ENEWSLETTERS THAT PROMOTE CONTRACTORS

Contractors who want to connect with prospective clients, as well as stay in the forefront of the minds of former clients and other home professionals, should consider creating an e-newsletter to email to subscribers every month.

The advantages of doing this are many.  Newsletters are a great way to improve client retention.   Similar to website videos, the purpose of your e-newsletters should be to provide a public service, but the marketing value to you is built in.  Contractors can acquire a free, customizable template from specialist vendors, such as MailChimp or Constant Contact.

Many e-newsletters are designed to be smartphone-compatible.  Subscribers can scan a QR code that you can have printed on your brochures and business cards, and this allows them to read your latest news on their mobile devices so that they don’t need to be glued to their laptops.

Emailing the newsletter is free if you have fewer than a couple of thousand subscribers (terms vary by vendor).  In exchange, you’ll receive reports and updates detailing who reads your newsletter, which can alert you to do some friendly and timely follow-up.

How to Acquire (and Not Acquire) Subscribers

Contractors should always save contact information and sort their email contacts in their online address book for business purposes.  Take advantage of the fields in your address book that allow you to fill in reminders and details about who each contact is, be they real estate professionals you’ve worked with (or ones you’re trying to get to know), building suppliers, past clients, and those who have expressed an interest in your work.  This makes inviting clients and industry colleagues to subscribe to your e-newsletter easy.

You can also trade and/or pay a fee for email lists from service vendors, building suppliers and real estate professionals.  You can troll for prospective subscribers in the public domain.

Keep It Simple

Once you’ve worked out the terms of your e-newsletter with your service of choice, take some time to develop your template.  Keep the name of your e-newsletter uncomplicated and easy to recognize so that recipients will instantly associate it with your business.

Keep the design simple and the layout easy to read; too many visuals, including colors and animation, may detract from your content, which should be your newsletter’s focus.What to Include in Your eNewsletters

  • a “Here’s what ABC Contracting is up to this month”-type of article to maintain a sense of timeliness;
  • consumer-related articles that you or someone you commission can write.  Keep these topical and seasonal;
  • informational articles that are relevant to suppliers, such as the dangers of Chinese drywall;
  • informational articles that are of interest to the real estate profession, such as local housing trends;
  • a link to your website;
  • direct links to your website’s videos;
  • images of projects in progress (after acquiring any necessary permissions, which you can forgo by providing prior notice in your client contract);
  • images of your staff and crew in action;
  • information and links for community events, especially those sponsored by you or that you’ll be participating in;
  • links to sites that are important to you (although you should be careful that these are not so politicized that you will alienate any prospective clients); and
  • informational articles and links in the public domain that are relevant to your business activities.