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Digital newsletters: at the click, clic, klik, Klick, klicka of a mouse?

Communication professionals use email newsletters for many of the same reasons they use traditional printed versions. So just what has everyone clamouring to go digital, and is it really all it’s cracked up to be?

Pressure on budgets means PR activities must be reviewed critically; the perceived cost benefit of an email newsletter is readily apparent, but the downside is obvious too: inboxes that are already packed with spam email. Still, many companies are extremely successful in executing digital programmes, and therefore are able to cut costs while they improve effectiveness of their PR communication. But it is not always as simple as it seems.

The bottom line

It goes without saying that cost savings on production and distribution can indeed be achieved in digital format. Organisations with high circulations in particular reap the benefit, even if the saving is only £1 per item. Multiply that by the number of annual mailings and the figures soon start to stack up. But even this silver lining is not without its flaws.

There are start-up costs for designing templates, creating a suitable technical environment, building or buying-in databases and ensuring your recipients have all opted-in to receive your email in line with the anti-spam European Directive. The bottom line result? Budget savings in the middle- and long-term; but not immediately, which is often the objective of going digital in the first place.

How are you?

The other benefit of digital format is its two-way communication, enabling customers to ask questions, provide feedback or order products. But prepare well; the follow-up and fulfilment of these email activities need to be done in a timely and efficient manner or you may end up leaving your customers with a worse impression of your business than when you started.

Ready, aim…

B2B companies usually differentiate between technical and commercial contacts, but often, because of the prohibitive cost of printing individually tailored pieces, they both receive the same newsletter. Email messaging allows for specific targeting, even of individual recipients, rather than sending out the same, more generic messages to everyone.

Time is money

The importance of rapid response in most businesses today makes the email solution especially attractive; it decreases the time on production and distribution of print newsletters, but the biggest gains are made from the speed of distribution, which can be reduced to minutes.

Frequency

The rule, generally, is that email newsletters become a more interesting PR tool the more frequently they are sent and as long as each issue has updated content.

Immediate feedback

One of the most persuasive arguments is the ability to get valuable insight into the results of the communication: when was the email sent and received; how many recipients opened the email; how many have deleted it; how long the email was open; and which articles read?

PR professionals can finally answer the question about when messages actually impact audiences. Obviously clear goals need to be agreed at the outset, then, with special email software, you can measure how you score against the defined success criteria. This aspect of digital communication is especially valuable if you have to provide arguments internally to convince PR sceptics and to defend budget share.

Convinced?

The implementation of an email newsletter is a challenge for all PR professionals, and only good planning, professional project management and knowledge and experience with the medium can result in significant expenditure savings and in real added-value.

Many PRs will continue to opt for traditional printed matter - and there is certainly still a place for it, especially with today’s trend for more limited annual audience contact. However, the debate of print vs digital will undoubtedly grow as PRs battle to find the right solution, for the right audience, at the right price.

Did you know …

The @sign is in the email addresses of hundreds of millions of Internet users. English speakers refer to it as at,but in other countries different names are used; surprisingly most are associated with animals or food. Italians see a snail in the @ symbol and call it chiocciola.The Dutch call it apestaartje or monkey’s tale.

Likewise,Germans use Klammeraffe, which means spider monkey.Swedes and Danes came up with another animal; their snabel-a means ‘a with an elephant’s trunk ’.In Finland they think it looks like a curled up cat: miukumauku means ‘sign of the meow ’.

Local dishes feature in other languages. In Hebrew @ is shtrudl, after strudel pastry. In the Czech Republic zavinac is used, referring to rolled up pickled herring. But don ’t let the Internet age fool you; the @ sign is no Silicon Valley invention.The use of @ as a trade and quantity sign dates back centuries which is why this previously anonymous character was first included on keyboards.In fact the Spanish and Portuguese still call it an ancient unit of weight, the arroba.

Case study: Countdown to Cyberspace

If you think launching and running an email campaign is easy, think again. Each project has its own unique set of requirements and calls for distinctive solutions. Planning and managing your first email campaign, therefore, should be approached in thought-out phases, as the marketing manager of a medium-sized international software vendor found out. 

The goal was to generate high-quality sales leads for this B2B niche player. An email campaign was chosen because the activities had to be coordinated from the European HQ across five European countries and the US. To complicate things further, the main target group was that of the international financial services decision makers – a relatively small and reasonably restricted audience.

The solution was a three-step plan: first; build and grow a database; then, deliver high quality content; and finally, use the database further for sales purposes. 

A quarterly newsletter was launched and in every issue there were articles by industry opinion leaders. By including a very basic ‘send this article to a colleague’ feature, a significant increase in the distribution list was achieved. Then, a newsletter subscription option was added to the company website and it was promoted at trade shows and through on-line advertising. Finally, ‘I want to receive more information’ and ‘I want to be contacted by a sales rep’ features were added. The latter proved its value by generating an impressive number of concrete, high-quality sales leads. 

Within a year the company had a professional, opt-in database which was multi-functional across other MC activities; for example when new products were launched, highly targeted product messages were sent to existing and potential customers.

Finally

Unravelling the secret of longevity is an enigma humans have sought to solve for centuries. Today, in businesses, the struggle for endurance continues; longevity is often seen as a hallmark of success and prosperity. In a leafy corner of central London, it seems Davies Associates has deciphered the longevity riddle; it celebrates its 20th year in the PR industry. Since its establishment in 1984, Davies Associates has continued to provide successful pan European PR solutions for its clients, has grown and has evolved to boast an impressive client list with current campaigns in 11 languages. Proving, perhaps, hard work really does pay off.