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How to Write a Newsletter That Generates Clients for Your Firm

You probably receive a ton of newsletters, ranging from incredibly useful legal tips to the clothing line subscription you randomly signed up for months ago.

But do you actually read them? Or do they automatically go to your spam folder?

It’s easy to feel spammed by the wave of newsletters that are inevitably popping up in your inbox.

However, from a business perspective, newsletters are a great opportunity to increase engagement among existing clients and leads. If the newsletters you’ve so meticulously curated don’t generate more clients, it’s probably time to revisit your strategy.

In this article, we’ll cover how to curate a newsletter that your leads will actually look forward to reading.

The Basics: What’s the Purpose of Sending a Newsletter?

Newsletters serve a few different purposes:

  • To engage a subscribed audience
  • To provide value and knowledge to its audience
  • To position firms as thought leaders in their area of practice

Regardless of how big or small your firm is, a newsletter is a great way to keep your readers informed and create a community around your services.

How Does a Newsletter Generate Leads?

Newsletters can be leveraged to convert prospective clients, retain existing clients, and increase the CLV (customer lifetime value) of your network.

Here’s how a newsletter can convert leads to clients better than any other outlet, including social media:

1)    Attract More Leads

Newsletters are a great way to cultivate more leads. More qualified prospects actively subscribe to your outreach, which means they’re more likely to have expressed interest in your services; they also care more about what you have to say. Use the opportunity to tell them something they don’t know.

2)    Remind Them Why They Subscribed

A newsletter serves as a great reminder about the value that your firm can add to your potential clients. Instead of shouting your sales pitch from the top of the mountains, subtly send them outreach that keeps you top of mind and gains their trust. Sending neutral, non-salesy content acts as a gentle nudge that leads potential clients further down the funnel.

3)    Nurture Existing Leads

Some leads may require a little bit more nurturing than others. Newsletters act as consistent touch-points that further sell the value of your practice to potential clients. As they say: out of sight, out of mind. Newsletters help you stay top of mind with your leads so that when they are in need of legal help, they know exactly where to go.

4)    Retain Existing Clients

Just because you’ve landed certain clients before doesn’t mean they’re going to come back to you if you don’t nurture that relationship.

A newsletter can help increase the lifetime value of your existing network by reducing churn. Your existing clients will also appreciate the frequent touch-ins and the helpful information your newsletter provides.

How to Turn Your Newsletter Into a Lead Magnet

–        Segment Your Email List

Your existing clients require different messaging than your leads.

Email segmentation, also known as “marketing segmentation,” refers to the practice of dividing your audience into targeted lists based on specific commonalities. Once segmented, you can send each list curated email campaigns that better fit their needs and interests. For instance, you can add a CTA for a free consultation or promotion for first-time clients in a newsletter you intend to send to your leads. You can even segment your leads further based on demographic, location, and age.

–        Avoid Spam Folders

A newsletter is obviously useless if your audience doesn’t even see it.

Your primary initiative when drafting your newsletter should be to avoid the dreaded spam folder – a.k.a where marketing budgets go to die. There isn’t one tried-and-true solution to this issue, but there are ways to increase your chances of getting your email marketing across to your potential clients.

Here are some of the top tips to avoid spam inboxes:

  1. Be compliant with CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing).
  2. Avoid misleading headers and subject lines
  3. Provide an opt-out option
  4. Use permission-based marketing
  5. Don’t buy your email list
  6. Stay clear of spam trap email addresses
  7. Send a text version as well as an HTML version

There are many ways to avoid falling into the spam folders of your audience. If you master them, you’ll position your firm in front of more leads and generate more business.

–        Time Your Sends

Timing is everything.

The time of day you send your newsletter can determine whether it’s opened, read, and clicked through. The cadence, weekday, and time of day that’s most effective depend on your audience.

Maybe your target audience is more active at night, in the morning, or in the afternoon. You can find out which through A/B testing.

–        Solve Their Problems

Don’t view your newsletter as a sales pitch.

The recommended balance is 90% educational content and 10% promotional. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule (if you have important firm-specific news to share), but the goal is to add value to your reader’s lives by sharing knowledge that can help solve their problems. If you push your own agenda too strongly, your leads will fully see through your newsletter and most likely unsubscribe. Put their needs first and they will grow to trust you and appreciate the content you’re sharing.

–        Follow Up with Engaged Leads

You got their attention. Now what?

Once a lead begins engaging with your content and clicking the links within your newsletter, it’s crucial to keep nurturing that relationship. Track the analytics of your newsletter sends on a regular basis to identify patterns and areas to reach out. If a lead is consistently engaging with your content, it could be a good time to start a conversation about their legal needs.

It’s best practice to keep a record of the interactions between you and your leads in a CRM system so that you always stay on top of your follow-up initiatives.

Closing Thoughts

Newsletters have the potential to push leads from the consideration stage, to requesting a consultation, and eventually to hire you for your services. The key is to not view them as an opportunity to sell yourself, but to share valuable knowledge with your readers and to cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship over time.

With these tips in mind, every newsletter you send will gain you even more hot leads that can be converted into recurring clients.

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