Why You Should do an E-newsletter

I have written blogs before about e-newsletters, including one a little over a year ago entitled “6 Steps to a Good e-Newsletter.”  But, I’ve recently taken a step back and considered that there could be some resistance to even publishing such in the first place.

Some folks feel that they are just too busy to do this.  For openers, I get that, as my schedule is always jam-packed too.  However, once something becomes a habit you’ll make time for it.  I actually have a calendar entry that reminds me every Monday about the weekly newsletter that we send out every Wednesday, so that I know it’s going to get done.  They say it only takes two weeks (some say three) for something to become a habit, so getting started is really what your hurdle likely is.

But then you say, ‘I need to know the value in having an e-newsletter before putting it on my schedule and trying to get it to be something I work on habitually.’  That’s a fair statement.  First I should mention that yours doesn’t have to be every week.  In our case it’s a logical frequency so that we can inform our readers about the episode of “Now Hear This Entertainment” that has just been released.  Now, right there you might say, “But if they subscribe to NHTE on iTunes or Stitcher Radio or some other platform, they get each episode automatically.  They don’t need the heads-up from you.”  And I would say that the key word there is “if” they subscribe to the show.  And that’s a big part of WHY you should do an e-newsletter.

I’ll come back to that in a minute, though, because I want to continue to address “the value in having an e-newsletter before putting it on (your) schedule.”  Quite simply, have you ever clicked through an email and bought something on the destination site or app that it took you to, whether a product or a service?  That’s the logical value, but let’s continue with the WHY so you can see further.

When I said “if” they subscribe it’s not unlike, “But I put my news on my Facebook page.  Why do I have to re-tell it in a newsletter?”  Well, not everyone is going to see every post you put on Facebook.  They can’t keep up with everything in their newsfeed, and, the algorithms change frequently and less content from a Facebook Page (i.e. music page, business page) gets served to users.

Then there are those who feel that doing an e-newsletter is outdated.  They say, “I never email anybody.  I do everything via text or Facebook Messenger” or something similar.  So, just because you don’t send very much email, that means that no one is sending out e-newsletters anymore?  You should see my Inbox in terms of how many lists I seem to be on (some by my choice, and others that I need to find time to unsubscribe from since I never opted in to begin with).

I know, you can’t be all things to all people, and you can’t be everywhere.  However, think of the slightly older audience that likes your music but really doesn’t spend much time at all on social media.  You know how they’d happily learn about your latest developments?  You guessed it – through your e-newsletter.

In addition to the entry linked to in the first paragraph, here’s one other blog I had written on here at one point that you should also find helpful.

Are you doing an e-newsletter?  How have your experiences been with this vehicle?  Talk about it in our Facebook group.