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rise of the e-newsletter has occurred due to increases in
technology and our busy professional lifestyles. Sending
emails is relatively inexpensive and with the use of autoresponders
and other software can be cost effective in building up
databases of potential audiences for specific marketing
purposes. How they are produced will depend on their target
audience, the subject matter and method of publication due
to flexibility and availability.
Before
you assume they will overtake the need for paper newsletters,
take time to consider these advantages of the paper newsletter,
but also bear in mind that each kind of newsletter is valid
for their own potential readership:
First
impressions
Think of a morning email in-box full of both relevant and
junk mail, in which somewhere lies an e-newsletter. Unless
the reader has plenty of time or goes systematically through
their mail, and unless the title of the e-newsletter is
immediately catchy, relevant or mind-blowing, it probably
will be filed away for later or become swamped amongst other
more pressing material. How likely is it to be opened and
read immediately? Would it be scanned for relevant content
which would grab the reader’s attention and demand
action?
Consider
the paper post the same morning. If the paper newsletter
is a self mailer, it won’t be concealed away inside
an envelope. Even if it isn’t immediately read there
and then, it will noted and put aside, but the colour of
the paper or design of the nameplate will contribute towards
its visibility amongst the other papers by enticing further
consideration, even if it is later at coffee time or going
home on the train.
Content
over matter
How easily readable is your e-newsletter? Ideally it should
be short and snappy, not long and cumbersome. E-newsletters
should be by nature brief and immediate. Does it contain
suitable links to encourage further reading and does the
front page
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enable
you to open up other pages to continue the articles? Is
it easy to read on-screen or is a paper copy more accessible?
Would you be forced to print it off anyway, especially if
you wanted to file it away for reference purposes?
A paper
newsletter contains more information in further detail and
with relevant graphics. It isn’t necessarily designed
for quick absorption of an idea, concept or promotion, but
for more developed reasoning and an increase in content
to be read at leisure. Arguments and objectives can be explored,
as well as appropriate research and suitable examples, and
each issue can be filed away for reference or bound in yearly
volumes for archives.
Reception
party
E-newsletters can be so easily or accidentally deleted or
eliminated by over-zealous spam-filters. They depend on
their readers being on-line and willing to confirm their
subscription. Paper newsletters will always be delivered
to an address as long as it is correct, and because of their
design, size and content tend to command more respect, probably
because of the nature of their subscription. They may acquire
an airing on the coffee table or a slot in the to-read-later
file, and will probably be read by a larger, more inopportune,
audience.
In defence
of the e-newsletter, it does have the advantage that it
is relatively inexpensive to send, the delivery is almost
immediate and receipt, opening and click rates are trackable
for marketing purposes. A quick response is measurable through
clicks and comments in return emails. The paper newsletter
relies on the postal service and has no way of tracing whether
it is correctly received and read by the right person, unless
a response or call to action is taken up. Costs for production
can be offset by advertising revenue, but this is only appropriate
for regularly published newsletters to a recognised subscription
base.
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