When it comes to using a marketing tactic to engage your audience, you have plenty of options.

Email, your website, social media… not to mention offline tactics such as print and radio ads, direct sales letters, postcards, and sponsorships.

I’ve published an e-Newsletter for many years. Often I receive complimentary emails from clients and subscribers on the e-Newsletter’s format and copy, which of course makes me happy.

Even though it’s just The Cowboy and me, there is still great value in creating an e-Newsletter for your customers, clients, and prospects. It allows you to deliver content that is helpful to your list, plus keep in touch with them, which as you’ll see, can be good for business.

I Wouldn’t Have Thought of You, But for That e-Newsletter…

Years ago, I met the owner of a company who was involved in the hobby industry. I did several projects for him that included web copy and trade show collateral. With some clients, once those projects were finished, that was the end of my involvement with their marketing.

Then I started a bi-monthly newsletter. Three months later, I get an email from this client, asking if I’d be available for more projects. During a phone chat, he said, “By the way, congratulations on your newsletter. I really like it. And to be honest, if it weren’t for your newsletter, I don’t know if I would have thought to contact you.”

That is a perfect example of why you want to offer a free e-Newsletter. No matter if you’re a large business, small business, or even a solopreneur—having an e-Newsletter is your way to stay in contact with your customers, clients, and prospects. In fact, I’d go so far as to say especially if you’re a solopreneur, you need one.

e-Newsletters Deliver Top of Mind Awareness

In marketing circles, the phrase “top of mind awareness” is a concept understood by those involved with email marketing and other customer-facing activities.

The idea is this: customers and prospects are crazy-busy. Continual marketing promotions such as e-Newsletters are a way to remind them you exist and you’re available to help if they need it.

This type of outreach is vital for every type of business, no matter how large or small they may be. Although consumers are experiencing a deluge of promotions in their inboxes, 72% of people prefer to receive promotional content through email, compared to 17% who prefer social media  (MarketingSherpa).

The well-known sales adage says that it takes seven “touches” to turn a “suspect” into a prospect. These “touches” can be anything from blog posts to videos to an e-Newsletter. This is why it’s so important to develop content and to publish it continually. Your prospects (who don’t realize yet that you exist), need multiple efforts to reach them in order to finally notice you.

In fact, email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter. It’s also the channel generating the highest ROI for marketers—for every $1 spent, email marketing generates $44 in ROI.

And e-Newsletters are a part of that marketing strategy.

Finally, You Own the Platform

We live in challenging times. More online sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are changing the rules of what is accepted on their platforms and what isn’t.

As a result, many social media personalities who spent years building up an audience on these platforms are finding themselves banned. Their financial livelihood is obliterated because they’re accused of breaking the rules (which are always changing).

In the United States, we have the First Amendment to our Constitution (emphasis mine):

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

So the government can’t make any law to restrict or prohibit our speech and the press. But corporations can and do. Bottom line: it is a company’s right to do business as they please as long as they abide by both federal and state laws.

When you use email on a regular basis, you own your list. You have contact information that allows you to consistently connect with your audience without wondering if some committee is going to prevent your followers from viewing your content.

I would like to add that it’s a great idea to start collecting “snail mail” addresses, too. Use a variety of channels to reach your target market. Direct mail is another great way to send a newsletter to those who are interested in what you offer.

Consumers are now familiar with e-Newsletters and expect this type of outreach. However, they want useful information for their lives, not straight sales pitches.

We’ll talk more about what you want to include in an e-Newsletter, but I encourage you to at least consider it if you’ve not done so before. It’s probably one of the least costly ways to market your business.