E-Newsletters - Gateway for promoting and enhancing brand image - Summary

Transcription

1 E-Newsletters - Gateway for promoting and enhancing brand image - Summary E-Newsletters are a very effective and low-cost method to stay in touch with your customers, prospects, associates and other contacts. They are a great extension to your business communication toolkit and offer you and your clients an excellent channel by which you can reach potential and existing customers. Currently, there is an increase in newsletter usage and spending by companies. According to a survey organised by B2B Magazine in January 2011, 63% of respondents would like to increase spending on marketing in 2011, and 29% of respondents are going to try keeping their spend constant. Companies are adopting to it more and more, to maintain a relationship with their customers. Newsletters have become a gateway for promoting knowledge, enhancing brand image as well as generating revenue for companies and as a result, newsletters have become a strategic method of communication and marketing, and in the digital era this can be essential for the sustainability of any organisation. Problem Develop an attractive e-newsletter in a highly regulated market due to junk s E-Newsletters are a very effective and low-cost method to stay in touch with your customers, prospects, associates and other contacts. They are a great extension to your business communication toolkit and offer you and your clients an excellent channel by which you can reach potential and existing customers. There is currently an increase in newsletter usage and spending by companies. The industry is highly competitive and saturated with many players. Therefore, newsletters have become a strategic method of communication and marketing, and in the digital era this can be essential for the sustainability of any organisation. Following are some general trends seen in the market at present: An April 2010 report by technology market research firm The Radicati Group estimates that there are 2.9 billion accounts in 2010, expected to rise to over 3.8 billion by According to Econsultancy survey in early 2011, 72% of respondents answered that Return-of- Investment (ROI) of their marketing campaigns is excellent or really good.

2 According to survey organized by BtoB Magazine in January 2011, 63% of respondents would like to increase spending on marketing in 2011, and 29% of respondents are going to try keeping spend constant. According to 2011 Digital Marketing Outlook Survey from the Society of Digital Agencies, 70% of brand marketers planned to make investments in marketing niche in E-newsletters are a form of communication which is cost effective, gives immediate results, and is measurable for effectiveness. The process of developing newsletters however is complex. The market is scattered with many providers and the market is highly regulated due to risk spam s, which is known as junk . Objective Design with clear thought out purpose The purpose of having a newsletter should be thought out as this will be the determinant of how the newsletter should be designed and managed. It can be as simple as updating people with new articles relating to the industry, or could be to introduce a new service, product promotion or new director of the firm. Most organizations that follow random updates could have a simple structure to their design. Companies which regularly send research and information to their clients would have a set structure with a long list, and multiple titles. Listed below are the key objectives in order to develop an e-newsletter found to be in most organisations. Engagement with broader base of customers Awareness and promotion of brand Updating members of new products and features Updating with industry news Prompting requests for more information Linking to internal web site Create credibility of service Generating revenue The e-newsletter content, theme and strategy should be closely tied to whatever purpose sought.

3 Hurdles Involvement of technical aspects in creating e-newsletters The performance of every newsletter campaign can vary based on the design of the , the time of delivery, the frequency of s and the quality of the list. This process involves a technical aspect most executives are not sound with. An organisation big or small will have many issues when starting to create an e-newsletter. Listed below are the other complications faced by companies when creating an e-newsletter: Lack of time and skills to manage process Not having access to software and online capability Lack of experience with creation and deployment issues such as; - html newsletter creation - Compatibility with different hosts - Making sure s comply regulations - list selection and management Lack of experience in tracking results of newsletters Lack of experience in reporting the results Lack of knowledge on regulations surrounding ing The need to focus on the core business activities than developing newsletters Lack of time and ability Lack of access to software & online capability Lack of experience in creation Lack of knowledge of regulations surrounding ing Solution Focus on managing newsletter campaigns that adds value to the organisation and stakeholders To overcome the complexities stated above, it is important to focus on managing newsletter campaigns in a way that it adds value to the organisation and its stakeholders. The content of the newsletter should purely be based on what adds most value according to the objectives set. Newsletters may therefore be developed separately for internal stakeholders and external stakeholders. Monitoring and maintaining on a monthly basis or as each campaign goes out, is important for future developments and improvements. Therefore, a monthly report also can be prepared with the number of s sent and read; number of s bounced back, number of articles clicked etc.

4 How to Do It Development of newsletters based on client requirement and needs The way we at BQu plan our project process is solely dependent on our client s requirements and needs. BQu has created a combination of IT (using the most up-to-date web based tools) and business research and communication skills similar to that of the leading consultancies to be able to offer this service competitively. Figure 1 explains the general project steps we undertake in order to develop an e-newsletter to provide maximum solutions to our clients. Steps taken in the project are as follows: Figure 1: E-newsletter Development Process Phase 1 This is the first step where we understand the client requirement and the client brand. Here we define an appropriate content and a design according to the client s requirements. Draft s are sent to the client at the end of this phase before finalising. Phase 2 This is the phase where we send the newsletters to the database provided by the client. The sending out is done on a date and time specified by the client. Phase 3 This phase comprises the final and the reporting part of the process. Here we report to the client by evaluating the number of s sent, click rates, open rates, forwards etc. Looking into these will enable the client to decide on further improvements and how to proceed with the campaign.

5 Case Study BQu developed an e-newsletter for a leading education provider in the UK. This is a continuous project, as per our client s request followed by review reports which are generated monthly. The client requirements Our clients requirement was to create a monthly newsletter in order to attract new students and retain existing members in the long term. Furthermore they sought to attract institutes willing to offer the qualification/courses and catering to students studying in remote locations. Based on the client s requirements BQu developed a plan consisting of the requirements to be addressed and the steps to be taken by BQu. This was set in clear and concise manner for the client as well as the team which was involved in doing this project. The major elements of the project Providing students with updated industry news articles through a monthly newsletter was the major task in this project. It also included the information on the qualification offered by our client and advertisements from featured institutes. The newsletter was sent out as 4 versions for different audiences who are based in UK and Internationally. The Deliverables Listed below are the end products that are delivered to our client: - Research content to include in the newsletters - Design newsletters according to the client s need - Maintain database for client in a secure setting - Manage each send-out through correspondence with client - Monthly reporting of the last send-out (Including resending to new lists) About BQu BQu is a company dedicated to provide business decision makers with the support they need to make better fact based decisions and to improve their communication and engagement with all stake holders and end users. BQu was created to close the gap that exists between business leaders and consultancies in terms of the support they have to enable them to research topics, gather or create information, analyse data and present results. We do this by focussing our resources in assisting management rather than advising management while still using the problem solving approach of the leading consultancies and the communication framework devised by Barbara Minto also used by the major consultancies. Our motto is: - the right information - at the right time - in the right format - at the right price - For more information click here. enquiries@bquintelligence.com Tel: Fax: