I Don't Want Your Newsletter
My fellow marketers are often stunned or suspicious, or both, when I admit that I do not subscribe to newsletters. "Not even [fill in your favorite newsletter here]?"
Nope, not even that one.
Why? Newsletters have become, in my opinion, a lazy way to force old content back up to the surface. Almost every newsletter I see lately—and as a content marketer I see close to a bazillion every day—is a recycling of blog content, press releases and social posts, usually with a premium content offer shoved in there for ROI.
I don't need a newsletter to access this content.
If I love your brand's social media posts, I'll follow you on social media. I'll add you to my "Awesomeness" Twitter list.
If I love your blog, I can either subscribe to your RSS or, more likely, simply add you to my Feedly. Which I check when I have time, often on Saturdays afternoons while my toddler naps beside me. The most likely scenario, however, is that I'll only read your blogs when they include keywords for which I've set Google Alerts. Because I only want to read what I want to read.
As for your premium content, chances are I downloaded your white paper when I was researching a topic online and it popped up in my search. Or I was reading one of your blogs and you included the white paper as a CTA and it piqued my interest. Or, it didn't, which means it's probably not relevant to me.
I don't want your newsletter because I can get your content in a dozen different ways that I control, rather than having one more email in my inbox. (I'm a zeroboxer; unread emails make my blood pressure accelerate.)
I'd love to see a newsletter that featured 2 or 3 well-written, well-researched stories, and no links. How would you measure it's success? I imagine through metrics such as:
- subscription rate
- opens
- forwards
- social comments
I once suggested to a CEO that our newsletter should include a piece of exclusive content. A story just for the newsletter. His response: But what will they click? How will we know if they're reading it?
That is why I don't want your newsletter. You're not creating it for me. You're creating it for clicks. For measurement. For You.
But, the genius of marketing is its agility. We can do better. Before you launch your next newsletter, ask yourself:
- Where else is this content available? How many places has it already been shared? Is it already performing well (meaning, has most of my audience already seen this content?)
- Does my audience interact with my brand through email historically? Is this the right channel for sharing this content?
- What is the value to my audience? What are they getting that is new or special, that they cannot get anywhere else?
- Am I making this for my audience, or for my metrics?
And if you create something truly unique and audience-focused, shoot me a link. Yours will be the one newsletter I look forward to receiving.
Owner and Creative Director at Bright Orange Advertising
7 年The experience of one of our clients – a solar installer doing business in four states – confirms the importance of using new and original content if newsletters have a chance of being read. When you're dealing with an expensive, high-commitment purchase that's also highly considered, sending honest, exclusive information each month really helps prospective customers make up their minds – and reassures existing customers that they made the right decision.
Great article! I think you are spot on with most of the points you make here, BUT, most people are not as disciplined as you. They NEED to be hit in the face with the same content repeatedly for them to read it, IMO. I'm one of those people. I frequently scan my industry trade news sites, marketing sites, hobby sites, etc., and I'll find stuff I want to read, but then the squirrels take me away and those posts don't get read ... until I see it again in a newsletter. Think of it as advertising ... you have to have your message out there in different ways and with a good degree of frequency. That said, I love your idea of tossing in exclusive content to help make it not a complete rehash of evergreen content.
Digital Transformation | Market Expansion | Leadership Development
7 年I was just thinking this exactly yesterday! I only want your newsletter if you actually have something of value to ME. For gods sake, segment your email lists!