It's 6pm on a Monday evening, you switch on the TV and sit down to watch the news. Instead of the news you find the Antiques Roadshow. What's going on? Confused and slightly disturbed you go away. The next day, come 6pm you feel uncertain and unsettled. Will the news be back on? The news is always on at 6pm. You rely on getting your news at 6pm. Now it has changed and you don't know when you can get your news. What do you do? Your routine has been disturbed. Maybe you switch on the radio or go and get your news online. You have to get your news some other way. Some way you can rely on.
Make a schedule and stick to it
We are all creatures of habit and we like routine. Things we can rely on. If you plan to deliver e-newsletters, the first rule is decide on a schedule and stick to it. You don't have to send 3 a week. In fact I would advise against sending 3 a week unless you have a compelling reason to mail your readers that often.
How often is less important than how regular your e-newsletters are. If you say you will send an e-newsletter or e-zine out twice a year. That's perfect. Just make sure you tell your readers when the 2 e-newsletters will be published and then make sure you send them out, at those times.
If you are going to send your e-newsletter or e-zine out monthly then you need to get organised. Your readers will come to expect a regular dose of news and information from you. If it doesn't show up, your readers will be uncertain, unsettled and may look elsewhere for this kind of information. First you need to decide your schedule. How often will you send them out?
• annually
• twice a year
• quarterly
• monthly
• twice a month
• fortnightly
• weekly
• twice weekly
Once you have this decided you can look at how to make this happen.
How do you stick to a schedule?
Planning, planning and more planning. The best way to ensure you stick to your schedule is to get organised. Breaking down the project into its component parts is the first step to getting organised and planning your e-newsletter or e-zine.
Depending on the type of e-newsletter you're publishing, various tasks need to be completed before you can send out an e-newsletter:-
1. Brainstorm topics for articles (this should fit in with your overall e-newsletter strategy).
2. Decide on any special promotions.
3. Create relevant content and graphics for special offers to be posted on your website and/or set up new pages, buy buttons etc.
1. Carry out any background research or interviews.
2. Source and prepare any images, illustrations or cartoons.
3. Write content.
4. Edit and proof read all content.
5. Get content approved (if necessary).
6. Upload content, images and links.
7. Format e-newsletter.
8. Send out test e-newsletters.
9. Test links and fix any issues.
10. Publish and distribute.
11. Post e-newsletter to your website or microsite.
If you publicise that your e-newsletter will go out the second Wednesday of every month, then you can work backwards using your diary or online planner to distribute the tasks through the previous weeks or days. The more people involved the longer you need to get the work completed. Even with a small team, you might need to allow 2 weeks for all these tasks to be completed.
Just to be clear….
Creating a regular schedule for your e-newsletters or e-zines is an important commitment you make to your readers. Regularity is reassuring and helps establish you as a reliable presence. However sticking to this schedule and publishing your e-newsletters at regular intervals requires organisation and planning. Once you know this, it may dictate how often you decide to send out the e-newsletters. Better to send 6 e-newsletters a year, on time, every time than to start fortnightly then dwindle to monthly, then fizzle out.
Create a schedule you can stick to, then your e-newsletters will drop onto the email door mat, regular as clockwork.
Interested in finding out more about creating e-newsletters?
You should check out my E-Newsletter Strategy Workshop here.
