Because, if you do it right, then you will take the time to write the newsletter one time per month, and each newsletter will work for you on-line 24 hours a day seven days a week for the next two to three years. You’re not actually taking time. You are leveraging and saving time. You’re showing parents, your clients and future clients, that you are smarter, more dedicated and more deserving of their trust and their business.
The primary key is to be pertinent, helpful, honest and direct. If your newsletters have these four attributes, you will stand out from the pack. Anybody can write a pamphlet. Anybody can set another advertisement adrift in a sea of noise. Be different. Don’t “write” a newsletter. Talk to parents. The newsletter is just the tool you use to do it. Talk with them the way you wish people would talk with you.
Here’s how we start separating you from the crowd. Use professional email marketing. The email marketing I’m referring to involves using a professional email marketing company (Constant Contact is one example) that will not only provide you with the ability to communicate professionally, but also the metrics that will help you measure and determine if and how well your email marketing is working.
The metrics you want to track include opens, bounces, clicks, forwards, spam reports, and opt-outs. A professional email marketing company will make this tracking process easy for you. Remember, if it is truthful feedback, good or bad, then it can be helpful to you.
Here are a few tips for creating your first newsletter:
1) Have someone else review your work before you publish it no matter how good you may be at writing.
2) Use a professional email service provider like Constant Contact. It may take a short time to get used to their system, but the system works.
3) Create a professional looking template that carries the brand of your childcare center or school with consistency.
4) Use your logo and other branding materials at the top of your newsletter so the recipients learn to recognize you quickly.
5) Choose topics that are of genuine interest to parents. Avoid picking topics simply because you find it easy to write about them.
6) Keep your newsletter short and to the point. It’s not poetry. It’s information for making their life better in some way.
7) Be consistent. Monthly is the most common frequency for sending an email newsletter. Pick a day of the month (example: the second Tuesday), and publish on that day every month.
8) Use lots of images. Content is the most important, but it’s useless if no one reads it.
9) Create a permission based list and keep your list current. Your list is an incredibly valuable asset in your business. Collect email addresses so you can stay connected with the people who make your business possible to thriving.
If you do these nine things listed above, you will have success with email marketing and increase the chances that your childcare center, preschool, Montessori, special needs school or private elementary will grow and flourish.
We hope it helps.
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Best to you….Brad Barnett, President BFS®
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