Modern Communications: Using Newsletters
Nov 2, 2009 Writing and Speaking
The number of ‘printed on paper’ (or hard-copy, as the jargon goes) newsletters has been subjected to a huge growth trend during the last few years; in some cases as much as ten times the previous figure. This has been caused by significantly increased numbers of people who now own personal computers. The same story is being reported in Canada, Europe, Australia and elsewhere.
The fact is that newsletters, which need little in the way of extra skills other than those that most people who have a computer of their own and a desktop printer already have, can be published remarkably easily. Newsletters produced at home make a substantial contribution to the numbers of new publications on the market even though the quality of some may place them at the bottom end of the scale.
It does not require a lot of effort to produce an electronic newsletter compared to that required for a hard copy one. The costs are insignificant too and the finished product is ready for distribution immediately without the need for further preparation, processing or, of course, printing. That is why the growth figures for e-newsletters are so much more impressive even than printed newsletters.
E-zines (or e-newsletters, as they were once known) have now become established as the principal type of communication online. They are popular now because of electronic production as well as distribution over computer networks (largely meaning, of course, the all-consuming Internet). The rise to dominance of these types of newsletters has been absolutely fantastic and goes far beyond anything that was expected. Every topic under the sun is covered in one form or another and every possible bunch of people with a common interest is now a reader of them.
The perception that the electronic format is not to be trusted is a hard one to dispel. People are still more used to the feeling of permanence that they get from paper newsletters compared to the fly-by-night reputation of some ezines. Also, there are many who have always readily believed what they read in print but who have a totally different perception of what they read online.
Over time, the continuing rise in numbers of Internet users will eventually mean that almost all newsletters are produced and distributed electronically. Currently though, if the readers of a newsletter, or a majority of them, do not have access to a computer, they will still prefer to receive a paper copy of their newsletter. The eventual adoption of electronically produced newsletters for everyone will be determined by the number of people who have easy and cheap Internet access.
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Tags: communications, email marketing, Ezine Publishing, newsletter marketing, newsletter publishing, publishing, writing, Writing and Speaking
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