A newsletter can provide many benefits for a business or organization. While the commonly understood objective of providing information is indeed the primary objective of a newsletter, it is not the only one. For the reader, being provided with information is the main benefit to both receiving and reading a newsletter. However, the same does not hold true for the business or organization which produces the newsletter. In fact, many of the secondary functions of newsletters provide more value to the producer of the newsletter, than they receive by providing information to the reader.
The secondary benefits of newsletters are numerous. For our purposes, we will focus on the benefits as they pertain to a business or organization. One of the largest of these benefits is to cause the newsletter recipient to recall the entity which sent the newsletter in a positive context. For a business this can be most beneficial when timed to be delivered when a customer is looking to purchase goods or services. Likewise, for a charity organization, timing delivery to when a donor might be considering making a gift provides maximum value. With the exception of certain seasonal or other time-triggered purchases, it can be difficult to know when a potential customer or donor intends to act. In order to achieve the desired timing then, a newsletter needs to be received on a regular basis. This not only strengthens the identification of the brand behind the newsletter, it also ensures that a newsletter arrives within the window required to be associated with a decision to act by the recipient.
However, as most organizations are only too aware, producing a useful quality newsletter is not something that can be done very quickly. This fact compels many businesses and charities to abandon their newsletter efforts early despite the enormous potential they represent. Other groups simple reduce the frequency of their newsletters to the point where it is only through blind luck that the newsletter is ever received within the window that a decision can be influenced. Together, these two issues are what leads some people to simply proclaim that newsletters do not work, and to give up entirely. The good news, is that as the organization that does faithfully produce a quality newsletter, you will have an enormous advantage over competing interests.
So, how can an small business owner or charity produce a quality newsletter on a regular basis without spending an inordinate amount of time or effort doing so? One solution is to outsource the newsletter process. Some freelance writers and business consultants provide one stop services for the development, writing, design, production, and delivery of newsletters. Often, these firms can handle the process for less cost than the organization that needs the newsletter can themselves. However, producing your own newsletter has the benefit of complete control.
