As a part of the tech industry, you probably find it very tempting to steer away from most – if not all – forms of print marketing. A lot of managed service providers feel this way, and won’t bother to promote their company with anything but digital means.

We’re here to tell you that there’s a lot of value to print marketing – one in particular that we’ll be discussing in this blog today: the print newsletter.

The Value of Print Newsletters

Print newsletters are a tangible piece of marketing collateral that recipients can actually hold in their hands. This physicality gives printed newsletters a higher perceived value and greater stickiness compared to your MSP’s digital marketing efforts.

You can also send your printed newsletter to anyone – suspects, leads, prospects, and clients – as long as you have a valid postage address. You can’t do this with email due to regulations connected to business email communications – only people who have opted in.

Even when comparing printed newsletters to other direct mail marketing pieces, sending out printed newsletters is going to add more educational value compared to other pieces you send out. With printed newsletters, you have space for multiple blogs on top of any other type of information you want to include. With other direct mail types (letters, postcards, brochures), they’re more than likely going to be focused on a singular topic.

But What About eNews?

We’re not trying to badmouth eNewsletters at all – in fact, they’re a great marketing piece to incorporate into your overall strategy. eNewsletters have different benefits to your marketing that include:

  • Having multiple ways for the recipient to read it (desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, etc.)
  • Being affordable to produce and send out
  • The ability for readers to click links instead of typing them in or needing to scan a QR code
  • Easier ways to track the success of your marketing

However, it is still much easier to disregard than a print newsletter is, and doesn’t come close to matching the values discussed that you receive from sending out printed newsletters.

For the greatest marketing benefit, we actually suggest using both printed and email newsletters. This allows your company to get the best of both worlds.

Get Additional Value out of your Print Newsletters

You can take additional steps when putting together your newsletter if you want to make them a highly regarded resource for those who receive it. Take a look at some of our suggestions:

  • Employee Highlights: You can choose an employee to feature each month, and write a short article about their involvement with the company. You can include outside interests as well to create a more personable experience for the reader.
  • Company News and Announcements: Holiday Hours, upcoming events, and a new service or product offering all provide information to your readers, so make sure you include it whenever you have something.
  • Promotions and Giveaways: Give an exclusive offer to those who receive your newsletter. You could even give something away for free – big or small. People love free things; it makes them happy. It is also an effective marketing technique. Set up a landing page, include the link in the newsletter, have people register there, and let the lead capture begin.
  • Testimonials: Share what others say about the experiences they have had with you or your company.
  • Events and Event Follow-Ups: Are you speaking somewhere? Attending a trade show? Offering a lunch and learn or webinar of some sort? Include them all in your newsletter to promote it. After the event, you can add quick write-ups and some images from the event in question.
  • A Message from the Owner/CEO: A newsletter is a great way for a CEO to reach out to current/prospective clients alike. Messages don’t have to be elaborate. Consider writing about a simple new service announcement, holiday greetings, or a special thanks!
  • Trivia and Fun Facts: Not all of the educating that you do has to be through blogs. You can include little tidbits of information in the form of trivia and fun facts.

In addition to adding content like what is listed above, consider using a custom URL shortener to make it easier for people to follow the links that you include.