Keys To A Profitable Newsletter For Career Coaches
A friend and career coach, John Hadley, attributes a big part of his successful practice to his email newsletter. Let's see what advice he can give us.
Kenn:
Hey, John. Thanks for taking the time to let me interview you. First question:
How does your newsletter help your practice?
John:
My newsletter keeps me in front of prospective clients on a regular basis, making sure that when they are ready to work with me, they haven't forgotten I'm out there.
It also gives me something of value to offer people, as a way to introduce them to the services I provide. And the links in the newsletter drive traffic to my website.
I now have over 3200 people on my newsletter list, and I'm seeing a steady trickle of readers contacting me to explore my services.
One of my best clients had been reading my newsletter for a year. Then one day, out of the blue, he called to ask what he needed to do to start working with me.
Kenn:
So your newsletter keeps you in front of your prospects. It periodically plants a seed, and from time to time, those seeds bear fruit - days later or years later. That's great!
Many professionals put out a newsletter. Why is a newsletter especially helpful for career coaches?
John:
The newsletter is a forum for showcasing the types of coaching you can provide, through the specific advice you give in the articles.
By using the newsletter to give a taste of what you provide clients, and to showcase the results those clients have achieved, you can get readers to take action to call you, or sign up for your classes or other products.
You can also position them to be more interested in talking to you when you call them or send them an offer.
Kenn:
Great! So you are saying that career coaches can use their newsletters to give prospects a sample of what they can expect from you. I can see how that is especially good for a career coach.
I've noticed that you have a "Dear Career Tips" section on your site. What is that about?
John::
My "Dear Career Tips" column helps personalize the newsletter, by addressing specific questions on prospect's or client's minds.
In my latest issue, I addressed a specific question a reader had sent in to me. Within hours of its delivery, she had signed up for a special 2-session coaching program I offered in that newsletter.
Kenn:
Great! So what would you say are the most important tips you'd give another career coach about creating a successful e-newsletter?
John:
1) Make sure it looks professional. This may sound simplistic, but make it look like the type of document someone who is successful would produce. Think of the kind of successful professional you want to coach your target client to become, and then imagine the kind of newsletter that person would produce.
And make sure to proofread it carefully - no typos or grammatical mistakes. If you use a program where there isn't a spell-checker make sure to copy the content into Word or the like before you are done to do a final spell-check.
2) Think about your goal in producing the newsletter, and then make sure every newsletter is produced with that goal in mind. For example, if your goal is to get people to visit your website, make sure every newsletter includes a reason to visit your website and a call to action to make it easy for people to do.
3) Address the issues that are relevant to your target clients. Use that to filter what you include in your newsletter, and what slant the articles take.
4) Balance your newsletter between 'sales' and 'value.' It needs to include real value to make people want to read it and pass it around, which won't happen if it is too focused on 'selling' them.
At the same time, it should include clear calls to action to encourage people to take the next step - sign up for a fr*ee or paid tele-class, visit your website, contact you for a consultation, buy your product...
Kenn:
What about frequency? Monthly? Weekly?
John:
I think it has to be no less frequent than monthly to be effective. People have to be constantly reminded you are out there, so that they have you in mind when they face the career issues you deal with.
Beyond that, think about what your audience would want. For example, if you are an executive coach, and your target is busy executives, I think weekly would be too often, unless it's a very short newsletter / executive summary approach.
Kenn:
In closing, I'd like to ask one more question. It can be scary to think of starting a newsletter - the commitment, will it be good enough, I can't write, etc. are all challenges that hold people back.
What advice would you give?
John:
It's easy to come up with all sorts of reasons NOT to get started with a newsletter.
The sooner you start putting it out, the sooner you start building the visibility from it.
Just decide to start, and put out one issue. Don't commit to doing it more often than monthly, and don't try to put too much into the first issue. Make it easy to do.
Next month, or next quarter, or next year you can address including more, or making it more sophisticated, or starting to put it out more often than monthly, or finding a bigger list to use for distributing it.
Just get one out, and let the excitement of actually having done that start to drive you forward to your goals!
Kenn:
Thanks, John, for your time and valuable insight into creating a successful newsletter.
John Hadley partners with job seekers frustrated with their search! He also helps those struggling to advance their career or business to the next level. Sign up for his FR*EE CAREER TIPS email newsletter. Visit http://www.jhacareers.com.
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