5 Signs Your Current Newsletter Is Meh

October 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

We actually enjoy email newsletters. Good, bad, phenomenal and just “meh” – we sign up for quite a few of them. Here are 5 signs that yours may be, well, meh.

Meh. Average. Doesn’t make you turn cartwheels, doesn’t make you call the cops either. Let’s dissect some common newsletter problems – email newsletter or paper newsletters both apply here. For instance:

1. Jargonization. Webster’s Dictionary defines “meh” as…wait, there’s the first problem. I may not know what you’re talking about when you say meh. Just as your reader may not know what you’re talking about when you say…well, you get the picture. Remember that one person’s jargon is another person’s desire to go to the airport, book an airline ticket, get on a plane and use the barf bag. We’ve railed on this stuff in the past, and we’ll continue to do that. If you write decent copy, you can avoid jargon.

2. Lack of a Point. We got one today that said, well, about fifteen different things. “Come see our store, I’m new at this job, there’s a lot going on, wow it’s nice outside, look, a shiny object!”

Buried in there was an invite to introduce yourself to the new guy, whose job is to meet as many people as he can and make you feel as welcome as possible. There’s the point!

3. Lack of an Objective. Volume 1, Issue 1 always gets people excited. Usually the boss says “let’s do a newsletter.” Then there’s an editorial meeting, and maybe a design meeting, and a really good first issue.

Then, stay tuned for Volume 1, Issue 2. Wait for it…wait…oh, whose job is this? MINE? Oh crap, well, I’m really busy, and…

The lack of clear objectives behind any project is a recipe for disaster. So, too, can be:

4. Failure to Grab Attention. Hook us with a clever subject line or headline. Entice us with a deal of some sort. Mention something about unicorns. We don’t care what – just grab our attention.

And, email marketers, don’t do it with “Re: your message.”

5. Over-personalization. Email marketers blend 4 and 5 for so much eye-bleeding pain I need an antacid. “Re: Dave’s new software.” While brilliant 3 years ago to get an email from Barack Obama that says “I need 20 people like you, Dave,” this was also from ye olde tyme days when we actually thought there was a slight possibility that the person on the other end knew our name.

(I didn’t actually think that. Other people did.)

The personalization tags are out of control – they’re nice to have and can be attention-grabbing. But still…use with caution.

Now, before y’all comment, here are a couple things to share from Area 224 HQ:

A. We do send out an email newsletter from time-to-time. BUT we don’t overdo it; and partly because we would rather focus on our blogging efforts.

B. And we do have an objective behind our blog. It’s sharing BS-free knowledge, insights, and commentary on marketing, marketing communications and startups as they pertain to emerging businesses and emerging communications trends.

We do both and avoid the meh. Here’s hoping you do the same.

Filed Under: email, Print Marketing Tagged With:

The Power of Printed Marketing Materials – And How to Really Muck Them Up

September 12, 2009 By 2 Comments

Those that know me know I used to be the CEO of a company called U Sphere. We got on a few mailing lists – higher education influencers, marketing for higher education, student mailing list providers – you name it, Higher Ed folks would send us mail. Snail Mail. Some of it good, a lot of it bad, and 99% of it unnecessary.

Print is great, just don’t muck it up.

Mucking it up can be really easy to do, if you follow these steps with your print marketing materials. (This is a WHAT NOT TO DO LIST. Do the opposite. Please.)

  1. Do no research. At all. Today’s case in point is a mailer I received from a XYZ University. My title is all wrong – in fact, they used a title that I didn’t have EVER at U Sphere.
  2. Send me a redundant printed version of stuff. In this case, something that is not only available online but never used in print anymore. I’m talking about the Application for Admission to XYZ.
  3. Make a false claim. And use odd words to make the claim. This can stick in someone’s craw – when you say you are “at the top of the list” and it’s a list that you’re “habitually” at the top of…well, you had better be sure that I can find you at the top of that list. OR ANY LIST.
  4. Know your target. XYZ’s materials do not speak well to any of the myriad target audiences in the higher education marketing world. As a result, XYZ felt the need to send me everything.

Remedies: or, the “What To Do List.”

  1. Think differently. The best, most “awesometastic” piece of printed higher ed marketing material EVER, IMHO, came from MICA. It’s the photo at the top. It’s awesometastic because it follows this mantra…
  2. Don’t sell me. Help me. I drool over stuff like this because someone there obviously gets it. The college search is a crazy process – if you’re looking for an “Art School” it’s even nuttier a process. This gang doesn’t sell MICA, they embrace the process of finding an art school. In a 140+ page book, they start talking about themselves on page 106. That’s gutsy. It’s also so bloody effective.
  3. Update your lists. Mailing stuff is expensive. MICA did not send me the updated book, I called to ask for it. Good for them. XYZ still has me on an old list, and didn’t understand where I fit into the mix anyway. Which brings us to the final point in our discussion of how not to muck up marketing materials:
  4. Make a phone call. “Hi, this is XYZ, we have some stuff to send, but don’t want to waste your time. What are you doing these days?”
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