color newsletter is an excellent way to go. But black & white print can get the job done just as well if your newsletter is well executed. You may even want to consider investing in a color laser or wax printer from Xerox if you have the volume to back it up.
Before sending out even your first newsletter you need to define what its purpose is. Is it to promote your photography business? Is it to build customer loyalty? Is to remind your clients "Hey we're still here!"? Is it friendly and warm or very business oriented? The answer is all of the above! To do all this, our newsletter cannot just be about us. It can't be just another advertisement. It needs to be informative and fun for your clients to read.
Go for the print version! I am sure many people would recommend having an email newsletter for your clients. And in some businesses that is probably fine, but not necessarily for the photography business. From my own research newsletter emails are not as effective. First, a large majority of your email newsletters may end up going through your client's spam filter and they would never even see the newsletter. This could lead to some very upset clients who miss out on a special promotion because they never got the newsletter. Second, emails that do make it through spam filters will often be deleted anyway because of the number of junk mail we each get in our mailboxes every single day. Yes of course it is free, but remember, it doesn't matter how free something is if your customers never get it. My advice is to invest the little money it takes to build a good solid print newsletter. And if cost is an issue, take it down to mailing once every other month.
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