An Expert Opinion on Issuing An E-newsletter

On February 28, I delivered a Findings & Recommendations report to a client. This client, incidentally, has had me engaged for a few months as a consultant to refocus his company's marketing efforts and renew its brand-management efforts covering an important profit-center of the business - an important specialty within the company's general offerings. This Findings & Recommendations report, however, was my first not focused on that specialty, but on the company's new website under construction.

Among my recommendations is not to issue a free e-newsletter, as the home page under construction would offer. The next day, my client wrote to me, "Do you really disagree with a free e-mail newsletter that is educational and simply provides industry information?" For the benefit of all, my reply appears here:

"Thank you for asking me about this.

Yes. Having assessed and addressed newsletter problems for independent business people sine Jan. 2, 1996, I assure you that the vast majority of newsletters take way more time and effort than the issuers expect. Most give up before they manage to get net returns on their investment. This does not bode well for their readers' perceptions of the company.

Really good newsletters are like apple trees. Once you plant the sapling, it needs your diligent care for a few years before you can harvest apples from it. Years more til the harvest is really abundant. If you keep diligent care of it consistently for enough years, then it should give you an abundant harvest for decades. An apple a day for the whole family forever.

Most newsletter issuers downgrade their investment in their newsletter to as low as possible after the first few issues, after they find that it just doesn't pay for itself for a while. In terms of long-term outcome, that is a fatal error. Most cancel their newsletter after reducing the investment still yields low or immeasurable net return.

You can read my articles on how to solve all of these problems at this web page.

However, I am concerned that your market - most importantly, people who already have some variety of business relationship with [the company] - should already be sufficiently communicated to by [the company] through other means. In this case, there should be no void that a newsletter must fill.

Have people who fit your ideal client profile been telling you that they want you to provide them with industry information, or that they feel under-informed with industry information? If so, then maybe a blog would work for you. Here's one.

More important than that, competitors could subscribe to [the newsletter] like bees to a flower, taking all they can for their own use at your expense. If you make the content 'safer' to adapt to competitors being among your readers, then the newsletter could just turn out to be a flyer. In this case, maybe you should go straight to a subscription flyer that has newsletter-like qualities. Is there a business case for that?

I recently conducted a survey on Linked-In that asked people how many e-newsletters they subscribe to, how much un-read e-mail they generally have each day (i.e. always some unread - how many), and how much e-newsletters contribute to their in-box backlog. The survey was treated like a hot potato (many views, few responses) apparently indicating that few people like to admit their answers where their Linked-In connections can see.

If, after further consideration, you want a newsletter or something like, then maybe I can help. What do you think would be a fit?"

Sincerely,


- Glenn R Harrington
Articulate Consultants