Setting An Email Newsletter Publishing Schedule That You Can Stick With

So you’ve decided to publish an email newsletter and capitalize on the number one electronic marketing tool available to you today other than your website and blog, email marketing. Now you need to decide how often you are going to publish your newsletter.

Your email newsletter is an integral part of your overall marketing calendar or marketing schedule. It is used for follow up, continuity, education, positioning, sales, branding, and more. Not only does it need to stand on it’s own, but it also needs to support all of your other marketing efforts too.

Plus, an email newsletter is a great place to include announcements, opportunities, and reminders for your subscribers to sign up, opt-in, register, click, or buy your teleclasses, webinars, events, products, programs, and more. These quick announcements and reminders provide support for your overall marketing and launch strategy.

How Often Should You Send Your Email Newsletter?

Weekly:

If you don’t do a lot of launches and promotions, a weekly ezine is perfect for follow up, continuity, and positioning. Publishing once a week will help keep your brand top of mind with your audience.

Every Other Week:

If you have regular marketing launches or joint venture projects to promote, an every-other-week ezine is perfect to stay in touch with your audience, provide them great value, and position yourself as a leader. With an every-other-week ezine, you can send solo blasts in the “off” weeks to support your other marketing efforts.

Monthly:

Some experts will tell you that publishing your email newsletter once a month is a death sentence because it creates a large gap of space between marketing touches — and I may agree, IF email marketing was the ONLY marketing strategy you’re using. If you’re a highly active blogger and you’re highly active on social media, you may be able to reduce your email marketing frequency and still achieve your desired results.

When You Have Something to Say:

More and more people are rejecting the idea that something, anything should be sent out, just for the sake of sending something because it’s a specific day or it fits in the schedule — and not because there is something important, or high quality to say or share.

So instead, these business owners choose to not use a publishing schedule, and an email newsletter is sent only when there is news, an announcement, or something important to share. The focus with this approach isn’t publishing a newsletter just to publish it, but respecting subscribers’ crowded inboxes and promising to provide them value whenever they do publish a newsletter.

Tips For Setting Your Email Newsletter Publishing Schedule:

• Decide on a publishing schedule and stick to it! It’s better to publish less frequently and publish consistently, than to promise a weekly ezine and skip weeks. If you fail to stick to the schedule you promised or meet the expectations you outlined when your subscribers opted-in, you risk losing credibility and trust with your audience.
• When deciding on a publishing schedule, review your marketing calendar. If you launch new classes, programs, events, or products frequently, consider publishing your ezine every other week so you can use the “off weeks” to promote your launches and support your marketing efforts with solo emails. This will help prevent “list overwhelm” and subscribers feeling like they get too many emails from you.
• Choose a day of the week that works best for you. Some marketers say Tuesdays are the best days to send your newsletter, or that weekend ezines receive the highest open rates. Some will tell you to send your ezine in the morning for the best results — but really you need to do what works best for you. Choose a day that fits best with your schedule and workflow. If your ezine fits easily into your schedule you’re more likely to get it done, than if it were forced into a day or time that’s not a good fit just because some marketer told you to.
• Resist Fake Warnings and Peer Pressure. It’s easy to feel like you’re not doing enough or that you should be publishing your email newsletter more often, especially when you read blogs, articles, and social media posts from marketers warning you that you’ll never be successful unless you publish a weekly email newsletter. Tune that out! Don’t listen to the hype, don’t get caught up in trying to make it too complicated. Just focus on providing value to your subscribers and delivering on the opt-in promises you made when they signed up originally.
• Not sure? Ask your subscribers. If you’re not sure how often to publish your email newsletter, or you want to change the frequency or schedule you are currently using, and you’re not sure what to do, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask your subscribers. Simply ask them in an email what they would prefer, or send them a short survey to gather their preferences — then use their answers to help make your decision.

Now what about you?

Do you have any great tips about publishing an email newsletter and setting a publishing schedule? If so, please share them below in the comments!