E-mail marketing with Microsoft Office Publisher 2003 and List Builder Direct e-mail marketing is a cost-effective way to keep your customers coming back. And you know from experience that repeat business is the best kind. With all the competition out there, it's much easier to retain existing customers than to locate brand new ones. By using Microsoft Publisher 2003, the List Builder Add-in for Microsoft Office Publisher 2003, and the List Builder service, you can easily complete your e-mail marketing program from start to finish — from creation to distribution to feedback.

If you're already a Microsoft Small Business Center subscriber, you count on the List Builder Add-in to help you make more of the customers you've got. If you've developed your mailing list with the List Builder Add-in, it's easy to connect with your customers. Customers are more likely to bring you another order if you contact them. The List Builder Add-in not only makes it fast and easy to keep in touch, but also allows you to import customer information from other programs, track the effectiveness of your campaigns, and respond quickly to customer inquiries.

You can read more about the value of using e-mail newsletters to reach customers, or you can start with the following procedures to create your e-mail newsletter in Publisher and send it to customers using the List Builder service. To begin, follow the links in the See Also to download the List Builder Add-in for Publisher 2003 and to purchase the Microsoft Small Business Center List Builder service that matches your business needs.

1. Create your e-mail newsletter in Publisher
2. Prepare your e-mail newsletter for the List Builder Add-in
3. Send your e-mail newsletter by using the List Builder service

Newsletters connect you to customers

Your customer develops a relationship to your business through your newsletter in the same way a magazine reader comes to identify with their periodical of choice. The List Builder Add-in and service enables you to instantly and cost-effectively broadcast your message to every person who has opted in to your mailing list. You can even grow that list by encouraging customers to forward your newsletter to colleagues and friends.

The e-mail newsletter is one of the most powerful and customer-friendly forms of business-to-consumer communication. With the List Builder Add-in, you can use the simple templates provided, or for a more professional look, create a single-page e-mail newsletter in Microsoft Publisher, and then use the List Builder Add-in for Publisher 2003 to prepare your newsletter for mailing, and the List Builder service to send and manage your e-mail campaign.

Be yourself, know your audience

Your newsletter should reflect the tone and personality of your business. For example, a professional services firm of accountants or attorneys will probably choose relatively formal content and design for its newsletter. But an interior designer or a pet grooming salon can use a free hand to express the individual creativity of their business.

Find the voice that best fits the nature and style of your business. There are clues everywhere to what makes your business unique: the layout of your workspace, the design of your stationery and signage, the way you and your staff dress for work. It's who you are that makes your customers choose to bring their business to you. Now package it in a newsletter.

It's also important to know your audience. You already have a pretty good idea of your customers' needs and wants — that's what makes your business work. The sign-up survey you create with the List Builder Add-in goes one step further by providing demographic data and customer special interests for targeting an e-marketing campaign.

Additional points to keep in mind as you plan your newsletter:

• Be topical.   Your customers want the expertise and insight you have in your specific field. Be timely. Use your newsletter to alert customers to seasonal promotions or sales, new and improved products and services — what's happening now.
• Make it newsy.   A newsletter is an opportunity to build credibility by sharing news, tips, case studies, reviews, profiles, success stories. Think of it as a soft-sell tool.
• Make it personal.   Address your customers' expressed interests. This is the kind of customer service that catches on quickly.
• Keep your promise.   Whatever frequency you decide works best for your business — quarterly, monthly, or weekly — deliver the news consistently and on schedule.
• Stay on point.   Remain focused on your key messages. And make sure your newsletter ties in to other advertising and marketing efforts such as direct-mail catalog drops, print ad campaigns, and your Web site.

Design made simple

What if, like most small-business owners, you are not a trained graphic designer? The List Builder Add-in provides three basic HTML templates for the design of your newsletter. Or, you can easily design your newsletter in Publisher 2003, and gain enormous flexibility in the visual presentation of your message.

Publisher provides predesigned e-mail newsletters with a wide selection of professionally designed motifs to increase the sophistication of your newsletter. And you can easily modify the page layout, color schemes, font schemes, placement of pictures, and other elements of the publication to truly make the design your own. Publisher takes you through the design process and allows you to make choices like a seasoned designer.

Publisher helps you adhere to these basic guidelines to give shape to your newsletter:

• Keep the design simple so that your customers get the message immediately. Limit the number of elements on a page to five and use no more than two type fonts on the page.
• Add contrast to catch the reader's eye and draw it to what's important. Use a single, dominant visual element to anchor each page. An ample amount of white space on the page goes a long way toward creating contrast.

Create your e-mail newsletter in Publisher

1. Start Publisher. In the New Publication task pane under New from a design, click Web Sites and E-mail.
2. Click E-mail, click Newsletter, and then click the pre-designed newsletter template you want to use.

    Note   Because e-mail newsletters are limited to one page, do not add additional pages to your e-mail publication.

3. In the Color Schemes task pane, click the color scheme you want to use.
4. In the Font Schemes task pane, click the font scheme you want to use.
5. To replace placeholder text with your own text, click the placeholder text, and then type the new text.
6. To replace placeholder pictures with your own pictures, click a placeholder picture once to reveal white circles surrounding the picture's frame. Right-click the placeholder picture, click Change Picture, and then choose the source of your new picture.

    Note   For best results, use a Web-friendly picture format such as .gif or .jpg.

7. To save your newsletter, on the File menu, click Save as. In the Save As dialog box, under Save as type, click Publisher Files.
8. In the File name box, type a file name, and then click Save.

Prepare your e-mail newsletter for the List Builder Add-in

1. Download the List Builder Add-in for Publisher 2003.

   To download the List Builder Add-in, follow the link in the See Also section of this article.

2. Open the e-mail newsletter you've created to send to customers. On the File menu, click Send E-mail, and then click Prepare Current Page for List Builder.
3. In the Prepare Current Page for List Builder dialog box, in the File name box, type a name for the file.
4. In the Save as type box, click Web Page, and then click Save.

Send your e-mail newsletter by using the List Builder service

You must have a List Builder service account to perform the following procedure. To purchase a List Builder account, follow the link to the Microsoft Small Business Center List Builder subscription in the See Also section of this article.

1. Sign in to your Microsoft Small Business Center account, and go to the List Builder Overview page.
2. Under What do you want to do? select Send mail, and then click Go.
3. Click the Custom HTML button, and then click Continue.
4. Type the subject you want to appear in a customer's e-mail inbox, for example: Your November Newsletter.
5. Under If you have an HTML file saved on your computer, click the Browse button to select the file, then click Upload., click Browse.
6. Locate your newsletter file, click the file, and then click Open.
7. Click Upload.
8. Under Upload Images, click Browse to locate your image file, click the file, and then click Open. Repeat for each image in the newsletter.

    Note   The images are stored in the same folder to which you exported your original List Builder files when you prepared your e-mail newsletter with the List Builder Add-in.

9. Click Upload Image(s).
10. Click Select Recipients, select the subscribers you want to receive your newsletter, and then click Continue.
11. Click Send Now to e-mail your newsletter.