*** WARNING ***
People tend to have a preference to either Blogs or Newsletters so this strategy could generate some heated comments. That’s OK, but what were are really doing here is helping the reader to discern which one is best for them. We will oversimplify as we always do and we won’t take sides here.
Just the facts… Which communication tool is best for YOU?
Well, it’s a funny thing, there is no “right answer”, except: “it depends”. I know this may appear to be the easy way out of the conversation, but it is true. We won’t be going into great depth here as an expert might. Oversimplification will suffice for most small to medium businesses. Your decision should depend on your inquiry of three things:
- Who is YOUR Ideal Customer? Do the like having reading something like a newspaper OR getting snippets on demand? Do they want to see pretty lay-outs OR more focused on content? Do they like being able to keep coming back to a place and dabble OR interested in getting info quickly as in snapshots? Are they tech savvy?
- What is the best way to communicate with YOUR Ideal Customer? Do they like being interactive OR just interested in what you have to say? Do they want the bare necessities OR interested in something more artistic? Do they know how to engage / interact via technology OR emailing information forward to others?
- How do you prefer to interact with YOUR Ideal Customer?* Do you like creating a newsletter for YOUR customers and having it go out once a month, week, or whenever OR are you in preference of having ongoing communications that are interactive with YOUR customers and potential customers?
*Unless there is something very specific which reveals that one communication tool is superior to the other – per YOUR Ideal Customer (see previous postings on Social Media and YOUR Ideal Customer Discovery), most businesses will choose the tool which they prefer to utilize. There is nothing wrong with this! It’s wonderful that we have so many options today.
Tip: I was at a Social Media lunch workshop and the presenter said something that I hadn’t heard before by other social media experts. Phil Gerbyshak stated, with no preference to one tool over another, “The key to social media is getting in conversation with folks – we are beyond the days of just broadcasting.” Ah, now that really is what it is about, isn’t it? Which way do you choose to be in conversation with YOUR Ideal Customer? It’s making me reconsider the dabbling of different tools that I have engage in for the past 6 months! Don’t worry, this blog is one thing that I know is staying around for a l-o-n-g time 🙂
YOUR TURN TO SHARE YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGIES:
1. What are your best tolls for YOUR Ideal Customers and why?
2. What’s your thoughts on this “tip” of / for conversation?
If you or your business needs rescuing on this particular topic
or any other Business Strategies we have been discussing,
please reach out to Maggie (262) 716.7750 FYI: I’m in the Central Time Zone
Blessings of Success to YOU ~
The Business Rescue Coach, Maggie Mongan
Brilliant Breakthroughs, Inc.
Good info as always…
I was creating a blog for several years, but wasn’t consistent at it. Keeping up a blog takes consistency of a regular scheduled time–whether it be daily or weekly. From what I have read, blogs need to be either daily or weekly, not monthly–too much time in between is the gist of that thinking. Newsletters can be monthly. I have seen a combination of both lately which are all 3 –some daily, others weekly, while some combos are monthly.
Personally, I like sending my newsletter monthly. I haven’t embraced the combo blog/newsletter format yet–my business doesn’t warrant this; or at least I don’t believe it does at this time. I’m still growning/evolving my new business model.
I do want to start a blog and plan to…soon. But only when I know I can provide a minimal of a weekly blog, which I feel serves the purpose of letting customers get to know me (and my offerings) better. It is a relationship-building tool of a more intimate nature.
A newsletter on the flip side is almost an advertisement of the business–what specials I have going on and a quick reminder to my customers that I still exist. It’s the difference between WordPress (blog creation tool) and Constant Contact (newsletter building tool).
Each serves its own purpose. Both are marketing tools; the blog is more marketing (again my definition) and the newsletter more advertising. A combination provides both purposes. But bottom line — I agree –it depends on your audience i.e. your ideal customer, what they are looking for from you and how much interaction you want/need/can provide to them.
Blake Cahoon
Founder
Amethyst Moon Spiritual Education Center
Sounds like there will still be a little experimenting occurring in your world Blake. the good news is, if you are consistent at your experiment of which one suits you and your customers best, you typically will know in 6 months. Hang in there, it’s worth it 🙂 Blessings!
My ideal customers (Small and mid-size business owners and decision makers) are still found offline, at chamber events and with other networking opportunities, and then I maintain connection via 1-on-1 e-mails, then we connect on LinkedIn (so they see my status updates with more helpful tips) and eventually (hopefully) they sign up for my email newsletter. This happens because I am helpful in person, I stay helpful in e-mail, and avoid being self-promotional. If you’re not helping, you’re actually hurting them because of the limited time they have to invest in anything. Stay helpful, stay quick, and figure out where your customers are, have some conversations with them and eventually, if you’re lucky, they’ll do business with you and read your e-mails and status updates.
Thanks for joining the conversation Phil! I love your, “If you’re not helping your customers, you’re hurting them”. This is so important for us all to remember. It also echoes a consistent message in this blog about being effective and efficient. Now I think I will add helpful to the statement 🙂 Blessings of success to you Phil!