At Newsletter Pro, we’re proud to be print newsletter marketing experts, but we’re not the only ones responsible for your campaign’s success. In fact, a well-maintained mailing list can lead to incredible gains from your print newsletter! However, creating the right mailing list is entirely dependent on your in-house marketing savviness.
We’ve talked about why this role is important before. Now, let’s talk about how you can leverage your mailing list to maximize referrals!
Why Can A Print Newsletter Get Referrals?
Print newsletters are an excellent way to build a personal relationship with readers. Whether you’re sharing personal or professional stories, our memorable storytelling strategy can easily build reader trust and create top-of-mind awareness. Suddenly, you’re not just a dentist, you’re the dentist next door. You’re the dentist this client remembers all of those stories from.
Content creating plays a huge role in a print newsletter, but it isn’t the only role. You have to ensure that your newsletter is reaching the right audience. If it isn’t, you might be trying to woo the wrong customer and paying out of pocket for it.
Create A Great Mailing List — Get Great Referrals
A lot of advice you’ll read explains how customers can refer and then goes on to say that you should ask your customers directly for referrals. You might be cautious about this — but truthfully, it’s 100% right.
Ask your customers for referrals by placing your referral program in your newsletter. You may be surprised by how easily you’ll get referrals after asking customers at the right frequency, and by providing helpful, clear information on how they can refer. Maybe what works best for you, is sharing a post from Facebook or handing your newsletter to a friend. Either way, it really works! People who love your company won’t mind doing it; they just might forget to go out of their way to do it without a reminder.
Make it easy to give a referral. Simple, clear instructions work best: give away this newsletter, call and say ‘x,’ click here to refer, scan this QR code, etc.
Send “thank you” cards or emails to whoever refers. If someone took the time to refer to you, don’t forget to say “thank you!” It’s easy, it’s inexpensive, and it can mean a lot to the person who is putting their own reputation in your hands.
Show imagery of referrals or referral rewards if you’re able to offer them. With referral rewards (even small ones!) people are a lot more motivated to pass along the good word. Make sure people know that these rewards exist.
Share reviews of people who have referred to you in your newsletter, FSI, website, or testimonial book. You don’t have to solely convince people to buy. If you have testimonials from those who have referred, that’s worth its weight in gold and much more. Don’t hesitate to show off your successful customers and why they adore you. People want to know!
How To Make Your List Work For You
Building a useful, successful print mailing list is a long game, and it’s always changing. Leverage your patient management or CRM software, so that you get automated reports regularly. This will help you realize the data points that help you generate your most ideal list every month. Recognize the main players (current customers) and pay them special attention over other players (i.e. bad leads, old prospects, old inactive customers) that should be benched. That’s how you win the game!
Without maintaining your list, your campaign won’t accelerate in growth like you might hope, but with these simple tricks, you might be surprised by how often referrals will be knocking at your door.
