No.

There, that was easy, right?

A conversation I'm always having.

Seriously. In nearly every IdeaStorming session, we have the following conversation.
It's a good thing that so many people ask these questions because then I realize, “Hey! A lot of people have these questions!” and then I can answer y'all all at once. Nice!

Why a newsletter?

The conversation usually starts after I say (this is after we've talked about the whole make-it-easy-for-people-to-give-you-money thing) something like,

“The next step is letting people know  about your thing.

It's easiest if you can let interested people know, on a regular basis. Sometimes this is a newsletter.”

Why is this easiest?

Why is it easier to talk to interested people on a regular basis than to reach people via advertising, guest posts or other marketing?

I have so many reasons I'm making a list:

1. If the person signed themselves up to hear about your thing, you know they want to hear about your thing. It may sound obvious, but this is all the difference between feeling like a spammy mcspamerson and feeling delightful. (This is called Permission Marketing)
2. Convincing new people to like your thing is a lot harder than convincing already-in-love-with-you people.
   It's much easier to get a date with your husband than with the Abercrombie model.
3. When you contact interested people on a regular basis and you provide useful, interesting content (not just sales messages), you build trust and affection.
4. Your Right People want to hear about your thing. They want to buy it. When you tell them about it, they are happy.
   If you doubt this, think about your favorite store. Are you ever sad when they send you something useful or interesting? (Oh, Anthropology catalog, how I love you.)
5. Hearing from you on a regular basis, reminds your Right People that you exist. This is a good thing.
   Have you ever clicked around a website, fell in love, swore you'd come back and then promptly forgot the name of it? Yeah, that happens to everyone! Giving that new person something to do (that is lower risk than buying something) makes sure they remember you later.

But can't I do this without a newsletter?

Absolutely!

You can do it with your blog or with your Twitter stream or with letters. Each of these has there downside (people may not keep up with blogs, your tweets may get lost in a busy stream, letters are time-consuming), but they all work.

If you can not bear the thought of sending emails to your interested people on a regular basis, then don't!

Really.

Nothing will crash or burn or explode. Really.

They why are you always recommending it?

Because newsletters work for me.
They reach the people I want to reach and they build relationships, establish trust, and, yes, turn into sales. With startling regularity.

But it's all about experimentation

You won't know unless you try.
The good news is: it's really low-risk to try.
If you don't like it, you can stop at any time.

If you think newsletters may work for you (or you'd like to try that sales with startling regularity thing) check out my 2 new classes.

• In the first one, we'll cover the hows of writing/sending/making sales with your newsletter, the how-to-make-it-delightful part.
• In the second class, I turn to expert Wendy Cholbi to walk us through the setting up of newsletter software.
  (A lot of people have asked about newsletter software. It is SO MUCH easier than just using your regular email and helps you ensure you don't hit spam boxes. I'll be talking more about this tomorrow).

What are YOUR questions?

I was working with a Recipe client who asked:

“How am I supposed to compete with Wal-mart? They have low prices, lots of different colors, and a huge advertising budget.”

I answered them simply.

You are not competing with Wal-mart.

And not just because you can't (really, you can't!) but because your Right People don't want you to be Wal-mart.

They want originality.
Personality.
Specificity.
Personal connection.

Wal-mart provides cheap, mass-produced goods, cheaply.
You make hand-crafted, high quality, one-of-a-kind goodness to people who are willing to pay for it.

As long as you think of Wal-mart as the competition, you'll spend your time explaining how you're better than them.
But that's a waste of time.

Remember how your English teacher used to say “Show, don't Tell”?

Show your personality. Show your originality. Show your Youness.
And you'll never have to mention “low prices” or “great deals.”

Here's a short list of general benefits (the things that make you awesomest):

• You are a real person. The buyer gets to interact with a real person. And not just ANY person, a person who MADE the thing they're buying.
• Your can provide awesome, agile customer support.
• You are an artist. People adore supporting artists and the artist community.
• Your thing is one of a kind. The buyer will have something that no one else has.

Of course, you probably know this.

But do your customers know it?
Do you make it ultra-freaking clear that what you make is valuable?

If you're not sure how to do that (or what the benefits of your specific goodness is), join Catherine and I for a class all about finding and communicating the benefits of what you make.

The class is today, at 5p ET (that's 7am tomorrow for Australian Catherine!) and registration closes when the class starts. Grab your spot here.

This is a regular-ish thing, where I answer your questions about an upcoming class. I hope it help you decide if the class is right for you (and if it’s not, I hope the questions/answers spark something for ya.)

Today we're talking about benefits, baby. Or the Why Would Anyone Buy THIS class. It's next Tuesday and you can get it right here.

Will it help people who are more performing artists than fiber artists? Because I could sure use the help.

-Jenny Ryan, AKA Cranky Fibro Girl

Indeed! We're calling it Why Would Anyone Buy THIS?, because that's the question EVERY sell-of-something needs to answer. Catherine's going to teach us how to find the benefit in the thing we're selling and then how to clearly communicate those benefits to our people.

The class will be especially helpful who have a thing that's hard to see the benefit for other people: art, humor, writing from your soul.

Is it about you? Or them?

We all know that creating is deeply enriching for you. It gives you expression, freedom, a place in the world.

The making is about you.
The selling, the sharing, it's about them.
Your Right People.

As long as your thinking about why you create, you won't be able to focus on why they buy.

Focus on them

Because your Right People are looking for the thing that is right for them.
They love getting to know you, they love seeing your process, they love connecting.

But when its time to hand over their dough, they want to know:

Is this right for ME?
Does it fill my need?
Does it fulfill my desires?

If you look at those questions and think, “Uh, I don't know that it does fulfill anything…“, then you totally want to take this class.

Because your thing does fulfill a need or desire, for someone.

You, doing your thing will touch, reach, inspire someone else.
And that someone else needs you to explain how your thing is going to touch or reach or inspire them. In fact, they want you to explain it to them.

Bonus!

Learning to recognize the benefits of your thing and communicating it your customers, helps them know your thing is right for them (or not!).

But the bonus? It also helps you remember (and express) that your thing is awesome. It is exactly what someone wants.

Sharing your thing is sharing your awesomeness.
And the world needs more awesomeness.