Our school newsletter is now available, but it’s all in Chinese!

Anyway, you can download it here and have a look at a short newsletter that I made for my business. You can also do this kind of short newsletter, it’s quick to produce (using an adapted format from Publisher 97) in Word or in Publisher. The design doesn’t need to take much time, but as the biggest time sink in doing that is getting the content right, be prepared to spend considerable effort publishing the content. And remember, it’s not just a flyer!

However, it’s quite an achievement to get it done! And it is always exciting to see someone walk into our business with an issue in their hand!

I’m finding it a powerful way to reach customers. In fact, I believe it’s an effective marketing tool for a number of reasons:

• it’s self-targeting: customers pick it up if they are interested (so it’s efficient and effective);
• it reaches past, present and future customers as well as those who are not actively customers;
• it informs with its column, it flatters with its positive news, and it entices with the vision it presents customers.
• it’s cheap to produce, cheap to distribute and, although it is photocopied, the quality isn’t at all bad compared with flyers from other businesses in the area.

We’ll still be using more traditional flyers and posters, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the newsletter format really works.