Are bought in newsletters and brochures of value?

Are bought in newsletters and brochures of value?

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Bit of a personal/general question this but interested to hear of views.

Other than a budget summary & tax tables in HTML format that I buy for the website, I stopped buying in newsletters, year end planners etc years ago.  The main reasons for this were that originally they were all on paper and I wanted to move away from that and secondly that they were too general, ie the average client might find 20% that interested him/her meaning that 80% was a waste of time and would, if nothing else, put the client off reading any of it.

This was particulary relevant with tax planning brochures, that covered a mix of business & personal tax issues, in that I have a large chunk of personal tax clients.

So after questioning a few clients and finding that most just chucked the things away I stopped buying them in and instead now gather specific news items and sending them to targetted clients by email.

What's sparked this question is a discussuion with two providers recently who say that whilst there has been a small move to electronic media their paper based brochures are still key to their customers (one even says customers are returning to it) and that the general format, ie a blanket approach, is still what their customers want.

I suppose what I'm wondering is whether their customers' needs (ie the accountants) match with the end clients' needs?  In other words, is this more to do with the marketing needs of the accountant than providing their clients with valuable and relevant information?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Replies (5)

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Universe
By SteveOH
06th Sep 2011 11:29

I'm not sure of the worth of monthly newsletters

Having said that, I still send them out by email. I pay a monthly subscription for my site and this includes a monthly newsletter which they send me for forwarding to my clients and prospects. My initial observations in relation to your question are:

My newsletters get sent out on the 1st of every month. Only about 25% get opened. But I still send them out as there as no additional cost to me.When I started sending out the newsletters last year, I vowed to also send a separate Newsletter in the middle of each month which I would compose myself and would be on topics of interest to specific types of client. I still got the same "opening" rate of about 25% but, more importantly, this only lasted about 3 months because I didn't find the time to keep it up.

I don't know if the clients or prospects get any benefit from them but I have only had 2 occasions when they have unsubscribed. My feeling is that it costs nothing to send them; so I shall continue to do so. And if one of the prospects turns into a client, then I have gained.

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By Steve Holloway
06th Sep 2011 11:29

I email out a one page newsletter each month ....

electronically generated from my website. I think this fullfils a number of quite different objectives.

It tends to highlight topical issues that have been in the press recently or are seasonally relevant. If I only see people once a year such items may have been forgotten by then.

Often clients are sparked in to asking me supplemental questions which is a good thing as it could lead to more chargeable work or at least gives me the opportunity to ask how things are without being particularly proactive. 

It reminds clients that I am there and in their eyes being proactive whereas in reality I am spending 15 minutes checking, maybe editing and sending out the newsletter.

 

So, keys bits for me ... it is electronic, it is only a page (although they can link to my website for more detail if an article is relevant) and I think the benefits are shared between myself and the client.

 

 

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FT
By FirstTab
08th Sep 2011 08:06

Template newsletters

I send out monthly news letter bought  from Accountant Websmiths (AW). I have about 120 people on my list. The average open rate is about 20%. My objectives in sending out newsletters are:

Way to keep in touch with potential and existing clientsGenerate additional business (not happened)Email budget summaries asap that AW  providesSend Christmas card that  AW also provides.

I have noticed that a small number of people open the news letter 15-20 times. I would like to think that this is because that they read it several times. They have not turned into clients. They look at it as free information that is not provided by their existing accountant.

The click rate shows very few of my clients open the newsletter. This says to me they are not  interested. 

I am not sure if I will carry on with sending out newsletters. 

 

 

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By Owain_Glyndwr
08th Sep 2011 08:42

Waste of time

Newsletters serve no useful purpose other that to bore most clients.

Far better is to prepare a series of booklets / information sheets, written in plain non technical language on specific areas which can be handed to / send to clients when circumstances require it.

 

 

 

 

 

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Replying to petersaxton:
avatar
By PennyC
08th Sep 2011 09:39

Content

Owain_Glyndwr wrote:

Newsletters serve no useful purpose other that to bore most clients.

Provided the contnet is appropriate, I would disagree with that generalisation. The feedback I get from the majority of clients is that they find them interesting, and quite often very useful - they have generated quite a lot of fees for me, from clients and non-clients, so to me they do serve quite a useful purpose. As I say, it all depends on what you put in them.

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