When producing a newsletter, try to focus attention primarily on your core readership. By ‘core readership’ I mean a representative group of readers that stay in the forefront of your mind when you are planning and putting together each edition. These are the people you need to stay with you regardless of other fluctuations in readership and whose likes and interests you’ve formulated the newsletter around. Understanding what ‘rings their bell’ then, is of paramount importance.
Types of Newsletter
First, though, you need to remember that different types of newsletter foster different attitudes towards content. For example, there might be a noticeable difference in attitude between readers of subscription newsletters as opposed to ‘free’ ones. Subscribers, naturally, have high expectations and assume that editorial content will be determined by their needs and wants. Conversely, in the case of those that are free due to advertising support, there is often an assumption, rightly or wrongly, that advertisers might try to influence editorial policy in some way, or even, to dictate content. Worse still, when a newsletter is free because it is the policy of the owner/producer to shoulder costs, then it might be perceived as a propaganda tool and the content viewed with a high degree of skepticism.
For these reasons, reader attitude is an important consideration. In practical terms it means that the volume of work involved in producing a free newsletter is likely to be at least equal to a subscription newsletter due to the effort required to overcome possible negative attitudes on the part of readers.
Subscription Newsletters
Subscription newsletters tend to require more concentrated focus on basic content than their free cousins. This is partly because the need to entice new readers is not so obvious and partly because the reader has paid for the content—therefore you are under an obligation to provide it. An excess of miscellaneous material can be viewed as an irritation and even, depending on the particular publication, superfluous.
Free Newsletters
On the other hand, free newsletters allow more flexibility. You can use more of the available space to cast a wider net, in terms of reader appeal, as well as in trying to overcome any reader resistance, as mentioned above. Humorous pieces, cartoons, crossword puzzles etc all have their place in most newsletters in order to ensure balance but you have greater scope in the use of these items in a free publication.