I read this blog post last week, “Your Email Newsletter – Is It Finally Time to Pull the Plug?” This article really made me stop and think about the validity of email newsletters. The argument in the blog post is that if you are spending the majority of your time publishing an email newsletter that isn’t yielding results, you’d be better off writing more frequently on your blog.
The author notes,
“There I was doing something which required tons of work and time, which was producing negligible results for me and to top it off, it was preventing me from blogging regularly, which would be much more likely to produce the tangible results I wanted. In fact, a summary of new research in [an] article from Social Media Examiner found ‘There is a strong correlation between how frequently a blog posts and the amount of traffic generated. In fact, businesses that post daily will generate 5 times more traffic than those that post weekly or less.’”
But before you give up your email newsletter, let me add my take on why email newsletters are still a top marketing strategy.
Newsletters – whether print or email – are about staying connected with people (usually your past customers and prospects). As marketing guru Dan Kennedy advises, from his book No B.S. Direct Marketing: “My single biggest recommendation is the use of a monthly customer newsletter. Nothing, and I mean nothing, maintains your fence [around your customers] better.”
I would agree that email newsletters aren’t as effective as they once were – but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t effective. It just means that they aren’t the “shiny new object” in a marketing arsenal (like they were 10+ years ago).
Email newsletters are still a top marketing strategy. In fact, in a recent Success Magazine survey, 32% responded that it is the most effective strategy employed last year. With publisher Darren Hardy at the helm and superstar readers/participants such as Seth Godin, Tory Johnson and John C. Maxwell, you stop and take notice.
But like with anything else, your email newsletter needs to evolve. It needs to change. If it hasn’t changed in 10+ years, I am betting that it isn’t getting much results, either.
If you are a subscriber to my email newsletter, Jottings, you may have noticed that a few months ago I changed the format of the feature article slightly. Instead of including the entire article in the newsletter, I now lead with a portion (aka teaser) of the article and link to “Continue reading…” which takes the reader to my blog. I do this for a few specific reasons:
- That groovy little link can provide me with approximately how many people are actually reading my newsletter. Not only can I see the analytics from my newsletter program (Constant Contact), but I also get stats on my blog.
- Using a “Read Full Article” link is also a way to introduce my newsletter readers to my blog – some of which may not have remembered that I regularly post to my blog.
- This method of linking my email newsletter article to my blog drives traffic back to my website. It isn’t about the shiny Google stats (although, we all want Google to like us). For me, it is about getting people to see the other services and products I offer – which are all detailed on my website.
- The gurus are doing this. I subscribe to a lot of email newsletters, and the gurus in the marketing industry are all linking their newsletter content back to their website. I am simply implementing what I am learning from them.
- Finally, as the author said … it is less work. Although I still have “exclusive” content in my email newsletter that you can’t find anywhere else, the feature article is one less piece of content I must create a month (and you know how much I advocate for repurposing content).
Even though many entrepreneurs are doing away with email newsletters, I still think they are a critical tool in your social media warehouse – as long as you allow your email newsletter to evolve into its new role – which is helping drive traffic back to your website.
What do you think? Are email newsletters dead, or do you agree that they simply need to play a different role today? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Tess, since you mentioned newsletters last month I have been giving it a lot of thought. Creating more content was the one thing that was holding me back. I think doing one “exclusive” article and blog links may be just the ticket! Thanks!
Chris, I am a big fan of creating it once and using it multiple times (with a tweak here or there). My newsletter contains unique material that you can only get if you subscribe; however, the “feature article” is linked to my blog. BTW, the unique articles are much shorter pieces. If you want to brainstorm ideas, let me know. I’d be happy to help!
I’d like that, maybe we can work on something for you to guest post on BP?
I would love that opportunity, Chris! I’ll get with you off-line to chat some more. Thanks!
Tess,
Something I have been hearing from Remodelers when I utter “Email Newsletter” is – “Oh, I don’t want to do that – I just delete those when I get them!”
There is still plenty of value in sending quality material out to your prospects/clients via email. Keeps you top of mind, builds know, like and trust, etc…
The one tweak I’ve been making is to simply call it “Email Marketing” vs. “Email Newsletter” – My Remodelers seem more open to hearing about Email Marketing
Sometimes it could be just a quick note out to your list… A link to just one of your blog posts. Doesn’t have to be a full blown newsletter every time.
In answer to your question – they aren’t dead – but we may need to continue to play with the format, content and look of them to keep it interesting to our lists.
Keep up the good work!
Kyle
RemodelYourMarketing.com
That is an excellent tweak, Kyle, because you are right. There is so much you can do with your email newsletter list … that doesn’t have to include a newsletter (hence, Email Marketing). Thanks for chiming in. I bet a lot of remodelers reading this post are going to embrace that idea!