Three Secrets for Executive E-Newsletter Engagement

Corporate E-Newsletters are becoming an increasingly popular method to reach out to corporate employees and keep them up-to-date and engaged in company updates, events and business decisions. Karen Gedney recently published the article, Three Secrets for Executive E-Newsletter Engagement on Clickz.com, and it focuses on author Michael J. Katz’s three simple secrets to effective e-newsletter communication. The link to the article can be found below for additional information.

Secret 1: Focus on the Content
In an e-mail-fatigued world in which business people scan their in-boxes, ready to press the "delete" key, your e-newsletter must be engaging, relevant, and a must-read.
One of the best ways to accomplish this is to write about the questions your customers and prospects ask you about most. Keep a notepad by your phone and when people call you, jot down a list of their most common inquiries. Your answers are your e-newsletter content.
These frequently asked questions should be answered in the same friendly, practical manner you would use over the phone. While we all want to be considered thought leaders, that doesn't mean articles have to be lengthy, academic treatises. If you talk from your own experience about what works in your business, people will immediately get that you're an expert. Once your expertise is established, you're on your way to forging a productive, professional relationship.

That leads us to the second secret...

Secret 2: Focus on the Relationships
As Katz says, "The primary reason that e-newsletters are so powerful is because they provide a systematic means for growing and maintaining relationships. It's not because they're cheap or trackable or clickable or forwardable, although they certainly are all those things."

Your e-newsletter gives you a vehicle for connecting with your customers or potential customers month after month.

He goes on to say, "If you write your company newsletter with a focus on enhancing the relationship between you and your readers, you will stand head and shoulders over your competition, most of whom are missing this point entirely and who (whether they say it out loud or not) view their e-newsletter as an inexpensive way to send direct mail to their house list."

Secret 3: Be Genuine
Your e-newsletter should sound like it's written by you.

If you are a Fortune 500, your e-newsletter should either sound like it's written by your CEO or reflect your corporate culture and brand. It should speak to your customers and prospects just as if you were sitting across from them at a conference room table or, better yet, a restaurant table.

Katz says, "Your newsletter should give potential customers a sense of what you're like, who you are, what you believe in, what you know about your industry, and what doing business with you is all about. For existing customers, it's an ongoing reminder of all things."

From my own experience publishing an e-newsletter and writing this column for ClickZ, I see the principle of "like attracts like" works in e-newsletter writing.

People who like what I say tend to contact me after each column is published. When we get on the phone or chat by e-mail, it's like we're old friends -- and, of course, many of these warm, collegial contacts quickly turn into enduring client relationships.

What's beautiful about this approach is that it also weeds out the clients who would have been a bad fit. I guess they read the e-newsletters that coincide more with their own point of view!
Katz reminds us, "Relationships happen between people (not between organizations) and the more you can write in a genuine, spoken manner, the more it will feel to readers like somebody (i.e., you) is really on the other end. Turn out something that breaks down walls between your company and your customers, and you will be just fine.""

The article concludes with three key questions that you should ask yourself to see if your newsletter is ready to be made over.

"1.) Am I answering the questions my clients and prospects typically ask?

2.) Am I building relationships between me and the people I want to do business with (rather than pushing out information to their organizations)?

3.) Am I writing the way I talk so people can get a sense of what it will be like to actually work with me?

If you answer "no" to any of these questions, perhaps it's time for a spring e-newsletter makeover."

If you continue to be interested in optimizing your newsletter capabilities, keep checking back for the latest information.


http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3628971

Repositioning a Broken Corporate Name

Can you really re-invent a corporation's brand and its identity? GE thinks its possible, while the majority disagree, especially Bob Garfield.

Years ago, GE dumped 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Hudson River. This decision by GE caused much grief for consumers and GE, which to this day has still not dissipated.

In order to rebuild their brand, GE developed a new ad campaign that references the new technology available for desalination, which will benefit the ecosystem in times of drought. Is it possible for GE to surmount the negative stigma attached to it?

A brand's identity and its reputation symbolize the corporation’s culture, its beliefs and practices and also ensures the public of its social responsibility. GE is taking steps in the right direction by promoting these eco-friendly innovations. When a corporation's identity hinders its ability to do business the Internet, which is ubiquitous and convenient, can help rebuild confidence with the proper campaign.

ROWE Boosts Employee Moral...and Retention

For years we have heard that the Internet would revolutionize the way we work. While the impact of its use cannot be denied (email, research, e-commerce, and the list goes on), where we work from most has remained in the office. If anything, an argument can be made that the Internet has increased employer expectations for the number of hours employees work per week. In fact, in the five years the number of overworked Americans has increased 16%.

Best Buy has a program called the results oriented work environment (ROWE) that allows employees to work when they like as long as they get the job done. This might sound like an easy program to implement, but when you begin to think about the cultural change that this program needs to be successful, it seems daunting. I think the most important part of this article is that employees do not know whether or not they have worked more or less with the new program...they simply stopped counting.

The stress of life, work, relationships, errands, kids and even veterinarian visits can be overwhelming. If you ever read the book Getting Things Done, by David Allen, you know that the definition of work is anything occupying your mind. For most of us, separating work from personal chores and duties is impossible and, to that extent, the definition of "being professional" in the workplace is even changing with more people recognizing this fact.

I applaud Best Buy and their adaptation to the times and needs of their employees. Having a family myself, I only wish other employers would trust their employees to make responsible decisions.

The effective use of multi-channel marketing

Setting up a multi-channel marketing practice in an organization is critical to success in today's business world. All departments within the organization work together to develop an understanding of their corporations identity, its practices, and its brand. The foundation for this type of marketing is composed of online services, in-store sales, contacts by phone, and its delivery options.

In establishing which segment to target, the firm can use multi-channel marketing to better promote the brand by use of cross-marketing. This practice maximizes team efforts in the organization and strengthens the culture of the corporation.

Every corporation should practice this form of communication to better itself as well as its reputation in the minds of its consumers. Multi-channel marketing increases internal communication and will promote growth within the organization.

Resources:
Multi-Channel Marketing, Making Bricks and Clicks Stick
http://www.mckinsey.com/practices/retail/knowledge/articles/Multichannelmarketing.pdf