Make Yourself Stand Out In The World Of Free Information

Take a minute to think about your daily encounters with the
media: you wake up to your alarm clock that is tuned into a
popular radio station, catch a glimpse of the morning news while
you brush your teeth, and it only gets worse from there.

The average person is surrounded by thousands of messages each
day, and those are only counting the ones they aren't looking
for. In a world where logging onto the Internet anytime someone
needs a quick answer for anything is the norm, it's hard to deny
that free information is everywhere.

So what does this mean for you, for business? It means,
unfortunately, that your public relations and advertising
attempts have less impact as the days go by.

Don't get me wrong, targeted public relations campaigns are still
effective. But even with consistent PR attempts, it's not
guaranteed that the same people will read every exposure.

Getting your name out there is the first step in standing out
amidst the crowd. Writing a promotional newsletter is a great way
to do this. First of all, you're not selling anything, so the
customer doesn't feel that immediate sense of pressure and unease
involved with most sales pitches. However, with the repeated
exposure to your name involved, the client will remember you when
the time does come to send out other forms of sales
communication, such as print ads or sales letters.

If you run a mid to small business, a newsletter should be
published with a frequency of about one every three months. This
creates a good balance, because it's not too frequent, nor
infrequent enough that the client forgets he subscribes to the
newsletter.

So where do you find people to send these newsletters to? Current
clients, past clients, and people that have previously inquired
about your business should be at the top of the list. Other
contacts include colleagues, prominent members of your industry,
and trade publication editors.

A promotional newsletter should not be charged a subscription
fee. After all, this is a part of your PR campaigning, an effort
to get your name established and recognized out in the crowd.
Content should be a mixture of company information, production
news, and sales talk. The information should be interesting and
helpful, but remember that the purpose of your newsletter is to
educate customers about YOUR company and to get them to buy YOUR
products.

If you should choose to send out your newsletter by snail mail,
it will be a bit more costly considering you have to pay for
paper, printing costs, and postage. Frequently, though, email
newsletters have become very popular. It's much easier to type
and send directly from your computer, and best of all-- it's
free.

It might take a few issues for people to remember your name, but
you will have so much more impact the next time you decide to
send a sales letter or brochure to that company. Even with all
the access to free information out there, there are ways to
promote your yourself and your business.