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Newsletters
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Tuesday, 14 April 2009 |
Written by Frédéric
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As you may know, I’m lucky enough to wear several hats. Out of them all, there’s one I especially like: my training hat. Just about every month, I give courses dealing with on-line writing techniques, publishing newsletters and website updating… In short, anything to do with the editorial aspects of the web. Passing on know-how, exchanging points of view, helping those I meet make progress and making progress myself is really stimulating, a real challenge and also provides real satisfaction. But I’m getting off track – that’s not the question.
The question, specifically, is the one my nice little students ask me – not exactly little though, more like marketing and communication pros – every time I bring up RSS feeds. “Well, yeah, feeds are nice, useful and “in” but…aren’t they going to put newsletters to death?” You have to admit it’s not a stupid question at all…what’s more, lots of people were asking the same question when RSS feeds from Planet 2.0 first showed up to invade our peaceful websites, a few years back. Some people even gave Internetology a try – the technique that consists of predicting the future like for the MIR space station’s demise – and concluded that our beloved newsletters were doomed to die.
At the time, I was stumped for an answer. But now, I’ve got an opinion, a clear opinion. And when my nice students – you know, the pros that ask good questions – ask me, I give them a clear answer: No, RSS feeds and newsletters are very different things, not at all competitive, simply complementary, and the former are not about to send the latter into oblivion. Get real! Of course, I don’t stop there and I systematically jump into a clear, concise and detailed explanation – you know, the kind given by a humble training pro who’s got his act together…
The explanation goes something like this:
Sure, newsletters and RSS feeds both make readers loyal to a website by delivering summarized, regular news. But the similarities stop there.
• On my left, the newsletter: an e-mail sent out regularly to subscribers, offering a selection of carefully written, targeted content, fine-tuned to meet the requirements of the communication medium…and its readers. Advantages: statistics, customization and interactivity are all possible and unmatched by RSS feeds. Disadvantages: requires time and alas money ;)
• On my right, RSS feeds: a permanent, open window for news from a website, read in a the very latest in e-mail clients or browsers, software or web services called “aggregators” (Off line: FeedReader, NewsFire, etc. / On line: Netvibes, iGoogle, Mon Yahoo, etc.) and dispatching all the ordinary stuff from one or several web pages. Advantages: real-time publication with au-to-ma-tic updates costing next to nothing. Disadvantages: the content is sent “as is”, without being selected or re-written; it’s sometimes barely comprehensible, and always totally anonymous.
I rest my case: no need to wait around for one or the other to be knocked-out of the ring, both newsletters and RSS feeds offer their own added value – selection and customization for the former, real time and low cost for the latter – and they address their readers differently. As a result, backing both horses seems like a good idea that keeps from sending a communication tool, still highly valued by web users, to an early death…
Shout it loud and clear: long live newsletters! |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 25 February 2010 )
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