As my store started to grow, I decided that just giving out a business card was no longer an acceptable way to promote my store.  Sure business cards are cheap to print and easy to carry, but if you are like me, you end up losing most of the business cards you get.  So I decided to do a store newsletter to give more information about my store and to keep my regular customers up to date with what was happening in the store and the industry. 

A few things to consider when doing a newsletter is what you want to say.  You should always start off with the important information.  Every issue should have your store's name, address, phone number, hours and if applicable, email address and website address.  This way all the relevant information is right there for them.  Remember this is a marketing tool and you should treat is as such.  The second thing you need is a name.  You can incorporate your store name into it.  My store's newsletter was called "Tomorrow's News".  With the store called Tomorrow's Heroes, it was a perfect fit.  Next think of the frequency you will publish the newsletter.  We did ours on a monthly basis, which seemed like the perfect amount of time.  You need time to write it, set it up and send it to be printed.  It should not be so burdensome that it takes away from your everyday work but it should also be current enough that it is beneficial to your customers.

Now that you have the name down and the frequency, you need to think about content.  A few good ideas for articles is comic reviews, list of upcoming comics and information about pull box service.  When doing reviews, remember to be honest.  Don't write a great review of a crappy comic to try and sell the extra copies you have.  You need to build trust with your customers and this is a good place to start.  If a book is not good, say so.  It may hurt the sales of that book, but the trust you will build will be worth it.  Also offer space for customers to write in the newsletter.  It is a great way to make them feel part of it and it will build loyalty.  Other subtle ways to sell items is to write articles on protecting your comics and mention the supplies that are best for doing so.  You can also do stuff like history of comics and or characters.  You can put want lists for comics you are looking to purchase.  You can talk about upcoming comic based movies, video games and/or television shows.  There is a wealth of stuff you can talk about.

While handing out newsletters at your store is a good way to get your store information into your customer's hand, these newsletters are also good for bringing in new customers.  If you are at a comic book show, bring some extra copies and leave them out.  If they are any good, people will take them and read them.  I found this a great way to bring in new customers. 

One thing to remember is to talk about all the different products you carry at your store.  If you carry collectible card games, talk about it.  If you carry toys, make sure to mention it.  I carried numerous products and gave a section to each one.  I had two pages devoted to Anime with reviews, new releases and lists of the top renters.  I had a section for collectible card games with reviews of new products, strategies and more.  This is a good way to let potential customers know all that your store has to offer. 

One nice thing is that now there are so many good programs to do desktop publishing.  You can easily find one and with some time, you can make very professional looking newsletters.  When you are starting out, you can just xerox them and staple them together yourself.  As it goes along, you can start to make them better.  My early ones were quite primitive.  By the end, we had an award winning newsletter but it took time to develop it.  We were also blessed with a great staff and I had a customer named Carl who was an expert at desktop publishing.  But nowadays, anyone can do it with some work.  The library is a great place to get books and videos on how to do desktop publishing.

If you have a comic store and/or website, you should consider a newsletter.  A business card says so little as does a yellow pages ad.  This is a way to create an identity for your store and leave a lasting impression on your customers.  It is also a way to promote your various product lines and keep your customers informed.  It takes some time and money but in the end it will pay for itself, many times over.

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