Whether printed or emailed, many companies regularly publish newsletters in the hopes of getting customers returning for repeat business. But what differentiates an average newsletter that gets grouped with the junk mail from a great newsletter that earns its place in the “A” pile of mail? The content that a newsletter contains is the main factor that determines readership by those to whom it is sent. Plain, boring and vanilla content gets skipped over and tossed into the garbage with the rest of the junk mail.
To get your newsletter read, ultimately resulting in more guests coming into your bar, here are 3 tips for the best kind of content:
Your Views
People resonate strongly with others who share their views. Whether you have opinions about politics, sports, the battle of the sexes, or even just hobby interests, the values you communicate in the newsletter articles are often more attractive to guests than anything you could say about your food or drink offerings. This also applies to topics that you dislike. People that dislike the same things that you do will become more interested in your content when you voice your displeasure with those hot button topics in your newsletter. Whether they are good or bad, controversial and polarizing, when people know where you stand on issues, your newsletter stands out.
Event Calendar
Having a calendar that shows all the events you have planned for the immediate future is a great feature to have in your newsletter. This is exceptionally useful for bars that broadcast sports, book DJs or bands, and throw parties for each month’s holidays. While the event calendar in your newsletter may not have a detailed description of every event you have planned, it raises the awareness of the event in your customers’ minds. This is crucial, as sometimes it takes multiple follow-ups for a person to become receptive to any kind of invitation. Some experts say it takes upwards of 5 to 10 follow-up attempts before prospects will warm up to whatever offer you have for them. The calendar in your newsletter serves as one of those follow-up attempts. This ultimately makes your face-to-face interaction with them more effective because they are already informed about your events before you say (or type) a word.
Customer Recognition
Guests are more apt to pay close attention to your content when it occasionally mentions them by name. Recognition within a community is a powerful marketing force that draws people in and keeps them focused on your content. Some companies feature rankings in their newsletters that give recognition based on frequency of purchases. A craft beer bar, for example, could have a ranking of all the customers who have tried every beer on tap and give the highest ranking to the people who have gone through the entire list. Other restaurants have contests, like who can eat the biggest steak or biggest burger, and they broadcast the results through their newsletter. Other companies use their newsletters to mention life milestones reached by certain members, like birthdays, anniversaries or retirement. Whatever the occasion, when a newsletter mentions people by name and gets them involved in the content, it garners more attention and ultimately results in more customers.
*Article originally posted on nightclub.com by Sculpture Hospitality Expert, Kevin Tam.
