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Adding new newsletter subscribers is hands down the most important thing we can do at Patch to grow the value of the business, establish editorial independence and build core audience. It will have a direct, immediate and lasting impact on traffic and revenue.
 
SO HOW DO YOU DO IT?

BUILDING NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS

COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO NEWSLETTERS AND NEWS ALERTS

COPYRIGHT DENNIS ROBAUGH

 

The email newsletter is one of the strongest tools we have to reach our audience. Newsletter subscribers are the most likely to return to Patch, too. The average newsletter reaches more than 1,100 people each day, while the average home page only attracts about 200 people per day. Which means paying quality attention to your newsletter can pay off big.

 

Your lead newsletter story is your "golden ticket" every day. If you blow this, you lose page views by the hundreds, even thousands. 

  • The lead story in your newsletter gets 50 percent of all newsletter clicks. Usually, newsletter readers never come back to the newsletter after clicking the first headline.

  • The first three articles in your newsletter get more than 75 percent of the clicks. That means the second and third links only get 25 percent of your clicks. 

  • The fourth and fifth articles in your newsletter get less than 25 percent of all clicks, with the fifth spot attracting the least attention.

 

HOW THE NEWSLETTER WORKS

Your five "top story" pins will populate the newsletter in order. If you leave slots unpinned, the newsletter will draw in the most recent local posts from within the last 24 hours.

 

If there are no local posts within the last 24 hours, the newsletter will draw the articles pinned to the state page. And if there are no articles pinned to the state page, the newsletter will draw the articles pinned the national Patch page.

 

Newsletter delivery begins at 6 a.m.

 

PINNING TOP PATCHES VS. LOWER-TIER PATCHES

Clearly, you can do a lot of good for yourself by selecting a great story for the lead spot. For your top-ranked Patches, you will want to program all 5 newsletter slots. 

 

For your lower-ranked Patches, however, instead of letting the newsletter populate with most-recent articles, you could help your page-view totals by programming the lead newsletter spot. 

 

Sometimes, instead of making copies of an article onto several sites, you may want to use a link from one Patch and program it into the newsletters of neighboring Patches.

 

    » Related: How to Pin

 

UNDERSTANDING YOUR NEWSLETTER RESULTS

Through Google Analytics, you can view data about how many page views and sessions are generated by the daily newsletter and Patch email alerts. Google Analytics reports can be set up to show you which stories get the most page views via newsletter referrals (as well as other sources). You can learn a lot, too, simply by being observant to how your traffic is rising on ChartBeat from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. as people open their newsletters.

 

Use what you learn to develop a newsletter plan. Every Patch should have a "do and don't" list for what goes into the newsletter. Work with your manager to learn what works and what doesn't. Develop a "day of the week" strategy of content that may work best. And you should have a weekday vs. weekend strategy, too. This will help you with time management and planning, too.

 

HEADLINES

A crisp, gripping, clickable headline on your lead item is the key element in newsletter success. Your headline needs to entice the user to open the newsletter first and then click. Remember, too, that at least 50 percent of your users are reading their newsletter on a mobile device. So the first few words of your headline are key — because most smartphones will cut off the latter words in a headline.

 

You would also be wise to make sure a "Read More on Patch" list of links is included in your lead story. These links will net you more page views.

 

NEWS ALERT EMAILS

We've adopted a strategy of using news alerts to deliver more than just breaking news (traditional "hard news" defined as accidents, fires, crimes in progress, such as manhunts and bank robberies). We now use news alerts on a range of stories that we want to deliver during the day. Our primary guideline: Do we want the story to reach our audience sooner rather than later? That means the information must have timeliness and be compelling. If the answer is yes, then pin a news alert. In addition to traditional breaking news, consider: 

  • weather alerts when extreme weather is predicted

  • obituary information in a noteworthy death

  • local teams winning big games, lottery winners, contest winners, etc.

  • missing persons reports

  • noteworthy arrests, even if they didn't happen in the preceding hours

  • higher profile stories that have a new development

Sometimes, you can and should send multiple news alerts in a single day. Especially when a story is developing and you have key updates. You can update an article, unpin it from breaking news, and repin it to send new emails to your audience.

 

And sometimes, you can and should pin a single link to multiple Patch sites in a region to bring all of your audience members to one place to read a story. On occasion, your team leader will use a single link and blast that to every Patch in a state.

 

If you are unsure whether your story merits a news alert, consult your team leader or a senior team member.

 

 

SPEAK TO KEY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS.

The chamber of commerce, rotary, lions club, PTAs, nonprofits, mayor's office all should know what Patch is and how they can be involved. These people are influencers in the communities and can help spread the word faster than you can alone. They also have the kind of content you want added to discussion boards, calendars and LocalStream.

 

CREATE PATCH ADVOCATES.

Every influential person you meet should be equipped with everything they need to spread the word about Patch. Business cards or marketing materials, some schwag and definitely talking points. You want to go "local viral" — meaning all the important people in the community are talking about being on Patch.

 

USE EVERY PIECE OF CONTENT AS AN AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT TOOL. 

Every source is a potential new social fan. Every business you do a story on is a sales lead. Every email you get in source relations is a newsletter subscriber. Every feature story you do is an opportunity for the subject to email their entire network with the story and share it on their own Facebook page — thereby growing your network and audience potential exponentially.

 

EMPHASIZE PARTICIPATION

Don't just emphasize reading Patch. Emphasize contributing, sharing, liking, engaging and more! 

 

CROSS-POLLINATE CORE AUDIENCE CHANNELS

Encourage your social fans to sign up for the newsletter. That makes us an independent entity and it's alwasy good to address people on multiple channels. 

 

DO CONTESTS/GIVEAWAYS

Even small prizes or free schwag giveaways can be a successful tool in garnering newsletter subscribers. "Give us your email for a chance to win..." 

 

DO SIGN-UPS IMMEDIATELY

Don't walk away from someone until you've gotten their email and used the one-click box online to sign them up. Every interaction when you start a new Patch is an opportunity to gain a new reader. 

 

PUSH SIGN-UPS AGGRESSIVELY ON THE SITE

Write articles reminding people they can sign up for free. This is especially important in new towns. Put a sign-up link in every story. Remind people on a daily basis. 

 

 

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