I cannot name how many times people have come to me and said 'we want to start doing an email newsletter'. My response is always 'why?'
Newsletters seem to be the go-to default for using email marketing as a channel. You want to keep your brand front-of-mind using email marketing? Let's send a newsletter!
You need to ask yourself a few questions before you decide this is actually the right thing for you:
Do you have the resources to maintain it?
Who is going to make sure it happens?
What are you going to put in it?
What is the goal and how are you going to measure it?
Does your audience want to receive a newsletter for you?
Does it add value beyond what you are already sending them today?
The problem I see most common is that brands will start a newsletter and then struggle to keep up with the cadence. They send weekly and then miss a week. They send monthly and then miss a month.
Excuses?
We didn't have time
We didn't have content
One of the most important things about a newsletter is that it is consistent, it adds value to the recipient and it is reliable.
TIP: Ideas are amazing - keep bringing them to the table but don't do something because it sounds like a good idea. You may discover that it just doesn't align with the strategy and it's actually not something you can prioritize.