Some newsletters need to be buried

Let your newsletter rest in peace!

There is a reason why the relevancy of the newsletter is being discussed in the public relations and communications space.

It is not the newsletter concept that has died but a certain type of newsletter that can no longer live.

I have found the newsletter as a communication tool for many organisations bland and unmoving. A lot laced with narcissistic tendencies of wanting to showcase what the organisation is doing without placing the reader in mind.

With more research I put into it, the more I am adamant about letting some newsletters die.

The “me, me, me” newsletter can no longer survive!

Newsletters are better suited to educating and entertaining your subscribers than they are for making a sale. Receiving a newsletter should feel like getting an update from an interesting and helpful friend rather than a hard sell from a pushy salesperson.

Simple questions like, “Who are you talking to?” or “Why do you want to talk to this reader” are important.

As communication practitioners, we need to go back to the drawing board on the newsletter as a concept because without the reader being central to our content creation, newsletter subscriptions are going to continue to decline.