Publishing a free newsletter is an effective and inexpensive marketing strategy with several business benefits. Here are some of those benefits:

1. Increases sales

Prospects only become paying clients when they know, like, and trust your business. Publishing a free newsletter is a way of making your readers get more acquainted with your business. As a result, this will increase sales. Youll find that when you convert your readers into paying clients, theyll repeatedly buy more of your services as they get to know you more, like you more and trust you more.

2. Positions you as an expert in your field

Experts can charge more for their services, and they often get more media exposure. By providing helpful tips to your readers, a newsletter is another vehicle for demonstrating your expertise, and showcasing your knowledge and skills. This will enhance your credibility in the marketplace and therefore attract more clients.

3. Its cost-effective

Publishing and distributing an electronic newsletter is inexpensive because it is delivered by email, and theres zero cost on printing and postage. Of course you can choose to publish in hard copy format, but that will defeat the cost-effective advantage of an electronic format. With the magic of technology today, you dont have to own a web site to be able to publish an electronic newsletter and distribute it via email. There are several companies that provide templates you can use to publish and distribute your newsletter. All you need is an email address to send it from and a subscription method.

Also, as it takes five to eight contacts for a prospect to say "yes" to buying from you, a newsletter is a cheap and easy way to "warm up" your prospects.

4. Nurtures relationships with clients and prospects

As long as you're in front of your clients and prospects on a regular basis, youll be at the top of their mind when theyre ready to buy the kind of service you offer. Unless you do this, theyll forget you. Publishing a newsletter is an effective way to stay in front of them without being a pest! As they read each newsletter issue, your subscribers will get to know, like and trust you more (thats if youre not bombarding them with just promotions). Youll be viewed as a valuable resource, rather than an aggressive salesman. As a result, youll convert more prospects into clients, and turn more one-time clients into repeat buyers of your service.

5. Spreads the word about your business

Some of your subscribers might not be clients, but they may be groups that have influence and credibility with your target market e.g. the media, staff at trade associations, training companies and so on. Such groups are called "the centers of influence" of your industry. Keeping in touch with them via your newsletter can lead to paid speaking engagements, referrals, tons of media exposure and profitable joint ventures.

6. Helps you build an in-house mailing list

Many businesses spend thousands of dollars on list rental for direct mail campaigns. Offering a newsletter is one of the cheapest ways to get people's contact information, allowing you to market to them over and over again. This also means youll have qualified prospects on your database the more qualified your prospects are, the higher the chances of a sale.

Tips For Smooth Sailing:

Dont publish a newsletter that is filled with promotions and nothing else, or that goes on and on about your business schedule or staff party or recent media exposure. Your readers dont care about these things. They only care about "whats-in-it-for-me" so make sure at least 80% of your content focuses on helpful tips for your readers.

While you should focus your content primarily on information that is of use and interest to your subscribers, you should always include a subtle promotion for your services. Your readers wouldnt mind this, as long as youre providing valuable content. About 10-20% of your content should tell the reader how your services can solve their problem i.e. the problem youve just addressed in the newsletter article.

Your newsletter shouldnt have so many pages. Were in an era of busy schedules and your readers probably subscribe to other publications. If yours takes more than 15-20 minutes to read and digest, you run the risk of having your readers delete it without reading or they may unsubscribe.

Include a subscription box on your web site so that visitors can sign up to receive the free newsletter. Make sure the box is easy to find. If you dont own a web site then you can spread the word about your free newsletter by printing a "blurb" about it on your invoices, receipts, brochures, and other marketing materials.

To build momentum fast, publish your newsletter at least once a month. In some industries, it is better to publish twice a month or weekly.

Be consistent with your publishing schedule. If youve decided to publish once a month then do so consistently, otherwise a "here and there" schedule will undermine perceived reliability

As with any marketing strategy, test and track to determine what works best. Variables to test include how often you publish, the length of your newsletter, the writing style, electronic vs. hard copy format etc.

Copyright 2005 by Habiba Abubakar and Emprez. All rights reserved.

Note: You are welcome to republish this article as long as you do so in its entirety and the "about the author" bit at the end is included fully and unaltered.

Habiba Abubakar

Habiba Abubakar, a.k.a. The Profit Diva, is President and CEO of Emprez ? a marketing consultancy and information publishing company that helps small businesses grow and excel in profits.

It didn?t take long for Habiba?s entrepreneurial spirit to surface. In one way or another, she has been involved with small businesses since the 1990s. Her earliest business experience was at age 12, when she persuaded her Grandma to let her sell some Arabian veils to her school friends. Since then, Habiba continuously dabbled into several business opportunities - even during her university education, and when she had a day job - until she found her forte.

After graduating with a Law Degree (LL.B Honors), Habiba made her debut into the corporate world as a sales representative with Marcus Evans Conferences. She soon realized that marketing is her real passion. Habiba switched careers and consequently held marketing positions at Bloomberg L.P, Macfarlanes, HLB Lists, Salans, Buzzacott Chartered Accountants and other blue-chip organizations.

With years of experience in marketing, Habiba founded Emprez to help small businesses cure what she calls the "mediocre profits syndrome." Under Emprez, Habiba set up two subsidiaries to serve separate niche markets.

Through restaurantmarketingstrategy.com, she works with restaurant owners that are struggling to attract more customers and trying to build undying customer loyalty.

Through Profit Diva, Habiba specializes in helping small business owners attract more clients and increase profits by developing, implementing and managing joint venture projects as part of their marketing mix and overall business strategy.

As a speaker, author, consultant and entrepreneur, Habiba is no stranger to the ups and downs of running a business.

As an alumna of Middlesex University Law School, Habiba is often invited back for speaking engagements. She also participates in the university?s annual Alumni Mentoring Scheme by taking on penultimate year marketing students.

Known for her "more clients and greater profits in 180 days" promise, Habiba has been featured in Benefits Marketing Online Magazine, Restaurant Business Magazine, Pizza, Pasta & Italian Food Magazine, Masala Magazine, and commpiled.com, to name a few.

Habiba?s philosophy is simple: "In this world there?s no CAN?T, only WON?T and more often than not, that?s the difference between success and failure."