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5 Tips to help you build a HUGELY valuable newsletter list

Here are 5 tips, to help you build a big and valuable newsletter readership or list.

Let’s go.

1. Go easy on the pitches

Make sure it’s a newsletter and not a badly disguised advertisement. Here’s the thing: People avoid advertising. We skip the commercials on TV. We pay developers to remove the ads from the free version of their apps. We see advertisements as unwelcome interruptions.

If your newsletter reads a little too much like a sales pitch, it will be largely ignored. This leads nicely into the next point.

2. Be useful

The more useful your newsletter is, the more your readers will value it and share it. Your ultimate goal is to build a large, targeted reader community, who become either clients, customers or advocates. None of that can be achieved with predictable, pedestrian content.

Useful content is what gives your newsletter legs. It’s what inspires people to subscribe, stay subscribed, share and make purchasing decisions. So, before you hit send on a newsletter, make sure it contains valuable, useful information. Provide answers to your reader’s problems. Share useful tips. Point your readers to helpful resources. You get the idea.

The more value you pack into each newsletter, the more your readers will value it… and the more they will value you. Think about that for a moment.

3. Get the design right

Even if your content is wonderful, people won’t take it seriously if the design looks poor. The first bite is with the eye.

If your newsletter provides valuable information, but the design looks amateurish or outdated, it’s like serving a delicious meal on a dirty plate.

So invest in the best design or newsletter template you can. Because whether your newsletter looks cheap or is presented professionally, it all reflects back on you.

4. Ask readers to share

Even if readers think your newsletter is great, it may not occur to them to share it. People are busy. Really busy. By reminding them, you plant the idea of sharing the newsletter in their mind. Moreover, you do this at the exact point, where they have just read it and enjoyed it. I used to have a section at the bottom of my newsletter, which said:

“If you have found this newsletter interesting, please share it with your friends”.

When I added that short message to my newsletter, the results were immediate and measurable. It’s amazing what a simple reminder can do.

5. Help it spread

Convert people who had your newsletter forwarded to them, into subscribers.

Imagine your friend had just forwarded a great newsletter to you. You’d want to get a regular copy, right? You don’t want to have to rely on your friend, remembering to forward each edition to you. So, I added the following sentence to the above message:

“If you have had this newsletter forwarded to you and would like a regular copy, click here.”

Never underestimate the power of a subtle, non-pushy reminder.

Make no mistake, newsletters can be an extremely powerful marketing asset. It’s why I make my best blog posts available in newsletter format. And it’s why I ask you to take your newsletter seriously and invest in it accordingly. Give it the time and effort it needs. Because the rewards for getting it right are huge. Really, really huge.

Quick tip: How to get more prospective clients to say ‘yes’

Written by Jim Connolly

marketing, confusion, clarity

Here is a very quick marketing tip to increase your sales. This works online and also when you’re giving a presentation to a prospective client or customer.

It’s based on one of the foundations of successful selling: A confused mind always says “no!“.

In other words, when faced with a buying decision, a confused prospective client will not proceed. They’ll say ‘no’ or walk away, rather than risk making a bad decision. And you, the business owner, are the one who pays the price for that lack of clarity.

Clarity sells

With this in mind, I’d like you to think for a moment about all the different options or choices your prospective clients are faced with.

Here’s why it’s critically important for you to get the balance just right.

The more options you put in front of someone, the more choice they have.
The more choice they have, the harder it is for them to decide.
The harder their decision making process is, the less likely they are to hire you or buy from you.
They move on.
You lose a prospective client or a sale, to a less confusing competitor.

We don’t want that to happen to you.

The marketing power of clarity

I’d like you to take some time to go through all your marketing materials, especially your website. Then review your sales presentation content.

Now, look closely for all unnecessary confusion.

Some good places to start (depending on your industry) may include; the number of service levels you provide, your various pricing options, the number of bundles or different packages you offer, over-long feature lists, the amount of information you require on your contact forms… you get the idea.

Now consider whether you actually need to offer so much complexity, so much potential for confusion. And if not, reduce. Everything that needs to be there should remain. But absolutely nothing else.

In short, aim for maximum clarity. Because a confused mind always says “no!”.

How to be one of the highest paid people in your industry

Written by Jim Connolly

Image: Isaac Smith

A reader emailed me with a great question. She asked: “What’s the most direct route to becoming one of the best paid service providers in my industry, Jim?”.

I told her I’d share my answer here, as I know it’s something many of you will find useful.

Sometimes, the best answer to a problem seems too simple to be correct. Too good to be true. Thankfully, when it comes to attracting the very best clients and fees, the simple answer is also the right answer.

Drum roll please…

You attract better clients, better projects and better fees, when you solve better problems.

What do I mean when I say “solve better problems”?

I’m suggesting you deliberately choose to apply your skills (in whatever area of business you’re in) to the most challenging work. I’m talking about the really tricky stuff. The demanding work, which requires more thinking, deeper problem solving and greater effort.

Here’s why this approach is so powerful

Very few service providers deliberately choose to solve the most pressing and valuable problems. The vast majority do what’s expected. In other words, they work hard doing their best possible version of what their marketplace expects from someone in their industry.

If you’re willing to embrace solving better problems, it presents you with a double opportunity.

By seeking out the most challenging work, your fees are not only higher, you also find yourself with very little (often zero) meaningful competition.

Hold on. There’s another benefit.

The providers who focus on solving the best problems aren’t only (by far) the highest paid, with the least competition. They also get to work every single day, on the most interesting and professionally rewarding projects.

Let’s recap. By shunning the middle ground and choosing to solve better problems you get:

The best clients.
A chance for you to earn the highest fees in your industry or profession.
Far, far less competition. Read this.
The most interesting type of work.
Bigger and better rewards on every level.

Easier said than done?

Yes, of course it is.

But that’s precisely why this opportunity exists for you today.

Steve Jobs, money and success

Written by Jim Connolly

It’s an interesting fact that very few of the world’s most successful businesspeople, set out with money or success as their primary target.

They aimed to be valuable.
They aimed to make the world or the marketplace a better place.
They aimed to make a difference.

However, money or success was not their primary focus.

Here’s how they did it!

Steve Jobs famously said:

“I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money”.

If Jobs was focused primarily on the money or success, he’d have been able to cash in when he was in his 20’s… super rich and exceptionally successful.

When Einstein said, “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value”, he showed where his focus was. Again, it was about the value. Einstein carried on working until his death, even though he could have quit decades earlier with his reputation set in history forever.

To understand how the most successful and wealthy business owners achieved their success, we need to look at why most business owners struggle.

In it just for the money

You can usually tell pretty fast, when you encounter someone who is primarily in it for the money. That’s because it’s both obvious and extremely unattractive. And this makes it very hard for them to succeed.

Here are some examples we see all the time, which you will recognise instantly:

They are the salespeople, whose eyes light up like a wolf when they spot a potential sales victim.
They are the ill-informed marketing gurus, who STILL say the money is in the list, because they haven’t figured out the value is in the community.
They are the affiliate marketers, who leave spammy links and comments on blogs and Facebook.
They are the pests, who send us unwanted spam email.
They are the pushy business owners, who corner us at events. The ones who pretend they want to know about us, when we know it’s just an old, cringe-worthy networking tactic.
They are the struggling restaurant owners, who use slightly lower quality ingredients and hire slightly lower quality chefs, and end up with a low quality restaurant that no one recommends.

They are the kind of business owners you thought of, as you were reading those examples!

The way forward for smart business owners

Focus on value. Create products or services that are meaningfully different from the competition. Solve better problems. Create work you are proud of. Offer remarkable service and outstanding quality. And delight your customers at every opportunity.

Persistently create value and use marketing to make it visible. People are extremely attracted to value and they pay a premium for it too. Just ask the owner of any high priced Apple product, the owner of a luxury car or the client of any leading service provider.

Get this right my friend, and the money and success will surely follow.

How to make your marketing totally, utterly unmissable

Written by Jim Connolly

What do the following have in common?

The trailer for a movie, which is part of a franchise you really enjoy.
A radio interview with a musician, whose music you’ve always loved, talking about their new album.
A Facebook post from an author, whose books you collect, announcing their new title.
A newsletter from a brand you like and trust, announcing an exciting new product.

The answer is that they are all examples of marketing you value. Marketing you wouldn’t want to miss. Marketing that doesn’t even feel like marketing.

How to create unmissable marketing

So, what was it that made those marketing examples unmissable?

You gave permission for the marketing message to reach you. You tuned into the TV station or radio channel. You liked them on Facebook. You subscribed to their newsletter.
The product being marketed (movie, album or book etc.), is something you’re interested in.

Without your permission, the marketer is being a pest. No one wants to be pestered with unsolicited emails, off-target advertising or unrequested social networking messages.

Without your interest, the “offer” is just another annoying, time-wasting, badly targeted sales pitch.

Making your marketing unmissable

Firstly, make sure you only market to people who want what you’re offering.

Secondly, earn their permission.

How?

Here’s a strategy that works:

Think about the brands you have given permission to contact you.
Write them down.
Next, ask yourself why you did it. Why did you subscribe to their YouTube channel, their newsletter or their podcast? Why did you like them on Facebook or connect with them on Linkedin? Why did you ask them to send you their catalogue or email you their updates?
Finally, see what you can learn from their strategy, which you can adapt, to earn the permission of your prospective customers.

It takes more effort to create unmissable marketing. However, it will massively improve your results.

How doing less can get you more

Written by Jim Connolly

One of the best kept secrets in business, is something I call reduction. It’s a strategy I share with my clients and today, I’m going to share some of it with you.

Less can be more

Ineffective business owners strive to do more and more.

They focus on productivity hacks, growth hacks, life hacks and short-cuts. As an unavoidable result, they become increasingly busy, increasingly stressed, increasingly frustrated and increasingly disappointed.

Thankfully, there’s a smarter way forward.

The most effective business owners use a very different approach. They’ve discovered that the biggest wins come from doing fewer things. Less is more.

For example:

Fewer unfinished projects, leads to more clarity.
Fewer social media interruptions, leads to more focus.
Fewer repeated errors, leads to more progress.
Fewer dodged decisions, leads to more respect.
Fewer missed deadlines, leads to more trust.
Fewer hours wasted, leads to more productivity.
Fewer angry words, leads to more happiness.
Fewer broken promises, leads to more belief.
And fewer excuses, leads to more achievement.

If you find yourself stressed, working long hours and making too little progress, don’t add even more to your workload. All it will do is create additional stress.

Instead, focus on reduction. Because with the right strategy, less can be more. So much more.