Good morning! Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Esther.
Our agenda reveal for the Publisher Podcast and Newsletter Summit on June 12th is nearly ready, but if you want to get in early, we have a bargain pre-agenda rate on tickets.
How The Telegraph is harnessing newsletters for community development and retention
“If people become a subscriber to The Telegraph after clicking on a link in a newsletter, they’re 50% more likely to still be a subscriber a year later,” Head of Newsletters Marie Boneheim says.
voices.media/how-the-telegraph-is-harnessing-newsletters-for-community-development-and-retention
There was so much newsletter wisdom packed into last week’s Media Voices episode with The Telegraph’s Maire Bonheim and David Alexander that I just couldn’t wait to get a piece written up with some of the takeaways – although, of course, you’ve all listened to it already ????
One point which stood out to me is The Telegraph’s use of exclusive content in newsletters. The publisher has a small selection of automated newsletters which send out lists of articles curated based on reader interests, but Bonheim was reluctant to call them newsletters “in the traditional sense, because they don’t include exclusive written content in them.”
These perform well in terms of reader interaction. Yet it is the editorials, segments, analysis and call-outs written specifically for newsletter readers which help build a longer-term relationship.
A newsletter about our uneasy relationship to phones becomes The Guardian’s fastest-growing email ever
“Reclaim Your Brain” acknowledges “the effect that the news cycle is having on us psychologically.”
www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/a-newsletter-about-our-uneasy-relationship-to-phones-becomes-the-guardians-fastest-growing-email-ever
Talking of interesting newsletters, this is a brilliant example of how The Guardian have essentially set up a newsletter ‘course’ which has now become the fastest-growing of their 56-strong newsletter portfolio. Now, if you’re interested in the potential of using newsletters for courses, there may well be a session dedicated to that at the upcoming Publisher Newsletter Summit…
Forbes’ seven-year MFA scheme shows how deep the rot runs in online advertising
If global publishers feel the need to spoof their own websites to sell garbage ad inventory, it means the state of online advertising is in even worse shape than many realise, writes the editor-in-chief.
the-media-leader.com/forbes-seven-year-mfa-scheme-shows-how-deep-the-rot-runs-in-online-advertising
I would put a lot of money on Forbes not being the only ones guilty of shoving ads on an owned MFA site in order to bolster ad revenue. So much of the way the online ad ecosystem works is completely rotten, and this from Omar Oakes has done little to convince me otherwise.
Implementing user needs is cultural change
Whoever you are and however you view user needs, it’s something you need to know about and be familiar with.
theaudiencers.com/decisions/implementing-user-needs-is-cultural-change
Berlingske Media’s Lars K Jensen has written the first in a series of articles on what user needs are, why they’re important for publishers, and what cultural changes are needed to implement what you learn. He also puts a compelling case together for bridge roles in newsrooms.
TotallyEV’s Chris Minasians on building audience trust in product reviews
Chris Minasians discusses building an audience through video reviews, and what it takes to run TotallyEV as a solo publisher.
voices.media/totallyevs-chris-minasians-on-building-audience-trust-in-product-reviews
Content is king? ‘Complete b*ll*cks;’ says media veteran Neil Thackray
If content was truly king, Neil believes the starting point would be a content-focused publishing strategy, but he doesn’t see that.
voices.media/content-is-king-complete-bllcks-says-media-veteran-neil-thackray
Big Noises: Jacob Donnelly on why publishers can’t resist the pursuit of scale
On this week’s episode of Big Noises from Media Voices we hear from Jacob Donnelly, founder of A Media Operator and publisher at Morning Brew
voices.media/big-noises-jacob-donnelly-on-why-publishers-cant-resist-the-pursuit-of-scale
