"People love a story," says Starin VP Bill Mullin. With stories about your customers, your business and the technologies you use, a newsletter can do a great job of showing how you can help readers solve their business problems. "We're looking for additional and consistent contacts with potential clients," says John Laughlin of St. Louis-based Conference Technologies. "It's very difficult for our consultative staff to touch each and every client regularly." Mullin, Laughlin, and Kari Mickits of AMX offer advice on: Addressing your audience Email vs. postal mail Who will be in charge Frequency and timing In house or outsource Strategies for smaller firms Read what they say in "All the news that's fit to blast" from Sound & Video Contractor Magazine.

If you're trying to reach out to new customers, you'll want to consider third-party mailing lists. Jim Hauschild, a list industry expert, explains how to get the most out of your list rental or purchase: Compiled vs. response lists: how to find and use lists of people who have subscribed to an industry magazine, attended a trade show, joined an association or purchased AV products Email vs. postal mail: each still has its place Legitimate email vs. spam Read "Choosing mailing lists for your newsletter" from S&VC

There's an old joke in the marketing business: "I know half my advertising budget is wasted. I just don't know which half." Email gives you something new: the ability to easily tell where to invest your efforts. Gail Goodman, CEO of email broad service Constant Contact, explains the ins and outs of tracking your results from email: Why track results Benchmarking your campaigns Email services vs. your own server What to track Read "Tracking results from your email newsletter"

Here are a few industry newsletters you may want to look at, all written and designed by Kreski Marketing: Conference Technologies' CTI Solutions CTI Educational Solutions Crestron Consultant News (where we did the writing only) Sound Vision's Sound Ideas Visitec Vision Starin's Learning Curve Media Update from Media Resources See additional industry newsletters and email campaigns