If you own a small business, here are some interesting facts for you:
- The average American business loses half of its customer base within only a few years.
- An existing customer spends an average of two thirds more than new customers.
- It's much easier and much less costly to build on an existing customer relationship than to build
new ones.
The most successful businesses are those which attract repeat business from former customers. Here are
two ways to do this:
- Give the customer superior customer service when they do business with you.
- Send out periodical newsletters to remind customers of your services and special offers.
A printed newsletter sometimes makes a better impression but the costs of printing and mailing can be
substantial. For this reason you may prefer to do an email newsletter. If you have a website, an email
newsletter can help you to build traffic and encourage repeat visits to your pages. The best way to
build an email list is to put a sign-up form on the index page of your site. It's most effective if you
put it at the top of the page in the upper right-hand corner. To see an example, take a look at the
sign-up form on my website:
http://www.colemantoons.com
For best results, put something in your newsletter besides advertising. You should try to include some
content that is informative and/or entertaining. Your advertising message should be subtle and simply
compliment the other information you present.
Sometimes this content can come from new developments within your industry. For example, a veterinarian
might have an article telling readers how they can now determine their dog's breed with DNA testing. An
article like this doesn't have to be worded like an ad, yet it will still generate some interest in that
customer for purchasing DNA testing of their dog.
One of the most popular features in any publication is cartoons. A newspaper survey once revealed that 91
percent of readers turn to the comics page first when reading the newspaper. Aside from the fact that
cartoons are entertaining, they are graphically pleasing. Advertising messages placed on a page near a
cartoon will generally be noticed more often than those placed on a page which is heavy with type. All of
my cartoons are available for licensing for use in your newsletters.
In addition to providing cartoons for your newsletter, for a reasonable hourly fee I can assist you with
the writing, layout and mailing (or emailing) of your newsletter.
Email me for more pricing information.
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