Podcast: What It Takes for an Email Newsletter to Get the Phone Ringing
Stephanie Helline, Owner of Strategic Design Studio, had a very surprising response to her latest email newsletter.
The topic was, “Is the Business Card DEAD?” and she didn’t think much of it when she scheduled it to go out Friday morning. She didn’t even like the topic much, but she was committed to staying in touch monthly with her list of 150+ so she wrote it, scheduled it to send and forgot about it.
“A little after 10, the phone rang,” she says. “A client mentioned my newsletter; we talked about a small job, we talked about a larger job. The phone rang again. I looked and noticed there were voicemails. As I was on the phone, emails were popping into my inbox. I wouldn’t want to say this went viral, but viral for me, definitely.”
Stephanie had originally thought this topic would be a non-event. She thought everyone knew that business cards weren’t dead. When the calls started coming in, she had an ah-ha moment.
“Even though I’m constantly looking at marketing techniques, maybe not all my clients aren’t looking at them in the same way,” she said.
“When I first started writing about the business card, I thought I need to add something more… So I took it one step further and talked about adding a QR code, and remembering to add your social media contacts. I mentioned that some people now scan cards so it’s important to present simply so scanners will work. I talked about digital printing for business cards.” (Read Stephanie’s newsletter here.)
Listen to this 13-minute interview, in which she shares:
- How she decides what to write about
- How long does it takes
- What her process is?
- Whether it’s worth it?
She also shares four excellent tips for anyone who might be struggling to get their newsletter out consistently.
And if you need help creating your own email newsletter, check out this Marketing Mentor group that starts the week of March 19.
BTW: If you’re trying to decide with email marketing service to use, check out Myemma.com, a Marketing Mentor partner. You’ll get 20% off when you sign up.
Great interview! Thank you, Stephanie, for sharing your newsletter and tips for gathering topics and how to consistently send one out each month without stressing about it -- very useful and informative advice!
Posted by: Renee Blair | March 01, 2012 at 09:59 AM
Congratulations on sparking the interest with something you considered not putting out there! You never know, and us creatives could stew and redesign materials all day long before they are 'perfect' in our eyes. Good work!
Posted by: Jeff Tara | March 01, 2012 at 10:58 AM
Hello Renee and Jeff, Thanks for commenting!I agree with you Jeff, we designers can and do work on projects endlessly. Part of running a successful business is knowing how much time to invest. If I can bang out the newsletter and have time to step away from the monitor and do something else ... then for me, that is a true return on investment!
Posted by: Stephanie Helline | March 02, 2012 at 09:13 AM