Ezine for Wedding Planners

Q: I'm starting a new business and I'm not exactly sure if I can use an ezine.  It is a wedding planning business.

Cathy

A:  Hi Cathy–

An ezine is a great marketing tool. regardless of your business.  It helps you create a list, which the the goldmine for your business, and gives you an interested list of prospects to whom you can market.

Here are a couple of tips you'll need to know to successfully start an ezine:

1.  Make sure your email marketing software requires a double opt-in.  You'll want your prospects to confirm that they want to be added to your list.  Running a list with a single opt-in is a disaster waiting to happen — all is takes is one perturbed list member to report you to your webhost, domain registrar, ISP, or email marketing service as a spammer, and you might see your entire web presence disappear overnight.

2.  Reach out weekly.  The best results from using an ezine as a marketing tool are obtained when you broadcast weekly.  You need to reach out and touch your prospects regularly so that they don't forget about you and you are top of mind when they need to solve the problem for which your business offers a solution.

3.  Be authentic.  The best thing someone can say about your ezine is that reading it is just like talking to you in person.  Be real as you write your ezine, and don't forget to share some personal tidbits about yourself.  New list members are traveling the like, know, and trust funnel before they become ready to buy what you're selling.

4.  Don't forget to sell.  You're not publishing an ezine because you have nothing better to do..:).  You're trying to convert prospects into paying customers. Make an offer in each ezine, whether it's for an info product you have for sale or for a complimentary consultation about your service.  Be sure your list members know that you're in business.

Here's an article on my blog that also might find helpful: Ezine Marketing: 3 Essential Components Required to Make More Sales From Your Email Newsletter.

As a member of OnlineBizU.com, you can access email newsletter templates as well as other ezine-related checklists and articles.  Find out what you're missing here.

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.