Not getting the desired number of leads from your hotel’s e-newsletter? Chances are, your e-newsletters share the same problem as most: readers don’t find it interesting.
If you haven’t read out past entry, Things to Remember When Making E-Newletters, then you’re probably making one of these five mistakes.
One mistake could be that your newsletter isn’t helpful to your reader. If someone signed up for a travel e-newsletter and all he ever got was a bunch of promotional stuff, he would lose interest in a second.
Now, we know what you’re thinking. Endless self-promotion isn’t exactly endearing for others, but what’s the point of blasting these newsletters if you can’t promote your business? Well, at least create content that’s actually useful to your subscribers such as travel guides and useful tips while strategically tying it in with your hotel’s promotions or features. Remember that your content has to be useful or it won’t get read.
Another mistake might be that your voice isn’t particularly compelling. Voice is not everything, but it sure counts for a lot. Every business operator, in this case, hotel, has a signature voice and it needs to be authentic.
But If you’ve tried and failed to find your voice before, put down the pen and try calling a friend. Get them to ask you questions about the topics you’ll be writing about in your newsletter — recording every word. Then just blab away, and transcribe what you’ve said.
This method sounds tedious but finding your voice matters. And you have one — you just have to get it on paper.
Third mistake might be that you are like many people who think their newsletter has to be full of perfectly organized and structured articles. The truth is, structure isn’t the way to create a great newsletter--stories are.
Write about what you’ve experienced in your industry and your thoughts about it. When you’re trying to elicit response, nothing gets your readers engaged like the color and drama of a good story. Finish by telling the moral of the story — just like you would in a real story. Explain what you learned or what you should have learned or what someone else could learn from this experience.
Next mistake could be that you might have misleading call to actions in your newsletter. For example, just saying “please respond” is far too vague. Your customers don’t know exactly what you want them to do or how to do it. Do you want them to click on a link? Tell them to click here (and also tell them why).
Most hotel/apartment operators just hope their customers will act on their own. And their customers mostly don’t — because they’re too busy to figure out how you want them to respond. You need to tell them. Just a little nudge will do.
Lastly, your e-newsletter can be ineffective if you don’t have a specific frequency. If you’re going to write a newsletter, then you’ve got to have a schedule. You have to promise your readers that your newsletter will go out once a month, or twice a month or three times a week — whatever it may be.
One of the big reasons for the lack of response is that your newsletter is a stranger to your readers. You can’t send them a newsletter whenever you feel like it and hope they’ll respond. Response is directly related to frequency.
Remember that newsletters are a lot of work. There’s no point in doing them unless you see the response you’re looking for. Try to avoid these five mistakes and you can see a significant difference in response and leads from your readers.
