Editor’s note: Dr. Wayne Moore, a registered professional entomologist, is the publisher of Pest Patrol News. "The newsletter is designed for pest control companies that want a high-quality publication to help them improve communications with their customers, but don’t want to invest the time and money to produce one themselves," he says. In the following article, Moore describes the benefits of various types of customer newsletters.
Are the experts right about newsletters? That’s what Jerry Motak of Standard Termite & Pest Control, San Francisco, Calif., wanted to find out. He conducted a simple test. On a tabletop display at a local community affairs event, he gave attendees a choice of picking up a newsletter or an expensive, four-color brochure.
Motak was stunned by the results. Not only did consumers much prefer picking up and reading the newsletter, but he ran out of newsletters long before he ran out of brochures. Why was the newsletter such a huge success?
It seems that people inherently attached a higher value to newsletters than sales brochures because they recognize these publications as an excellent source of quality information. This may be due, in part, to the fact that there is a subscription cost associated with most newsletters. Customers are less likely to pick up a brochure because the items are usually free and obviously trying to sell something.
Consumers today - both male and female - are hungry for good, useful information from a knowledgeable, professional source. That’s what newsletters deliver, and in a cost effective fashion.
Numerous benefit. Customer newsletters cultivate a positive relationship with clients and prospective clients, resulting in better customer relations and fewer callbacks. In addition, customers are not as easily stolen by "low-ballers" if PCOs provide this value-added service to their customers, nor are they as easily swayed by the one-sided views of anti-pesticide special interest groups or the consumer press.
Newsletters help to solidify the company-client relationship, reducing customer turnover when tensions inevitably arise during any business relationship. (For instance, when a company raises its prices or doesn’t meet a customer’s expectations.)
In start-up businesses, newsletters help establish a company’s credentials quickly and efficiently. In better-established companies, newsletters enhance customer communications and promote a professional image.
Cost effective advertising. If a PCO were to pay a marketing expert to come in and tell him how to increase his business, one of the first things he’d do is take a close look at the company’s advertising budget. He’d ask the PCO how much of his annual gross is devoted to advertising; from 3 to 5 percent is a good average for a healthy business.
Most experts say only about 25 percent of this amount should be spent on Yellow Pages advertising. The remaining 75 percent will produce a better return on investment if it is funneled into other advertising and promotion programs. Of these, experts rate regular usage of a newsletter as the most effective form of advertising. Other promotional outlets include newspaper, radio, and TV ads, billboards, door-to-door selling, promotional giveaways and contests, and advertising in the local Chamber of Commerce directory.
Benefits of newsletters. There are many ways a PCO can benefit from producing a customer newsletter. All of the following have been used profitably in the pest control industry.
One of the most popular uses of newsletters is to include them with a bill or leave them behind at the job site. These uses are important because they give the customer something tangible following a service call by a technician. The customer doesn’t want to see any pests on the premises, either dead or alive, and in most cases he doesn’t want to smell any lingering pesticide odor. A newsletter may be the only thing a technician can leave behind that gives the customer an immediate, tangible benefit.
Other PCOs are getting very good results leaving newsletters behind with neighbors of current customers. Neighbors are not only a fertile source of new customers; concentrating accounts in certain areas saves the technician travel time and makes him more efficient.
Acquiring the names of new homeowners in a particular market area is another excellent source of new customers. These people are either new to the area or they have purchased a new home. Either way, they often experience pest problems they’ve never encountered before, and they may be looking for the services of a reliable pest control company. Getting your name in front of these people before the competition does can result in new business.
A newsletter also can be quite effective as a newspaper insert if the newspaper is well-read and respected. PCOs should ask how much their local newspaper charges for inserting pre-printed matter into the publication. Some charge 7 or 8 cents; if they charge 5 cents or less per insert it can be a real bargain and well worth the money invested in such a program. PCOs can often target certain towns or zip codes with these newspapers. Putting such limits on the distribution of a customer newsletter helps keep costs down.
One creative PCO is leaving stacks of his newsletters at a local grocery store. He rented a spot for a full year and has generated new business from this innovative form of self-promotion. Some businesses will allow PCOs to leave stacks of newsletters behind free of charge. Local realtors, convenience stores and other small businesses are the most likely to provide this service.
Newsletter sources. PCOs have several options when creating a customer newsletter. They can commission the services of an advertising agency, which is very costly, or they can do it themselves. While doing it themselves may save money, they should be aware that writing and producing a newsletter can be a drain on their time, and "hidden" costs creep in that drive up the cost of production. Expenses for printing and folding are minor compared to these other "hidden" costs.
One major, unexpected cost is the cost of producing high-quality illustrations. If the newsletter is to look professional, the PCO will need to hire an artist and sit down with him/her to scope out what is needed. PCOs can expect to pay between $200 to $300 for enough artwork for a one-page, two-sided newsletter.
Another "hidden" cost is the amount of time it takes to produce a professional newsletter. It requires a great deal of time to write, edit and lay out a newsletter, not to mention travel time to and from the printer.
Another option. For a newsletter to be effective it must be professional in appearance. If it’s anything less, it does nothing to improve a company’s image, and may even damage it.
One way PCOs can greatly cut the time and costs associated with newsletter production is to work with a service specializing in "pre-made" customer newsletters. These newsletters are by far a PCO’s best value, especially when the newsletter service offers a custom printing option.
Newsletters improve profits, strengthen a company’s image and enhance customer relations. If used properly and efficiently, they can become an integral part of a pest control company’s marketing program.
___ Dr. Wayne Moore
Copyright© 1991-99 GIE Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
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