The Newsletter Pro - March 2020

The Newsletter Pro - March 2020

208.297.5700 MAR

www.thenewsletterpro.com 2020

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

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Watch Out for Skyrocketing Acquisition Costs Add $10,000,000 in Sales This Year Learn About Leadership From a Retired Navy Captain Optimize Your Brand’s Voice with Persado

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Meet Lex Nelson

Yoobi Evens the Educational Playing Field

‘HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING’

2. Marketing You need to have marketing that generates quality leads and a sales process that converts those leads to customers. This is much easier said than done, and I get that. The fundamental items all businesses need are lead generation of quality prospects (not all leads or lead sources are created equal); a customer relationship management system that allows you to keep track of, nurture, and follow up with leads; and a sales process that includes long-term nurture and follow-up as well as the ability to close a deal. These are only the minimum requirements, and for the purposes of this article, you should make sure you have them all. 3. System and Processes So many businesses don’t scale because they don’t have any systems and processes. Or maybe even worse, their system and process is to ask the entrepreneur. If you have to do it all, then your business will max out very quickly. If you are not a systems and processes person, then hire one. A competent person in this position will be your right hand and help you scale. I hired that person early on at The Newsletter Pro and have had a great team member in that role ever since. Continued on Page 2 ...

These two areas really are the fundamentals of business, but if I were sitting in your office right now, could you give me a true and accurate answer as to what percentage and total dollars you lose each month in customer churn? The vast majority of people reading this — 90% or more — would not be able to, and this is a big issue and a major reason businesses don’t scale. Most companies even struggle to calculate employee churn. What is your overall number, and what does it cost you to hire, onboard, and train someone new? If you can’t answer this, then check out my newly released book “Stop Losing Customers.” I have a section dedicated to calculating churn, why it matters, and how it can make you a massive amount of money once you know the number and work to lower overall churn. To get a copy of the book, text “WIN” to 208.269.9111.

Many years ago, I saw a musical titled “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” Ralph Macchio was the lead performer, and the musical tells the story of how Macchio’s character goes from the mailroom to the boardroom by not really accomplishing anything in his career except for kissing up to the right people. If you’ve ever had a corporate job, then chances are you’ve encountered this manager somewhere along the line. Brown- nosing won’t help you much as an entrepreneur, but if you focus on the following six areas in your business, then you can easily grow, scale, and make it to the top. 1. Retaining and Maintaining No business can grow and succeed if they can’t retain customers, employees, and vendors. They also won’t grow if they can’t maintain at least minimally acceptable levels of quality and service.

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... COVER CONTINUED

6. Being the CEO Finally, if you want to win in business, then you have to think, act, and be the CEO. What I mean by this is that mindset matters. It’s important to understand that change is constant in your role. You may not be the CEO your company needs 12 months from now, but be willing to bust your butt to become that person. You have to invest in yourself. Don’t chase the next shiny object; instead, focus on the skills required to become the leader your company needs. You have to be willing to let go of the job you do and love because you think no one can do it as well as you can — that’s simply untrue. I’m happy to share shiny objects with you guys. In fact, I could make a good amount of additional profit if I did, but the reality is that shiny objects aren’t what you need. Once you discover and become comfortable with the idea that these six areas are the fundamentals you must master to scale and grow, then you will finally move your business and yourself in the right direction. Being great at the boring stuff wins business. This may not be a sexy message, but I’m not here to tell you what you want to hear. I’m here to show you what you need in order to scale, grow, and live the life of your dreams. If that’s what you truly want, then pay attention to what I share in this newsletter, reread this article, and take action!

4. Happy Employees One of the smartest things you can do in business is realize your employees are the ones who take care of your customers. If your employees are happy, then they will do a better job serving your customers, and if the customers are happy because the employees are serving them well, then they will refer more, spend more, and stay with you longer, which in turn will make you happy because you will turn a larger profit. In addition, taking great care of your employees is the right thing to do. Here’s my final note on this: It costs a minimum of three times an employee’s total monthly compensation to hire, train, and replace someone who quits or is fired — and that’s assuming you make the correct hire the first time. Keeping employees happy may seem expensive, but employee churn is by far more expensive. 5. Playing the Long Game If you’re in business and aren’t playing the long game, then you may win the battle, but you’re guaranteed to lose the war. I am very future- focused. I will sacrifice today for a better tomorrow, and I do my best not to make emotional decisions

in business and my personal life. An example of playing the long game in your business is utilizing relationship and referral marketing, and one tool for this type of marketing is a newsletter. If you publish a newsletter through us or do one yourself, you’re not going to produce an easily tracked direct return on investment like a lead generation ad does. For one, that’s not the purpose of a newsletter. Done correctly, a newsletter will decrease churn, increase upsells, turn more prospects into customers (assuming you’re sending to prospects, which you NEED to be doing), and generate more referrals. If you’re unwilling to invest in a long-term relationship marketing and nurture campaign or if you require a lead generation-type of direct ROI, then you’ll never see the benefits. People who don’t understand the long game think and operate in this “small ball” fashion. The same is true for content you put out. If you only publish promotional material or use the newsletter cover to promote your new widget instead of to nurture and build relationships with your readers, then you won’t be nearly as successful with your campaign.

–Shaun

P.S. Want more info on relationship marketing? Here’s the deal: My new book “Stop Losing Customers” is now available, and if you want to transform your business, life, and profits by getting customers to stay longer, spend more, and cheerfully refer, then I suggest you read it. I promise what you’ll learn will change your business and your life. Grab a copy at TheNewsletterProBook.com/ order-33107120.

“Keeping employees happy may seem expensive, BUT EMPLOYEE CHURN IS BY FAR MORE EXPENSIVE.”

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IF YOU MARKET ONLINE FOR NEW CUSTOMERS, YOUR CUSTOMER ACQUISITION COSTS WILL SKYROCKET THIS YEAR! BUSINESS HOW-TO

Instagram, and Google’s platforms. This massive influx in money, one that has no need to generate revenue or prove an ROI, will drive up ad costs across these platforms and cause some companies to no longer be able to afford their customer acquisition costs once summer hits. This will only get worse over time, with larger and larger budgets moving into play the closer we get to Nov. 2. Long term, this could have an interesting impact on advertisers, as some companies just won’t be able to survive weeks or months without new customers and won’t be able to get new customers due to the cost of customer acquisition. How do you avoid this issue for your business? To some extent, we will all be affected. High customer acquisition costs hurt us all, but now would be a really good time to review your entire marketing and sales process. Look

For the last few years, there has been a push to only use online marketing. There are whole companies created only because they’re able to sell their products via Facebook or Instagram. I sell a ton on these platforms as well, but there is one big difference, and I have one major word of warning for anyone selling on Facebook or Instagram: Start to prep now. Far too many small-business owners get the vast majority of their traffic from one of these two paid media sites. This is similar to the early 2000s Adword days. If you’re a student of history, you’ll remember that you used to be able to get penny clicks on AdWords. Some folks made a killing using AdWords ads to sell products or by utilizing the service’s arbitrage feature (arbitrage is where you pay for a click on a certain website — these clicks are sent to a website full of ads that in turn pay you). And while AdWords is still a great marketing tool for many, the days of super cheap clicks are long gone. Facebook and Instagram have been raising their price per click, engagement, view, etc. for years now, and you’ll notice that the demographic of advertisers has changed since many can’t afford the cost. Having all your eggs in these baskets is a huge mistake. If you’re making good money on these sites but they’re one of the only places you’re getting any volume of traffic, you better start solving that problem now. It is going to get ugly here soon. That leads me to my warning. We have an upcoming presidential election, and while we have seen some political money already making its way onto Facebook and Instagram, we haven’t seen anything yet. Politico.com is estimating that at least $1.6 billion will be spent on Facebook,

for areas that are weak because they rely on cheap customer acquisition and fix those areas first. For example, what is your lead follow-up process? Do you need to add in more nurture campaigns or sell other products and services to

unconverted leads? Do you need to get some sales training in place or add a new media that is going to be less affected by the political ad spend? Whatever your plan, the good news is that you have time to make sure you can easily weather any storm coming your way. As an added benefit, by doing this exercise, you’ll also ultimately have a better, more profitable business once the ad spend normalizes. If you choose to do nothing, you may find it to be a very lean summer and fall season for new customers, business growth, and profits.

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YOUR NEWSLETTER MARKETING ASSET CHECKLIST

showcase your promotions. Using an FSI keeps your pitch about a sale, new or existing product, and service separate from the genuine, relationship- building content of your newsletter. Do you have a contingency of consumers, clients, or patients with unique needs? An FSI is an easy way to issue a targeted marketing message to a specific audience segment. Want to hype an upcoming event? At least 6 weeks prior, feature the details in your FSI. Be sure to connect with a Pro at thepros@thenewsletterpro. com to get more info on pricing and the best ways to use an FSI to boost the ROI of your newsletter. Here’s an example of a client FSI. Note the definitive call to action (CTA), ample branding, and clear messaging that hypes the benefit of the promotion to the consumer/patient first and foremost:

Great content marketing and brand storytelling that doesn’t have to be created from scratch is as good as gold! Your newsletter is media you own and control, but are you leveraging the power of its contents to the fullest? Use our checklist below to make sure you’re using your available marketing assets to expand your brand reach, diversify your messaging, and optimize the total ROI of your newsletter. † MASTER COPIES: Let your newsletter’s master copies work for you! Pass them out at trade shows, conventions, and special events. Make sure your entire staff reads them. Mail master copies to your hot leads. Most of our clients receive 25 master copies of their newsletter. Want more? Reach out to your project manager at [email protected]. † HTML EDITION: Nothing beats the power of a PRINT newsletter, but your HTML version is a great digital touchpoint in a well-rounded, omnichannel marketing plan. Post the HTML version of your newsletter on your social media accounts. Always make sure your company’s website address is featured in the footer of the print and HTML versions of your newsletter. Or have your Pro add a hyperlink in your HTML version to drive traffic to your website. † 52 WEEKLY EMAILS*: Each month, our clients receive a package of “Weekly Reading” templates to be sent out to their list(s) once a week. This is ready-to-send content you can call your own and send to your colleagues, constituents, clients, and prospects! We offer two versions of these “Weekly Reading” templates: one for our B2C clients and one for our B2B clients. The B2C version includes content of a variety of topics that may interest anyone. Sometimes they’re self-help oriented with resources on how to get out of debt. Other weeks, you might find yourself mailing out an email on the history of Mardi Gras. It’s different, and that’s what helps spark your customers’ curiosity so they open the email each week. For our B2B clients, we model the “Weekly Reading” templates off of resources we’ve had success with at The Newsletter Pro. These include info on improving sales tactics and learning how to brand yourself and your business. Your “Weekly Readings” aren’t meant to sell anything; they’re meant to offer value to your readers. This is why the “Weekly Readings” we provide don’t focus on specific industries. These weekly touches keep you top of mind and build relationships. This helps create customer loyalty that later boosts your customer retention numbers. † FSIs: After the first 3 months of consistently sending out the print version of your newsletter, you should start including a free-standing insert (FSI) to specifically

† BLOG CONTENT*: Are you struggling to come up with new content? Repurpose your newsletter content into a blog to increase traffic on your company website! Creating good content takes time and effort; repurposing content is just smart. Great content on your website builds brand equity and encourages more web visitors to convert. Don’t forget to also post the images and infographics that accompanied your newsletter content into your blog for a richer read.

*Indicates content that is only provided to Custom Package clients

Not receiving one of these awesome perks or want to upgrade your newsletter package? Reach out to your Pro or call us at 208.297.5700. What? Don’t have a newsletter yet? You’re missing out on the secret weapon for doubling referrals and tripling retention. Schedule a free consultation with a marketing Pro today at NewsletterPro.com/schedule .

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FROMONEGENERATIONTOTHENEXT

grouphasmore longevity and loyalty than thebabyboomergeneration. While it's true that youmight see a lotof job-hopping at thebeginning, as soon as theyfind aplace they feel like they cangrow and succeed, this generationwill stick around longer than almost anyone else. Millennials arehungry, andwhen they aren’t challenged, they seek out another job in thehope they’ll find something thatdoes challenge them.A lotof the time, Ibelieve this reflectson the company itself.The placeswhere theypreviouslyworked most likely lacked leadershipor a cleardirectionofwhere thebusiness wasgoing.So,when amillennial doesfind a company thathasgreat leadershipwith amission, they take change andgrowth throughout their professional careers, and that’swhy I love, love, lovehiring them.And if you don’twant them, you can always send themover tome. I’llbehappy toget themonmy team,provide themwith something tograbonto, and takeon theworld! TEACHERAPPRECIATIONWEEK ISHERE! A 1,000-YEAR-OLDMARTIALART TECHNIQUE NOMOREBULLYING SHRIMPSAUSAGESKEWERS GARDENING:BRINGINGFAMILY TOGETHER

open amultitudeofpossibilities for yourself. Itmightbe terrifying and overwhelming atfirst,butonce you get rolling andgainmomentum, you’ll find itgets easier. All this talkofnewbeginnings and growth leadsme to another topic: millennials. I’mgenerallypassionate about this subject, and I’ve even gone intodepth about thisgroupof people inmypodcast, “All Inwith Rick Jordan.”While that episode “The TeamMatchmaker:RemiSorrentino” is about career advice andhow millennials are afraid toget into a businessprofession, rightnow Iwant to talk abouthow amazing it iswhen youhave thisgroupworking for you. First, Idespise the term “millennial” because it's condescending.What I hear a lot about is how entrepreneurs can’t keepmillennialson thepayroll because “they feel entitled”or “they justwant to jump from job to job.” I’ve also heard the complaint that a business leaderwill interview tonsof candidatesbut that themillennials have all had something like 17 jobs they’veworkedwithin thepast two years.But honestly, this ismissing thepoint. I absolutely love thatdemographic— not justbecause I feel like theyget a bad rap—butbecause it'soneof the bestgroups tohave around rightnow. StudiesbyHarvardBusinessSchool over thepast20 years show thatonce someone in thisgroup isdriven to challenge themselves—once theyget hired,orwhen they feel like theyhave amission they fullybelieve in— this

Spring is all aboutnewbeginnings, and tome, life should alwayshave newbeginnings. If someone is living their life the sameway everyday and is contentbecausenothing changes, I don’tbelieve that’shealthy. Ibelieve thatwhen things remain the same, you can’tgrow.Youneed to face situationsor choices thatmake you uncomfortablebecausewithout them, thingswon’t change, andpeople won’t learn. Whenwe think about something new, such as launching into anew projector joining a sports team, it canbe a scary thing.Butweneed change togrow, learn, andbecome betterpeople.Personally, I lovenew beginnings andbelieve in actively seeking themout, especiallywhen things are too stagnant.When you everything else!Usually, the scariest part for everyone is thefirstmoment of thatnew journey. If youonly sit there and think about it, it’ll seem so daunting that youwon’tbe able to thinkofhow you’regoing toget there orhow it'sgoing to turnoutonce you get started. I’m commonly askedquestions like, “Howdo you achieve somuch success,” and, “Howdo you know what todo andwhatnot todo?”The truth is Idon’t know.That’s thebig entrepreneurial secret:Youdon’t absolutely knowwhat the right decision isgoing tobe.Theonly thing Ido know is thatnobodygets anywherewithout starting something first. Justbydoing, you’regoing to find yourself in a rut, you’vegot tofind something that trounces

LESSONSTHATLASTALIFETIME

front to show thatwewereopen forbusiness. I rememberanexcitingdaywhenGlennand I

Mymartialarts journeybeganwhen Iwas just 10yearsold inPanamaCity,Florida.Mywhole family started training in taekwondo together, andwhen Iwas12,mydaddecided to take it a step furtherandopenhisownmartialarts studio inFortWaltonBeach.Mybrotherand I reallyenjoyedour time in the school,helping run thebusinessandassistwith classes. When Iwas16, Imetmyhusband,Glenn, throughmydad’smartialarts school.Glenn joined theUnitedStatesAirForceandwas stationed in the same townasmy family’s studio.He started taking lessons,andwegot toknoweachother through those classes. Aftera fewyears,Glennand Igotmarried, andwhenGlenngotoutof theair force,we decidedwewanted to continuewithmartial artsand starta schoolofourown.Weworked withmy father fora coupleyearsand then manageda large school inTallahassee for two moreyears toprepareourselves foropening ourown school. Choosingwherewewanted toopenour studio was important forus.Wewantedaplace that wouldbegood for startingourbusinessand raisingouryoung family.With that inmind, we choseamid-size town in themountainsof Tennesseeandafter living there forayear,we openedour studio.

ofour school in justoneday!

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arenowgrown,graduated fromETSU,and working full timeat the studio. Including my children,my familyhas spent three generations in themartialartsbusiness, and itmeansa lot to see the samepassionmy parents startedwith carriedon through Keith,Katie,andour students.

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WHYYOUSHOULDCONSIDER INVESTING INAFAMILYGARDEN Afer spendingawinter coopedup insidewith your family, theremightbea little tension betweneveryone.Fortunately, it’s spring, and tewarmweather,melting snow,and agroup to createandmaintainagarden isahands-on experience foreveryone. It’sa chance toget thewhole family involvedwitha singleproject,andyou can literally share the fruitsofyour labor.

orusinganAmazon-brandedcreditcard.Everythingyoudo on theirwebsiteandeverythingyoubuywithanAmazoncard is tracked: thecompanybuildsaprofile foryouandyour likes. The samecanbe said forGoogleandFacebook. Thebottom line is that ifyouareconcernedaboutyourprivacy andwant complete control,youwillwant tokeepdigital assistants likeEchooutofyourhome.Every timeyoufireup Amazon,Facebook,orGoogle—oruse their serviceorapp— youarebeing tracked.Thismightmean location tracking,your shoppingpreferences, thepostsyou read,etc.That’spartof thedeal: It’s free,andyougiveupyourprivacy inexchange. Youconsent tohaveyourpersonal>Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10

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