The Newsletter Factory
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Wednesday
Not Newsletter Related But Very Interesting
Our sister company, Premier Marketing Resources, has a few Whitepapers.
If you'd like a copy of any of them please e-mail me at cassie@pmr-nlf.com. The topics include:
1) Maximize Your Sales Efforts
2) Tips to Generate More Leads
3) Why Do I Need a Business Plan
For more information about Premier Marketing Resources visit www.pmr-nlf.com.
If you'd like a copy of any of them please e-mail me at cassie@pmr-nlf.com. The topics include:
1) Maximize Your Sales Efforts
2) Tips to Generate More Leads
3) Why Do I Need a Business Plan
For more information about Premier Marketing Resources visit www.pmr-nlf.com.
Tuesday
Where Are You Going and How Will You Get There?
A Powerful Business Plan Can Keep Your Company Performing at Its Optimum
Does your small business seem to be stuck in neutral? If it isn’t moving along the desired pace, it may be time to have look under the hood to see what needs some work. A good starting point is with your business plan — the engine of every company.
All businesses, no matter how small, need a well-built business plan. The essential manual for success, a business plan is an everyday guide that keeps your business on track with its goals.
While crafting a long-term plan can seem like a rigid and colossal task, by utilizing a standard outline, you can have it on paper and in action in a matter of days.
Visions, Missions and Core Values
Premier Marketing Resources President and Small Business Consultant Ken Hilderhoff conducts small business seminars and shares the formula he uses in his courses for creating effective business plans.
According to Hilderhoff, the next critical step should be developing a mission statement — a comprehensive yet succinct description of your product or service’s purpose. A mission statement should also let customers know why they should choose your company over another.
Constructing a heart-felt vision statement is the starting point of a business plan. Reflecting your passion and your idealistic view of your company, your vision statement is the opportunity to let your dreams shine through. Make sure this statement portrays a vivid image of the kind of business you desire now and in the future.
Concrete core values give your business the horsepower it needs to keep running in good times — and possibly more importantly — in bad times. Your company’s core values should center on the kind of culture you want to promote within your organization that will keep both customers and employees happy. Core values typically consist of a standard customer service ethos along with set policies regarding resource utilization and work procedures. Each member of your organization should practice this belief system on a daily basis to ensure your company’s success.
SWOT You Need to Know About Your Company
Having a thorough and realistic understanding of how your company is operating, and its place in your particular industry, will ultimately determine its long-term success. SWOT, an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, is a highly effective analysis technique for gaining this insight. By reviewing your company’s strengths you are establishing what your company does especially well that gives it an edge over the competition. If your company is performing poorly, determining your company’s weaknesses will probably reveal why. In examining your business’s opportunities, you are anticipating the future needs of your customers, what you can do better and how you can stay ahead of the competition. Understanding your company’s threats are vital in the decision making process and can include a wide range of factors from market demand to legislative restrictions.
Determining your business’s critical success factors is a crucial component in making your business plan work. Critical success factors are the fundamental activities that must be performed well in order for your company to succeed. And having the appropriate goals and strategies to go along with them are essential in achieving your company’s mission. Ken Hilderhoff explains how goals factor into a company’s long-term success. “Business owners must define their goals in order to achieve success. And for a goal to be effective, it needs to be a well-defined target with quantifiable elements that are measurable,” he said.
Consider your business plan as a constantly evolving concept that can (and probably should) change as time goes by. Revisit your plan regularly to ensure that your company is holding true to your core values and mission statement, and routinely examine your SWOT and critical success factors to make sure they are still applicable.
For more information, visit 2011 Business Planning Workshop.
Does your small business seem to be stuck in neutral? If it isn’t moving along the desired pace, it may be time to have look under the hood to see what needs some work. A good starting point is with your business plan — the engine of every company.
All businesses, no matter how small, need a well-built business plan. The essential manual for success, a business plan is an everyday guide that keeps your business on track with its goals.
While crafting a long-term plan can seem like a rigid and colossal task, by utilizing a standard outline, you can have it on paper and in action in a matter of days.
Visions, Missions and Core Values
Premier Marketing Resources President and Small Business Consultant Ken Hilderhoff conducts small business seminars and shares the formula he uses in his courses for creating effective business plans.
According to Hilderhoff, the next critical step should be developing a mission statement — a comprehensive yet succinct description of your product or service’s purpose. A mission statement should also let customers know why they should choose your company over another.
Constructing a heart-felt vision statement is the starting point of a business plan. Reflecting your passion and your idealistic view of your company, your vision statement is the opportunity to let your dreams shine through. Make sure this statement portrays a vivid image of the kind of business you desire now and in the future.
Concrete core values give your business the horsepower it needs to keep running in good times — and possibly more importantly — in bad times. Your company’s core values should center on the kind of culture you want to promote within your organization that will keep both customers and employees happy. Core values typically consist of a standard customer service ethos along with set policies regarding resource utilization and work procedures. Each member of your organization should practice this belief system on a daily basis to ensure your company’s success.
SWOT You Need to Know About Your Company
Having a thorough and realistic understanding of how your company is operating, and its place in your particular industry, will ultimately determine its long-term success. SWOT, an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, is a highly effective analysis technique for gaining this insight. By reviewing your company’s strengths you are establishing what your company does especially well that gives it an edge over the competition. If your company is performing poorly, determining your company’s weaknesses will probably reveal why. In examining your business’s opportunities, you are anticipating the future needs of your customers, what you can do better and how you can stay ahead of the competition. Understanding your company’s threats are vital in the decision making process and can include a wide range of factors from market demand to legislative restrictions.
Determining your business’s critical success factors is a crucial component in making your business plan work. Critical success factors are the fundamental activities that must be performed well in order for your company to succeed. And having the appropriate goals and strategies to go along with them are essential in achieving your company’s mission. Ken Hilderhoff explains how goals factor into a company’s long-term success. “Business owners must define their goals in order to achieve success. And for a goal to be effective, it needs to be a well-defined target with quantifiable elements that are measurable,” he said.
Consider your business plan as a constantly evolving concept that can (and probably should) change as time goes by. Revisit your plan regularly to ensure that your company is holding true to your core values and mission statement, and routinely examine your SWOT and critical success factors to make sure they are still applicable.
For more information, visit 2011 Business Planning Workshop.
Checklists Help When Reviewing Printer Proofs
Once a newsletter has been printed, it's too late to make any changes and you're left with an incorrect run of your publication. Download our checklist (or create your own) when reviewing proofs from the printer to make sure your materials are error-free.
Thursday
Does Your Means of Newsletter Distribution Fit Your Newsletter’s Purpose?
Instead of viewing distribution as a means to an end (getting your newsletter into the hands of your audience), think of distribution as a part of the whole package. Like every other aspect of newsletter production, you should select your distribution mode with your audience and your newsletter goals in mind.
If you produce a newsletter for employees, internal distribution probably offers the least costly method. Why spend money on postage when you can simply place a newsletter in everyone’s box or his or her workstation? Or, place stacks of newsletters in the break room and other places where employees congregate. For association/membership newsletters, handing out issues at meetings or stacking them near entrances and exits will afford you similar savings.
If your newsletter is for promotional purposes, try to leave stacks of issues at places where prospective customers, clients or members go to shop or meet. You may have to convince storeowners or other decision makers that offering free copies of your newsletter is another valuable service they can provide to their customers. If you’ve packed your newsletter with news and kept the promotional aspect subtle, you usually won’t have a problem.
If your employees or members are scattered, or if your customer base is such that drop-off distribution isn’t possible, including the newsletter with other mailed materials (also called “piggybacking”) might work. Stuff the newsletter in with paychecks, invoices or whatever else you mail. While this costs more than handout or drop-off distribution, it’s less expensive than mailing several pieces separately.
If none of these methods is workable, or if they don’t appeal to you, mail your newsletter on its own. Though usually the costliest part of newsletter production, a separate newsletter mailing enjoys unique strengths, especially if you need to present your newsletter as the information source for your audience. Similarly, you may have invested time, effort and money into creating a newsletter that conveys a certain message, and piggybacking it or handing it out would take away from that message.
For example, an independent financial consultant marketing to attorneys and physicians would want a newsletter to convey security, trustworthiness, commitment, experience, wisdom and the like. After thoroughly researching each article to make sure it provides the most up-to-date information, such a firm would want its newsletter to arrive separately in the mail, and thereby increase the sense of value that its audience attaches to the publication.
You may even forego the envelope barrier altogether and make the newsletter a self-mailer — you won’t have to purchase envelopes, or spend time and money to stuff and seal them.
If you prefer mailing your newsletters but find it’s too time intensive to tackle on your own, consider utilizing the services of a mail house. Talk with prospective mail house personnel about the various options available to you. If you decide to do the mailing on your own, contact Post Office officials by phone or in person. Post Office and mail house employees know the system and can save you time and money by explaining current postal requirements in advance of your scheduled mail date.
With a minimum mailing of 200 pieces, bulk mail represents the most cost-effective option; however, it will not be delivered as rapidly as first-class mail. Bulk rate or standard presort rates reflect the savings postal employees realize in processing the mail piece, but do not enjoy the immediacy of first-class delivery.
Regardless of the distribution method you use, put careful consideration into choosing the optimum channel prior to designing your publication. After all, the newsletter production process requires constant attention to the primary goals of the publication. Getting the piece into a reader’s hands as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible is crucial to producing a successful newsletter.
If you produce a newsletter for employees, internal distribution probably offers the least costly method. Why spend money on postage when you can simply place a newsletter in everyone’s box or his or her workstation? Or, place stacks of newsletters in the break room and other places where employees congregate. For association/membership newsletters, handing out issues at meetings or stacking them near entrances and exits will afford you similar savings.
If your newsletter is for promotional purposes, try to leave stacks of issues at places where prospective customers, clients or members go to shop or meet. You may have to convince storeowners or other decision makers that offering free copies of your newsletter is another valuable service they can provide to their customers. If you’ve packed your newsletter with news and kept the promotional aspect subtle, you usually won’t have a problem.
If your employees or members are scattered, or if your customer base is such that drop-off distribution isn’t possible, including the newsletter with other mailed materials (also called “piggybacking”) might work. Stuff the newsletter in with paychecks, invoices or whatever else you mail. While this costs more than handout or drop-off distribution, it’s less expensive than mailing several pieces separately.
If none of these methods is workable, or if they don’t appeal to you, mail your newsletter on its own. Though usually the costliest part of newsletter production, a separate newsletter mailing enjoys unique strengths, especially if you need to present your newsletter as the information source for your audience. Similarly, you may have invested time, effort and money into creating a newsletter that conveys a certain message, and piggybacking it or handing it out would take away from that message.
For example, an independent financial consultant marketing to attorneys and physicians would want a newsletter to convey security, trustworthiness, commitment, experience, wisdom and the like. After thoroughly researching each article to make sure it provides the most up-to-date information, such a firm would want its newsletter to arrive separately in the mail, and thereby increase the sense of value that its audience attaches to the publication.
You may even forego the envelope barrier altogether and make the newsletter a self-mailer — you won’t have to purchase envelopes, or spend time and money to stuff and seal them.
If you prefer mailing your newsletters but find it’s too time intensive to tackle on your own, consider utilizing the services of a mail house. Talk with prospective mail house personnel about the various options available to you. If you decide to do the mailing on your own, contact Post Office officials by phone or in person. Post Office and mail house employees know the system and can save you time and money by explaining current postal requirements in advance of your scheduled mail date.
With a minimum mailing of 200 pieces, bulk mail represents the most cost-effective option; however, it will not be delivered as rapidly as first-class mail. Bulk rate or standard presort rates reflect the savings postal employees realize in processing the mail piece, but do not enjoy the immediacy of first-class delivery.
Regardless of the distribution method you use, put careful consideration into choosing the optimum channel prior to designing your publication. After all, the newsletter production process requires constant attention to the primary goals of the publication. Getting the piece into a reader’s hands as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible is crucial to producing a successful newsletter.
Friday
A Holiday Wish from The Newsletter Factory
We wish you luck,
we wish you cheer,
we wish you good health, peace and joy
throughout the year.
When the season is behind us
and we’re back to work again
we’ll do our best to make success
your most reliable trend.
Our writers and designers,
and production people too,
will really strive to make ’11,
a happy year for you.
Best Wishes for a Joyous Holiday Season from Everyone at The Newsletter Factory
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