Comments on: Should You Dump Your Newsletter?

By: Julie Bestry

Julie Bestry — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:43:20 +0000

I love that you asked this question, with this provocative headline, on your blog. It shows how different a blog and newsletter can be. Newsletters are for the people who have already “bought in” to the idea of who you are and what you have to offer…and they’re ready to make that “commitment”, no matter how small, to allow you into their mailboxes on a weekly or monthly basis.

Blogs, on the hand, are those ice cream parlor freebies flavor tastes. They give you the chance to share your info with the public, but it’s “commitment-free” and has the added “social networking” angle.

If you only blogged and did social networking, you’d only ever capture the information from the non-lurkers out there. If you only did a newsletter, it would be hard, w/out social networking in this modern, busy world, to encourage subscriptions.

So, even though you were intentionally provocative with your post title, the answer is obvious: NO! The newsletter and the blog (and all the social networking) work in concert, an orchestra instead of individual instruments.

And ditto, Karen, because each person has her own preferences as to how information is received. Keep it all, nurture each method, and say something worth reading. :-)

By: Biana Babinsky

Biana Babinsky — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:12:08 +0000

Mitch, great point on social networking moving very fast. If you have many friends on Twitter or Facebook, it is hard to keep up with everything everyone says.

By: Mel Menzies

Mel Menzies — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:11:59 +0000

All good points! Trouble is, I’m an author first and foremost. And ALL proceeds from sales of my books go to two charities benefiting children / young people.

My blog carries no ads and makes me no money. That’s my choice. But putting different content up on my blog plus producing a newsletter would leave little time for book writing.

Still - interesting to read what you have to say. Thanks for that.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:07:58 +0000

I agree, getting rid of one’s newsletter could be more detrimental than one might think. The thing about a newsletter is that it’s always there, and people can read it on their own time. With social media, things can come and go fast, and you never know what people will miss that you want to share with them.

Of course, I also have a blog, but I don’t put the same content on both except on a very rare occasion.

By: Biana Babinsky

Biana Babinsky — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:23:15 +0000

Karen, you are so right about providing information through different media! When you do that you are able to reach more people with the same content, without having to come with all new content all the time. Thank you for the great reminder.

And love the “Different horses for different courses” saying :)

By: Karen Skidmore

Karen Skidmore — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:07:43 +0000

Great point Biana. And different people like to read the same article/tips in different mediums, don’t they. Some people love email, yet still don’t understand how to “read” blogs yet others love RSS fed in to their i-phone and hate email. Different horses for different courses :)

By: Biana Babinsky

Biana Babinsky — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:51:25 +0000

Great question, Mel! Yes, I recommend having both a newsletter and a blog. Your blog serves exactly the same purpose as the social networking in the above post - initial introduction to your target market.

Once your potential customers get to know you a bit on your blog, you should invite them to subscribe to your newsletter, so that you can use your newsletter to build a lasting relationship with them.

Biana Babinsky

By: Mel Menzies

Mel Menzies — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:08:24 +0000

Good point. But how do you equate newsletters and blogs? Are they of equal merit? Does one need to run them simulataneously?