Email Newsletters: 4 Positive Things to Emphasize
It may seem blasphemy to some email marketers, but there are other reasons for email and newsletter campaigns to exist other than to promote the direct selling of products or services. Demonstrating to your subscribers that your company is composed of real flesh and blood people not just zombied corporate automatons can help shape a positive customer attitude which can be highly beneficial to any business.
Establishing and reinforcing your brand's overall identity in your customers' minds can be successfully accomplished by extolling these four positive, yet not directly sales oriented, aspects of your company.
1. Who You Donate To & Support
Most companies have causes or organizations which they support. They can run the gamut from the local little league baseball team for small businesses all the way to multi-million dollar annual contributions to leading foundations and charities for the major corporations.
You don't have to ask for contributions, as simply informing your subscribers about the honorable causes you support will help identify your brand with a level of community responsibility and altruism which can be extremely beneficial in this social networking age.
2. Who Works At Your Company
Consumers have a tendency to see all brands as just gray corporate monoliths, so humanize your company's image by highlighting an individual employee, especially if they have just accomplished something "interesting:" whether they completed their first marathon, had triplets, achieved a commendation, or lost 100 lbs.
A short interview with photographs of the staff member can help the reader empathize with the subject and will serve to demonstrate that your company is made up of real people.
3. Who Supplies Your Goods
Review your suppliers to determine if any have specifically intriguing back-stories: Perhaps they were established by returning war veterans, have directly empowered women or minorities, or are credited with a fabulous invention or innovation. The story of how you partnered up with that company can also be intriguing to your readers.
Focus on the individual angle to show the personalities which guide your suppliers and how they interact with your company's management. Keep it personal, involving, and engaging.
4. Who Else Loves Your Stuff
No one wants to be the first person on the bandwagon, so illustrate to your customers how your brand has a documented pattern of receiving impressive kudos from leading media. If your company has been featured in a major newspaper, magazine, blog, or broadcast, disport these laurels to your readers to show that you are a prominent corporate citizen within your business sector.
If your brand has recently won a prestigious industry award, plaudit, or encomium, informing your subscribers of your achievement can help to build trust and respect in their view of your business.
The common key to these approaches is to always show the personal side of your company. As successful marketing in the 21st century becomes more of a bilateral social conversation and less an unilateral top down broadcast, brands face a necessity to establish a powerful and positive individualistic identity within the minds of their customers.
This identity is best developed by encouraging friendly and approachable empathy with the consumer while promoting a sense of humanitarian and compassionate benevolence. Using your email campaigns as a platform for this promotion can have the consequence of considerable bottom line benefit.
