![]() ![]() Quizzes, prize draws, birthday shout outs, surveys and polls, all serve to strengthen the bond between publisher and reader and make the newsletter a habit.Įditors should develop a voice that connects with readers and engages on a different and more personal level than simply the presentation of news content. This will help build a loyal subscriber base and encourage them to become paid members.Įngagement ideas are limited only by the imagination. Once the newsletter is up and running, it’s important to regularly engage with subscribers through content, offers, and other communications. Some local publications have successfully grown their email list with traditional direct methods, such as leaving postcards with QR codes in shops and community outlets. Gain readers by referral programmes that encourage and incentivise sharing that can work with the simplest offerings, such as a local guide PDF. Use barter details to get local businesses with email lists to promote the newsletter in return for free advertising space. ![]() Start with promoting the newsletter on free social media channels, and only when the newsletter formula has been proven should you move to paid advertising on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. Local newsrooms could consider launching stand-alone newsletters, operating in parallel with the newsroom and enable journalists to be retrained as multi-platform. In both cases, costs are relatively low and usually scale according to list size. When going with the off-the-shelf route, understand the distinction between dedicated newsletter publishing platforms such as Ghost, beehiiv, or Substack and email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and Convertkit, which may have different priorities such as e-commerce. One particular advantage of the dedicated newsletter platforms is that they provide turn-key infrastructure to offer readers free or paid subscription options.īespoke solutions that integrate with existing content management systems may seem appealing but are more expensive, have a habit of coming in over budget and can ultimately not be fit for purpose as priorities change. Most will provide ready-made design templates that only require minimal alignment with the existing newspaper brand. Technology considerations are dependent on a news organisation’s existing arrangements, but for a local newsroom looking to start a newsletter from scratch, an off-the-shelf solution is best. Given that a newsletter can only carry a limited number of items compared to the print edition, there’s an argument that the curated summary is in fact a marketing tool promoting individual copy sales or subscription memberships.Ģ. ![]() On daily newspapers, workflows need to be realigned into an “email first” strategy allowing the brand to become associated with faster news delivery, with the print version following up with more in-depth coverage. With so many other sources of news available, the problem with this is that the content lacks immediacy. The temptation in the newsroom is to perpetuate loyalty to print readers and publish an email summary only after the paper has hit the streets. The upside is greater reader engagement, brand awareness and, when established, more attractive inventory for advertisers and sponsors. This requires a mindset shift for newsrooms and an acceptance that the newsletter is not competition. There’s evidence that the days are numbered for this model.įar better to view the newsletter as a mini-newspaper providing a service in itself. Many larger local news publishers use newsletters to drive eyeballs to their websites to gain ad clicks, but while this approach has been profitable, ad rates keep falling and the user experience can be frustrating. The Miami Herald offers a “5-minute Herald” and is one of many local print titles in the US and elsewhere offering its best coverage in a daily email newsletter. With this in mind, perhaps the best and the easiest first step is to curate a round-up newsletter. Develop a content strategyĭeciding on the type and frequency of content for a newsletter is the hardest decision for a legacy local newsroom where workflows are embedded into daily or weekly deadlines and don’t align with the immediacy of publication that an email newsletter allows. By Andy Griffiths, founder of Champion Newsletters. With website revenues failing to replace falling print income, many local news publishers are turning to email newsletters as a way to diversify revenue.įor local newsrooms considering taking this route, this article sets out a path to a financially successful free email newsletter. ![]()
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