Read time: 4:12 minutes  

Everybody and their brother has a newsletter today.

Newsletters can be a power-packed marketing tool.

When done correctly, they are a great way to keep your brand in front of your audience consistently. They give you a platform to share insights and opinions and give your audience a glimpse of who you are and what you do.

So, it may come as a bit of a shock when I say this:

I do not recommend that Fractional CFOs write a newsletter.

Say what?

It's true. I have found that Fractional CFO newsletters aren't as valuable as you might expect - for you or your clients.

In today's edition, I will explain three reasons why writing a newsletter doesn't provide a sufficient ROI, and I'll offer some suggestions that may serve you better.

Let's go.

Reason #1: Our stuff just isn't that sexy.

I know it's hard to admit, but our work isn't that sexy (or even mildly attractive!) to most people in the world.

It's true: the average business owner doesn't want to read about:

✅ 5 Ways to Improve Gross Margins
✅ The Quickest Way to Improve the Quick Ratio
✅ Why Your Cash Conversion Cycle Isn't Converting
✅ 7 Hidden Profit Hacks That Your CFO Doesn't Want You To Know About

I know YOU like to read about that stuff!
And I certainly like to read about that stuff!

But an effective newsletter should be written for your intended audience - not other numbers nerds. And the reality is that while business owners probably should know about these topics, they don't want to spend their precious free time reading about them.

They really want the confidence that people like you and I are staying on top of their Quick Ratio and Cash Conversion Cycle and that we know the profit hacks.

They want to read newsletters about their industry and how to level up their game. Just like you're doing right now.

Reason #2: Doing it right takes (a lot of) time.

You are reading my 71st newsletter/blog post.

I've missed a few weeks here and there, but, for the most part, I've been writing weekly blogs for the better part of 1.5 years straight.

Throughout that journey, I've learned a few things:

👉 Newsletters have to add value to your readers. We've all read newsletters that are just poorly disguised marketing and advertisements. There's nothing actionable to take away from the content. The result? A big fat unsubscribe.

👉 Newsletters must be published consistently. If you skip more than a week here or there, readers will not open the emails when they do come. Plus the email deliverability algos will start sending your content to the spam folders.

👉 Newsletters must be clear, concise, and to the point. Ramble too long, and you lose the reader. Don't tell them what value they'll get, and you lose the reader. Don't get to your point fast enough, and you'll lose the reader.

While this all sounds intuitive, it can be challenging to write something that meets all of these criteria week after week after week. At least it was for me. If I'm being real, it can still be a challenge for me - even after 71 editions.

To write a compelling newsletter that will bring you business, you have to commit to learning how to be a better writer, studying best practices, and writing very, very consistently.

It takes a LONG time to pay off.

PS - If you think you'll get AI to write a newsletter or blog for you that adds value to your readers and brings you business, think again. Precisely zero people read AI-generated content and think, "Wow, I want HER to be my Fractional CFO!"

Reason #3: You won't get the SEO boost you think you'll get.

I told myself this story that writing a newsletter and blog would boost my SEO rankings.

They did!

A year and a half later, I've moved from the bottom to just slightly above the bottom in search results.

To be fair, we haven't done much to optimize our search ranking. Instead, we've focused on writing valuable content. But even if fully optimized, I'm guessing we still wouldn't rank near the top for fractional CFO stuff.

I have nothing against Fractional CFOs writing a newsletter or blog. It's even on our roadmap to start publishing one in the future!

But if you're a new Fractional CFO, you need a strategy to land clients fairly quickly - and a newsletter isn't that strategy.

I've written on some of my favorite strategies for landing clients HERE and HERE 

Here are a few others worth considering:

👉 One of the best strategies is to just jump into the contact list on your phone and hit up people you already know. Literally, ask them who they know that could benefit from your services.

👉 I also don't see enough people just flat-out posting on LinkedIn about their services. Resist the urge to overcomplicate this. It can be something as straightforward as THIS. 

👉 We recently started exploring the idea of creating partnerships with software companies that provide services to our target industries. I've seen a small number of firms have tremendous success with this. It might be worth exploring in your niche as well!

I get SUPER hyped when I think about the impact that a Fractional CFO firm can have on small businesses!

Just one Fractional CFO firm can help create literally hundreds of jobs.

Newsflash:
To scale your impact, you must first scale your firm.

My ambition this year is to help 50 Fractional CFO firms scale to 7 figures so they can have the kind of impact that I know is possible.

Join me on February 21, 2024 at 12 PM ET/9 AM PT, where I'll reveal the 7 Figure Fractional CFO Blueprint. 

This is the step-by-step process I've learned from building my firm over the past eight years and studying hundreds of other firms along the way.

Click here to get the details and to register for free!

Can't wait to see you on February 21st at 12:00 PM ET/ 9 AM PT!

Your Coach,
Michael