Balancing content & promotion
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Having harped on about the importance of delivering value to the reader, with value defined by your reader, there obviously has to be a quid pro quo in there somewhere. If you, the publisher, don't benefit too, then you're just being charitable with your time (a perfectly valid reason to be publishing by the way).
It's a bit of a riddle - how to produce content that readers are interested in, and at the same time ensure you get a (financial) benefit too. Well, there are three solutions to this riddle, depending - as always - on your business or publishing model, and your readership:
- Do nothing.
- Manage the content ratio.
- Use content integration.
The do nothing approach is a brave one, but can be extremely effective if you're offering services and thinking long-term.
This approach says that the whole newsletter (excepting maybe the administrative blurb at its end) is solely devoted to providing the reader with value. There are no advertisements and little self-promotion; perhaps nothing more than a perfunctory reference to the name of the publisher.
This "altruistic" approach establishes a high degree of trust and credibility. Readers recognize that you're not seeking to "sell" them on anything, and are simply providing a useful service.
It's best suited to selling products and services with a long sales cycle or infrequent purchase rate, or where trust and credibility are hugely important factors in the buying decision. Think, in particular, of consulting services.
In such cases, the content itself must also establish your expertise or competence in your field. This content, and the absence of self-promotion, then positions you as a credible, trustworthy, competent source of relevant advice and information.
When a reader finds herself approaching a purchase decision, who does she turn to? She turns to a credible, trustworthy, competent source of relevant advice and information, i.e. you!
For most publishers, however, some form of self-promotion or advertising is highly desirable. Your newsletter may, for example, rely entirely on advertising for revenue, or you may have new or short-term offers you want to bring to your readers' attention, or you simply want to bring people back to your website.
The question is then how much "content" and how much "promotion"?
Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question. It's a tradeoff you have to assess for yourself for your publication.
In general (but see below), the more content you sacrifice for advertising and promotion, the lower the value of your newsletter, and the lower the long-term impact and influence you gain. This is counterbalanced by the value (to you) of the promotional elements in your publication.
Here are some guidelines to bear in mind:
1. If your newsletter is less than 50% content, then you're no longer producing a newsletter; you're really producing email promotions. More than 30% promotion is unwise, unless you're very sure of the net benefits.
Marcia Yudkin, herself a successful email publisher, says:
"A good rule of thumb is to fill your email newsletter with at least 80% meaty content and up to 20% promotional material."
2. Go easy on the administrative information you provide, which can easily turn into unwitting self-promotion.
3. The longer the newsletter, the lower the "acceptable" percentage of promotion. For example, a short 300 word article can easily be accompanied by an advertisement, when it's the only content. If you have twenty 300 word articles, twenty advertisements is overkill.
And just to demonstrate how complicated email publishing can be...
4. Advertising and self-promotion can also enhance value.
Just as people sign-up to some lists to receive notice of special offers, so might your readers wish to learn of promotions, new products etc. as part of your content.
If you are including promotion as part of the value you provide, make sure you are doing so for the right reasons - because you believe that's what readers perceive, and not just because it happens to be a convenient excuse to put in more promotion.
The same applies to advertising. Third-party advertisements that are relevant can be perceived very positively.
A reader is also more likely to perceive such self-promotion and advertisements positively if they offer exclusive benefits. Consider subscriber-only discounts, guarantee extensions, special product or service previews, bonus downloads, rebates, exclusive website access etc.
Apart from the relevancy/value aspect, advertising can also contribute directly to your newsletter's image and the reader's sense of self-worth (!).
An advertisement for BMW in a newsletter for car enthusiasts, for example, tells the reader that BMW thinks they're worth advertising to and speaks for the quality of the publication (BMW doesn't advertise just anywhere).
Now suppose that advertisement is for a dubious money-making scheme? Relevancy and value are low, and what does such an ad say about the publisher and the publication.
If your newsletter is not primarily a vehicle for selling advertisement space, then be skeptical about accepting third-party advertising.
You don't want to distract people from the message, image and impact you're trying to impart. Since promotional space is relatively scarce in a newsletter, do you really want to use it to promote other people's products and services, rather than your own? Make sure the return is worth it.
The third approach to the content/promotion dilemma is to integrate your promotion into your content. This balancing act is not an easy one, and takes creativity and circumspection.
Since trust is one of the elements leading to impact and influence, it's important not to abuse this trust with disingenuous attempts to pass off promotion or advertising as (unbiased) content.
Explicitly promotional copy, such as standalone advertisements, should be clearly presented as such.
Use dividers, layout and labels to ensure that no reader thinks you're trying to be disingenuous. Provided you have a reasonable content ratio, and relevant promotional messages, you should have no problems getting readers to accept (even value) these messages.
Integrating content with promotion is more tricky. Own advertorial - promoting your products, services, company or site - within your content is by and large acceptable.
Readers tacitly accept that you have a natural bias. Indeed, the whole value of the content may be dependent on advertorial. Consider a newsletter which helps readers get the most out of your products.
Don't use excessive promotional language in an advertorial setting and make your advertorial useful, relevant, timely, unique and not too construed.
Examples might be...
- an analyst examines the state of an industry and cites statistics published in his own report.
- a bookshop publishes an interview with an author whose books are currently on promotion.
- a bicycle shop explains the principles of good bike maintenance and links to appropriate products in their online store.
Advertorial featuring third-party products, services, sites and companies is even trickier. Remember that you're trying to create a bond of trust with your readership. This kind of advertorial can work for you and your readers (and your advertisers, too), but only if:
- Whatever you're promoting is relevant and potentially useful to the audience.
- Your advertorial is genuine, in the sense that it represents your true opinion. Which usually means you need to have used or bought whatever it is you're promoting.
- You have already established your trustworthiness and credibility with your readers (the subject of this report).
- The advertorial matches the tone, style and personality of your writing.
If this is not the case, then third-party advertorial carries with it the risk that you erode (or fail to create) that trustworthiness and credibility. This applies in particular to those using their content to promote affiliate merchants, where trust is crucial.
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