Let's start out by clearing up the fact that email newsletters ≠ spam. Newsletters are thought-out, high-quality email campaigns that – get this – readers love. And we have proof!

Now, it took us a while to get on the email newsletter boat. We weren't total holdouts, but we knew an e-newsletter campaign would be worth next to nothing without a plan of action. Maybe not quite spam-level, but probably uninteresting, unwanted, and unnecessary.

But after tweaking our process and nailing down our aims, our new newsletter marketing campaigns have been a success.

Why is that? It's because newsletters are a perfect fit for growing your business.

The main benefit of reaching your audience through an email newsletter is exactly that – reaching them.

Being able to directly access an audience member's inbox gives you a closer connection than just popping up on their social media feeds, or crossing your fingers that they'll look up and see your poster as they cross the street. 

And, ideally, nurturing the close contact you're able to achieve through an email newsletter will allow you to create loyalty within your audience – and eventually, turn that loyalty into purchases, contracts, or projects.

That's the main goal of business marketing, right? To find an audience within the market and turn that audience into customers.

One of the biggest issues we struggle to convince our clients of is that you can't expect customers to flock to your business on their own. You need to sell you – yourself, your business, the concept of your business – to your audience before they even consider coming near. How do you do that? 

That's what marketing and branding are for.

Your brand is what people think and feel about you; marketing convinces them that you can back up those expectations. Both begin before an audience member becomes a customer, continue through their entire experience with you, and then reinforce that experience after the customer's initial visit is over.

And email newsletters fit perfectly into this equation. 

Email newsletters are perfect for...

• Giving behind-the-scenes glimpses into your brand

• Highlighting your preparation for an upcoming feature/product

• Showcasing your brand values through a combination of images and words

• Showing off your personality in conjunction with your brand

• Talking about new concepts that you're implementing to improve your service

Newsletters aren't the same as email deals that just present the customer with discounts or coupons. They're more in line with the old-school concept of an actual letter – it's a chance for you to continue telling your brand "story" to your audience.

Having the opportunity to share your story with audience members willing to listen is extremely valuable.

The fact that your audience has opted in to your newsletter indicates that they're willing to give more of their time to you – and you can't undervalue that.

To recap, email newsletters are perfect for growing your business because:

• Email newsletters guarantee that your content goes directly to your audience

• Email newsletters allow you to grow personal loyalty through long term contact – that type of sustained loyalty is essential to growing your customer base

• Email newsletters allow you to continue to market your brand story (not just your products) to your audience through words and images

Related: 4 Easy Ways to Generate a Mountain of Email Leads in Squarespace

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