A customer newsletter can make a significant difference in the marketing of your business. It can also lead to unmitigated disaster if you rush in without being prepareddubious analogies.

Avoid making these mistakes.

Missing the opportunity to stay in business for the long haul is mistake #1. Many business owners are naive enough to judge the success of their newsletter from the results of the first few issues. This is like being disappointed by not getting laid on your first date. They are frustrated and may not want to stay with the newsletter or the date, which can lead them to lose their way.

Solution: You have to be patient. You can build up relationships with your newsletter the same way. At least twelve monthly newsletters are required to build relationships. This is the minimum you need to do before you consider your newsletter a success. It’s more likely to see positive results with your newsletter if your ‘A-‘ prospects receive it for 12 consecutive months, than your A’ and B’ prospects’ 6 month periods or your entire mailing list for 3 consecutive months.

Here’s an example. I interviewed a person who has been creating a newsletter since 2007. He explained that although it took time to convert his subscribers into loyal customers, it has been worthwhile. His first newsletter received only a handful of referrals per month. Seven years later, his newsletter now attracts 50 to 50 referrals every month. His referral rate keeps growing every year.

#2 Mistake: Not publishing your newsletter bi-monthly. Many business owners who decide to start a newsletter do not want to publish the newsletter every month. They prefer publishing their newsletter bi-monthly, or quarterly. Many of those who publish monthly fail to realize the importance of it and end up missing important issues.

Solution: Everyone who has worked on a newsletter long enough will tell that publishing it monthly produces the best results. It makes your business look like their favourite magazine.

The first step is to prepare for your newsletter and to make the effort to create it. For many people, writing can be overwhelming. A list of ideas you could use to write your newsletter is a good idea. You won’t feel like you’re looking at the blank sheet when you start writing your newsletter. Fail that and I would recommend outsourcing. It’s better to have a great newsletter every month than to have it done infrequently.

As your newsletter list becomes larger, you might want to have the printing and fulfilment outsourced to someone who has experience in newsletter printing.

Now, you can decrease the time it takes for a newsletter to be created. Your newsletter will produce far more results in a manageable timeframe.