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Newsletters 102: Rules
of Success
As discussed in last
issue, there are many varieties of newsletters. There are
in-house bulletins distributed to employees, the
"after-the-sale" variety sent to existing
customers, and sales-generating newsletters targeted at
prospective clients. Then there are the kinds that
provide information to subscribers who have a need and
are willing to pay for it (such as the one you are
reading right now). No matter what the focus of a
newsletter is, there are general principles which apply
to their creation, production and maintenance.
Sometimes the standards
applied may vary in degree, but the elements listed below
should be considered when putting a newsletter into
production. At times, it may even be acceptable to choose
to ignore the rules completely, but there is a general
philosophy of life to keep in mind which I call
"crossing the road."
Let's say your objective,
similar to the famed chicken, is to cross the road. If
you know nothing of traffic patterns or cross-walks,
being ignorant of those rules does not mean you won't
make it across. Maybe there just happen to be no cars
coming, or your timing is such that you avoid catastrophe
by luck. The point is the chances of getting hit by a
truck can be minimized if you know to look both ways and
understand signals and road markings.
So here are rules and
regulations as they pertain to newsletters. Primarily,
this is written with the revenue-generating kind in mind.
They can be applied to existing newsletters or used if
you are considering starting a new one. In any event, I
hope they help you get to the other side safely. TOP END
The
"Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" Rule
With newsletters, the
number one rule is content. No matter how good it looks,
a newsletter must have a focused topic or purpose. It
must fulfill a need in a majority of its readers in just
about every issue. Perhaps you could do the odd issue
that wouldn't happen to ring the bells in a particular
reader's head, but you need to be ever wary of losing the
interest of your audience.
Some publications don't
survive format changes which proves the way your
newsletter looks may be important--people are influenced
by production values. But if you remember to keep your
information up-to-date, accurate and to be reflective of
your readers interests, flubbing all the other
"rules" may not be of any consequence.
As covered in last issue,
there is that functionality of the information feed thing
to keep in mind. The goal is always to convey information
in the most direct and digestible fashion possible. But
what I'm talking about here is to not get distracted by
appearance as an end. Newsletters are not meant to be
like People Magazine, or like any magazine for that
matter. That's why they call them newsletters and not
magazines. TOP END
The
Spielberg Rule
As topics for newsletters
go, it is also important to remember your own interests.
If you're going to be doing from 3 to 24 or even 52
issues per year on a given topic, you better pick
something you like. The best thing is to follow the
Spielberg rule. Steven Spielberg attributes his success
as a movie director to the fact that he considers himself
the ultimate movie goer. He knows what he responds to and
likes, so, in making a film, if he pleases himself, he
pleases the audience. Fortunately for him his tastes are
shared by millions of people. It is just as easy to
picture the director whose interests are so bizarre that
pleasing himself is all he ever does.
This is called the
"audience of one" syndrome. Imagine if Wally
the Worm up there on the column head wanted to open a
nightclub. If his clientele were humans, he wouldn't be
too successful if all his employees looked like worms. TOP END
The
Newman Exception
Randy Newman's song
"It's Money That Matters" sets up an exception
to the Spielberg rule. For some people, their only
interest is making money. Despite their lack of interest
in the topic of their newsletter, they still have a
successful product. I question if anyone can be an
effective facilitator if they truly couldn't care less
about the content of their own publication, but if they
are good at evaluating the needs and interests of others
and giving them what they want, they succeed in their
goal of making money.
It is important to
remember that this exception is also the rule even if you
do care about your newsletter. You could write, draw,
layout a newsletter without spending money, but you still
have to duplicate it and distribute it. That takes money.
In addition, most people need stuff like food and
shelter, so, unless you've got those bases covered, you
better make sure your newsletter will produce money. TOP END
The
"Live Long and Prosper" Addendum
Although the topic of your
newsletter needs to be focused, you must also take care
to avoid narrowing the view so much that you run out of
information. Remember you have to fill up so many pages
per issue and the experts say if you want to keep your
readers hooked, this means at least every month.
Quarterly distribution is
fine for promotional newsletters or in-house employee
pieces because they are given free to the reader. But if
your audience has paid for the information, you better
give it to them as often as you can and it better be good
stuff.
So, if you pick a topic
which is too narrow, you could end up running out of
steam just as soon as you get enough subscribers to cover
your costs. For example, anyone who started a Millie
Vanillie newsletter is probably out of business by now.
Likewise, a newsletter on decorating ideas for houses
will probably fair better than one on just doing window
dressings. TOP END
The
"Ideal Reader" Mentality
The target audience of a
newsletter needs to be well defined because you can
please some of the people all of the time, and all of the
people some of the time, but you can't please all of the
people all of the time. This adage applies to your
established reader base as you consider content of each
issue, but it is also important to consider in a global
sense as well.
In the Information Age,
fragmentation and niche marketing are ideas employed very
vigorously. If you can find the people who are interested
in your topic, you will succeed. The better you can
describe the ideal reader, the more easily you can decide
things like depth of coverage, accessibility, appearance,
etc. Equally as important, you can figure out where to
find them in order to introduce them to your product.
Once you have determined
who this "ideal reader" is and how they think
or spend their time each day, you can solve many problems
in article selection, graphic content, and even reading
grade level. If you get stuck, just picture this ideal
reader and do what you think would work for them.
Combining this with the
Spielberg rule, if you are the ideal reader of your
newsletter and there enough people like you with like
interests... BINGO!
TOP END
The
"Self Preservation Society" Rule
As in any business,
survival must never be taken for granted. For
newsletters, this means always looking for new readers
and keeping them happy. It doesn't matter if you
distribute some amount of newsletters for
over-the-counter sales, place ads in other magazines,
newsletters or papers, or buy mail lists to send
complimentary issues or brochures to prospective
subscribers. No matter what sales method you choose, you
must always take every opportunity to make your
subscriber list grow.
Theoretically, you could
pick any topic no matter how obscure, and, if you look
long and hard enough, you can find an audience who will
be interested. (I think televangelists have proven this
beyond a shadow of a doubt.) Just stick to what you know,
keep one eye open for new readers and the other on the
bottom line, and always keep your readers satisfied, and
you, too, can become successful in the big world of
newsletters. TOP
Bill Bricker is specializes in
information architecture and computer illustration.
He designed the logo for Todd Rundgren's Utopia
reunion tour.
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