The Year of the Newsletter
Let’s face it, 2023 is turning out to be another painstakingly difficult year, period. The weather was harrowing, and that’s saying something for a born and raised Californian. The political landscape, as we all know it, is in complete limbo and a fucking mess on all accounts. The SVB implosion was a complete WTF-moment without any warning, yet the writing was on the wall on how our banking system doesn’t need more oversight; it just needs to follow the regulations in place. And the venture capital ecosystem has been trying to balance out its record-breaking valuations, financing rounds and Clueless-level shopping spree on startups.
I think it’s safe to say that while many of us are just starting to find relief from the tumult, we now enter the new super-era of trying to be clever in a Generative AI world and “rising above the noise” as the marketing consultants call it. Enter the newsletter.
In the past 24 hours, I’ve strangely signed up for three newsletters and have been marketed at another 50+ times to join a newsletter, and less I forget the hundreds of e-commerce newsletters I already receive. At some point, such newsletters will need to be consolidated (if anyone has an idea for that.) However, my observation is the notion that a number of companies that I follow on social networks feel compelled to get closer to me by asking me to join their newsletter when this marketing tactic has been around for decades, and they’re just getting to it now?
While I patronised a few companies out of curiosity, others post enough content every day on social that it feels redundant and exhaustive. That’s when I recalled a tweet from Dave McClure about the fallout from SVB and the raw and real emotion I’m starting to get about newsletters.
While Dave’s rant was about timely emails being sent from a number of different sources, the same rules apply to ongoing newsletters. I remember when the pandemic hit, and it was the same panic button.
“How should we connect with customers?”
“How do we get in front of the competition?”
“What do we do with ourselves???”
While these are very natural reactions to another shit year, we must remember that being first out without a real strategy isn’t always beneficial to the long game. Consumers of your content will start to get content-fatigue or worse, spiteful that you’re crowding their precious inbox with invaluable crap that they either know or have another resource where they are already receiving information. So, what does a thoughtful newsletter strategy look like?
Here are my top considerations for developing a newsletter that delivers high open and click rates that ultimately drive that brand touchpoint your clients will love.
Audience
Any great marketing initiative always starts with asking who your audience is. Here’s a set of questions to answer to distill the most important information:
- What motivates them?
- What are their interests?
- What type of delivery do they prefer (audio, video, written)?
Beta Test
Before going full open kimono with your newsletter, test your content with an intimate group of friendlies that can provide feedback or give you ample statistics on readership. This includes seeing if they click on multiple links or provide comments back. I recall my first agency newsletter, and one of the best pieces of feedback was just getting a “Hi! How are you?” message from a dear colleague. From there, I could see how others interacted, and I could also see who was unsubscribing and what types of customer profiles they carried. Not all readers are created equal.
Content Calendar
There is nothing worse than getting a week before your deadline and saying, “Ok, what are we going write about?” If you’re not prepared with insights, owned opinions and expertise, wins you have, then just don’t. A content calendar, like any thoughtful plan, is your roadmap to developing valuable content assets that offer perspectives in different media types.
Pro tip: Mapping against annual events will also help you leverage the amount of content you can support.
Owned Content
There is nothing worse than regurgitating other people’s content without having a robust lineup of your own content. If you are interested in becoming a thought leader or maintaining your position as a top leader, it’s critical to have your own content. Leveraging your own data is a top opportunity to showcase your message. Who knows how to extract insights from your data better than you?
Pro Tip: Don’t just them the data; show them why it matters.
Collaboration
Having a mini team that can opine on the content from where they sit in the organization can help augment value for your customers. I have a great young professional, a colleague in our diversity and inclusion group, and other cross-department executives that provide support to how the message might be received.
Final thoughts. There are a number of ways to connect with your audience. Obvi, social platforms, getting in someone’s text thread, WhatsApp, and other closely-tied mediums are where it’s at, but newsletters are inexpensive, trackable and flexible. Don’t discount an easy marketing tactic like newsletters for the flashy new digital thing, especially if you have something quality to say.
Silicon Drive is a high performance marketing and creative team for emerging startups and corporate brand teams. We take companies to the next level.
*this post was not written by ChatGPT*
