eNewsletters Part 2/4: Overcoming Your Three Biggest Objections

Last time, we looked at why you need an eNewsletter now. You'll agree that email newsletters improve contact with your clients, prospects and centres of influence. Yet you probably worry about the details. Here are the three biggest questions that advisors ask

1. where do you get the content?
2. where do you get readers?
3. how do you find the time?

The answers to these objections are simpler than you think.

Getting The Content

Getting content is fairly easy. While original content sets you apart, you don't have to write every single word. Instead, link to quality free content that's available online. Create Google Alerts to track what matters to your target readers. Look for articles in publications you read online. Check out Twitter feeds like @mActuary and @riscario for ideas.

You simply write a short catchy summary and link to the source material. That can be your newsletter. Your approach will evolve over time as you find your voice.

Getting Readers

We're in a permission-based world. Add your current clients to your distribution list. You can add others who give you permission. Violate these rules and you risk termination by your Email Marketing provider. New readers can subscribe via links in your newsletter or through a signup form that your Email Marketing provides for insertion on your own website.

You probably want two lists

1. clients and prospects
2. centres of influence

with one email to each group each month. You can refine over time. You may eventually want clients and prospects in separate lists. Or a separate list for your top clients.

Finding The Time

You can send eNewsletters from Microsoft Outlook or other email applications. You can even get fancy and personalize each email with the recipient's name (e.g., Dear ). This chews up time and requires that you be at your computer at the right time. Your email provider may limit how many emails you can send in a day as protection against spammers and to prevent their service from slowing down. Many little things can go wrong, Your computer might freeze. Do you reboot or wait? How do you restart an interrupted mailing? Removing those who want to unsubscribe takes time. You can easily get frustrated and distracted.

Instead, copy the professionals: use an Email Marketing application.

Here are the key features I'm looking for:

1. web-based: nothing to install or backup on your own computer
2. segmentation: to send emails to a portion of your list (e.g., clients who already bought critical illness insurance)
3. autoresponders: to send a preprogrammed sequence of emails (e.g., for new subscribers)
4. adding addresses without requiring opt-in: for including existing clients who gave you permission earlier (use carefully or your service can be terminated)
5. integration with Google Analytics: for tracking
6. scheduling: to have emails go out at a specified future time
7. attachments: to send files (when appropriate) rather than links to files (e.g., for a free special report to reward new subscribers)
8. social networking plugins: so your articles can be spread via Twitter, Facebook, Digg, etc
9. video: so you can embed more than just text (will become more important over time)
10. surveys: to interact with your readers
11. CAN-SPAM compliance: to follow the latest anti-spam laws

In Part 3, we'll at different Email Marketing providers and I'll pick one. Finally, in Part 4, I'll send out an actual eNewsletter and share the results with you. In the meantime, continue getting your email addresses ready for your own campaign.

Links

• eNewsletters Part 1/4: Why You Need an eNewsletter Now
• eNewsletters Part 3/4:
• eNewsletters Part 4/4: Results
• Google Alerts: Track What Matters To You
• original photo: Cristian Junwirth

eNewsletters Part 1/4: Why You Need an eNewsletter Now

Familiarity breeds business. But how do you maintain ongoing contact with your clients, prospects and centres of influences?

You can meet in person and talk over the phone (and should) but that contact requires your personal time and is not scalable.

You need to email a branded monthly newsletter (an eNewsletter) to

• serve your current clients
• attract new clients
• establish your credibility with centres of influence

In short, you need an eNewsletter to grow your business.

You see the benefits but you're busy. You find the details daunting. In this four part series, we'll explore:

1. why you need an eNewsletter (this post)
2. the three big practical objections
3. the experiment
4. the results

To help you, I'll create a brand-new monthly eNewsletter for this blog. I'll describe the progress as we go along. I haven't run an email campaign in years. I don't know what will happen but am optimistic about the results.

Remember SaveTax?

From 2001-2005, I headed up the SaveTax project at National Life to help insurance advisors with online marketing. Advisors got a self-branded consumer-oriented website with extensive education about insurance products, the ability to run illustrations online (including universal life), and the option to buy online. This initiative was years ahead of its time and got scrapped. Such capabilities would help independent advisors now that banks can sell insurance online.

Email marketing was an essential part of SaveTax. Each week, thousands of brief WealthWorthy Minute emails were sent out on behalf of advisors. The addresses came from the advisors and the branding matched the advisor's website. Each Tuesday, website traffic peaked when the emails went out, a sign of effectiveness. Traffic grew week by week, month by month.

Although effortless for advisors, sending personalized, trackable emails was difficult in those days. We used dedicated email servers to send the messages out and tracking codes to monitor the results. You would have had difficulty doing this yourself.

Online Marketing in 2009

Online marketing is very accessible to you these days.

• websites: easy to build without programmers or designers using wikis (e.g., look at riscario.com for education and sparkinsight.com for quotable quotes)
• blogs: replacing the WealthWorthy Minute emails, which were also posted on the advisor's SaveTax website (e.g., look at blog.riscario.com for consumers and this site for you; both hosted for free on Google Blogger)
• distribution: blog content gets sent out free by email and RSS with Google Feedburner
• analysis: free with Google Analytics

You can do so much yourself or with your support staff. All you need are basic skills and the willingness to learn.

The Fundamental Change

Nowadays, you need permission to phone or email others. In the days of SaveTax, emails were sent out without requiring the consent of the recipient. Some advisors even rented lists of strangers. Recipients could easily unsubscribe.

That's gone. In today's permission-based world, you want to attract people to you. You want them to stay in contact.

Everything I do online requires a voluntary subscription. I can't even signup someone who asks: they must subscribe by themselves and then respond to an email confirming they want to opt in. That's a hassle that reduces readership.

If you asked your clients to opt-in to receive email or eNewsletters from you, how many would?

The eNewsletter Solution

You can "push" an eNewsletter to your clients because they previously gave you explicit or implicit permission to contact them. They could certainly opt-out but they would not be forced to opt-in.

With a suitable eNewsletter, you can set yourself apart from most advisors and look as professional as your larger competitors. The cost? A modest $20-$30 US, depending on how many subscribers you have and how often you email.

Next time, we'll look at the three big practical objections advisors have to email marketing. During this series, I'll create an eNewsletter that you can mimick. In the meantime, start getting your client email addresses ready.

Links

• How "Do Not Spam" Laws Help and Hurt Consumers (Riscario Insider)
• eNewsletters Part 2/4: Overcoming Your Three Biggest Objections