Build your customer base, and stay in touch with your current customers using an email newsletter.  E-newsletters are an inexpensive yet effective way to harness the Internet.   Sending a newsletter also enables you to reach your customers and prospects in a unique and personalized way, says Hook PR Group Partner James Diehl.

“It’s all about communicating with your customers in today’s marketplace,” Diehl says. “If you build rapport with your customers and earn their trust through the use of your services, you will create a relationship that will last for years.”

Using the power of an e-newsletter really levels the playing field between a small, family-run business and a larger corporation. “You control the information flow and put only what you want your customers to read in front of them on a regular basis,” Diehl says.

Top three ways that Hook PR E-newsletters are good for your business

Learn about your impact on customers with e-newsletter services that give you:

• Measurable results. Unlike many types of advertising, our e-newsletters show you exactly how many people the message has reached. You can view the number of e-mails sent and opened. If you have links on the page, you can view how many people clicked on them.

• A highly targeted campaign. You send information only to those customers who are most likely to respond, with information that appeals to them. You never send anyone  unwanted e-mails – those who want to know more easily sign themselves up.

• A place to showcase your expertise. E-mail newsletters let you demonstrate your knowledge and skill. And because they’re written in your voice — or the voice of your company — customers feel as though you are talking directly to them. They can respond via a link or e-mail address on the page.

Not a writer?  No sweat — That’s our job

To harness the power of this leading marketing tool, our experienced journalists at Hook PR Group design, create and launch your e-newsletter and keep it going.

Our writers are uniquely qualified to develop marketing campaigns with email newsletters your target audience wants to read. With our background as journalists, we deliver your message in clear, concise and convincing terms, showing how your business offers the expertise that your target market is looking for.

Learn more about newsletter writing and setup services offered by Hook PR Group. See samples here in our portfolio.  You can set up a free consultation with one of our marketing professionals — email  editors@hookrgroup.com or call 302-858-5055.

But there is always a contingent of people whose eyes glaze over and who adopt a bit of a defensive posture. I always hope one of the skeptics will ask a question because they always voice the same general concern: “This all sounds good, David. But how can we actually create all this content you’re talking about: e-books, white papers, blogs and the like? We have a small marketing department and very little budget.”

The answer is quite simple: hire a journalist!

With the consolidation of the newspaper and magazine businesses, journalists have found it difficult to get and keep good jobs. Many experienced people are looking for work. And there are many more people coming out of journalism school than available entry-level jobs.

A journalist skillfully creates interesting stories about how an organization solves customer problems and then delivers those stories in the form of ebooks, white papers, content rich web pages, podcasts, and video. And consumers love it. How refreshing to read, listen to, and watch these products of journalistic expertise instead of the usual product come-ons that typical corporations produce.

Of course, this is a dire situation for many reporters and editors themselves, but a tremendous opportunity for corporate marketing and PR departments that need to find great talent to create effective content. Sure, this is a drastically different job description and some marketing VPs may have trouble getting their arms around this kind of hire. But I’m convinced based on the characteristics, skill sets, and work ethics of the journalists I know as well as the evidence from companies (such as IBM) that have already experimented with hiring journalists into the marketing department, that this approach is the right one.

Journalists themselves will need to think deeply about the opportunities that a corporate assignment might bring to their career. Many journalists have a strong emotional aversion to selling their skills to corporations. While some would rather wait tables than work for “the dark side,” others may find the opportunity refreshing and maybe even an consider the possibility that a corporate stint as an enhancement to their career that would make them more marketable to magazines and newspapers in their future career.

So I ask my marketing and PR friends: Why not just go for it and hire a journalist?