Zero Budget Digital Marketing
Firstly, you’re going to write a newsletter. Which will also become a blog. Which will be part of your website. Which will be linked to your business email.
And you won’t be a smaller business for much longer.
While professional content developers are becoming more popular, as a small business owner no one knows your business like you. There is no substitute for originality. And there’s only one you.
And if what you write is authentic, people will read it.
“People read what interests them, sometimes it’s an advertisement.” Howard Gossage, a rather well-respected communications practitioner wrote that over 40 years ago. Interesting, isn’t it?
Here are some tips to get you started.
1. Your biggest competitor is time.
People are busy. Attention is what you are after. But time is what no one seems to have. If you want people to spend time, their precious limited time, reading your darn newsletter, it’d better be good.
Respect people’s time by being useful and inspiring.
2. Spend more time on it. Who knew?
For every $1 spent on a newsletter, there is a $40 return. Compared to $7.30 for catalogs. Or $17 for ad keywords. Although these figures are in dollars, you get the point they are making. Plain and simple, newsletters are one of the best ways to grow a business. So spending more time on it makes sense. And money.
Most people treat newsletters as the poor cousin, don’t be most people.
3. Give value.
A strong relationship is one where you give value to your customer. Tell them about a new book. Share with them a new film you discovered. Not everything you share has to have a commercial reason for doing so.
Note: When it comes to selling to your customer, make it clear when you are selling. Don’t hide it with humor. In this email ‘We are selling’. ‘Do you want to buy?
4. Design matters.
The typography your newsletter uses will say something about you. The layout will say something about you. The illustrations that you use will say something about you. The photos you pick will say something about you. Each detail builds your story. So what do you want your design to say about you?
Design says it without words.
5. A small team is a fast team.
A curator. A writer. An optimizer. A builder. A planner. In the beginning, those jobs may well be all wrapped up in one person: You. That is a very small team. But it is a very fast team. Decisions are made quickly.
As you grow, keep that ethos. This world is changing fast. You will need to change with it. To remain a speedboat. A supertanker takes 21 miles to turn. And 16 Miles to stop.
6. Deep work helps you get more done.
We check our phones 221 times a day. Each distraction takes our mind off the thing we should be working on. If you can learn to block the distractions out, not to respond to the latest email, etc., you can focus on the things that will really grow your newsletter. And that is producing great content. And that requires deep work.
7. Optimise for loyalty.
The single biggest reason for unsubscribing from a newsletter is sending it too often. Companies send way too many emails. But once people unsubscribe, that is it. The end. But there is another way. Build a great newsletter, send it less often. And have a long-term relationship.
And remember this, you are building a community, not a list.
Just don’t be corporate. Write as you speak. And not everything has to have a business reason. Just do stuff that makes you feel good. The chances are it will make others feel the same.
Read the concluding part here