Ezines can be a fantastic marketing tool for almost any type of business. But what's the right frequency? Daily? Weekly? Fortnightly? Monthly? Quarterly?
Here are eight considerations to help you make this important decision.
1. Each ezine you produce requires the time it takes to provide quality, valuable content. Recognise that you aren't just competing with other ezines, you're competing with EVERY OTHER ITEM IN YOUR RECIPIENT'S INBOX. To be successful over the long term, your ezine must provide value to your well-defined audience.
2. How much time can you afford to spend on your ezine? Keep in mind that one article, produced from scratch, and put into your ezine template, will probably take you at least four or five hours to do.
3. What frequency do your business objectives suggest? If you want your ezine to generate a steady stream of two new business appointments a week, it's probably not much use sending it quarterly. You may need to adjust either your objectives or frequency in the cold light of day.
4. What frequency best suits your defined audience and their needs? Your ezine will only succeed if it gives your audience what they want, in a timely fashion.
5. What do the length of ezine you plan, its format and content lend themselves best to? Consider that the type of information you plan to offer is likely to influence your frequency. Compare stock market news with an ezine offering painting and decorating advice - the first is ultra-time critical with information changing every day, the second is likely to be time-sensitive only in the sense of slow-moving interior design trends, if at all.
6. My advice is that your ezines should be sent at a frequency of between weekly and monthly. Most ezines are sent once or twice a week. I would suggest that you look to send an ezine at least monthly. Send quarterly, these days, and there is a good chance people will just forget who you are and may report your mail as spam.
7. Assuming quality is good, it's better to be there more often than less. It's well known that most consumers require multiple exposures to a service or product before they have built up the familiarity and trust to purchase. It follows that more frequent contact cuts down the length of the sales cycle and therefore the time it takes for you to see the benefit of your ezine in your bank account. With this in mind, many existing ezines would be better served by doubling their frequency, and halving their content. Could you put out one article once per week, instead of two articles once per fortnight?
8. That said, don't be overambitious on frequency! Don't paint yourself into a corner unnecessarily - if you promised a weekly interview at signup, and run out of suitable people to interview 10 ezines in, you've got a problem! Not sticking to your schedule gives very poor signals. Make sure, if you're starting out, that you can sustain quality output, to a regular deadline, at the right frequency. If in doubt, be cautious on your frequency to start with - you can always increase it later!
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