The eCommerce Blog

How to decide between blogging and a newsletter

Last night I was sorting all of my important paperwork: Car insurance, health insurance, credit card information, work stuff, tax information, and you get the idea. Then I put them into folders to organize. Let's do the same with your content and then decide where to include this content (Blog, Newsletter, or Both). 

1. Education - BOTH
2. Business ideas for feedback - NEWSLETTER
3. Showcase before and after photos - NEWSLETTER
4. FAQS - NEWSLETTER
5. Common Concerns - BOTH
6. Tips - BOTH
7. Coupons and Discounts and Specials - NEWSLETTER
8. Products - BOTH

There are a few caveats, so lets take a look at them.

Education:

You should never pass up an opportunity to educate. Customers like being in the know and they appreciate you keeping them up to date.

Business ideas for feedback:

Let's keep this in the newsletter, for the simple fact that the blog should be more personal and less corporate.

Showcase before and after photos:

This was a little tricky for me because I feel like it could go blog, but in the end, most people use Before/After to sell a service or product and we want to keep the selling to the store, website, and newsletter.

FAQs

I say newsletter, but it really depends. If it really is just a list of FAQs, I'd link them to your website from your newsletter and not waste the space in your newsletter. If you want to do something like "Ask the Massage Therapist" however, the blog would be perfect.

Common Concerns:

This is related to the education file. If the common concerns are an on going thing, you can highlight them in a newsletter and offer your feedback. If it's a product recall or some health concerns with a treatment, go straight to the blog where you can update immediately and people can read right away. It could be life threatening news or just concerns people may have, you can educate quickly on a blog or inform casually in a newsletter.

Tips

This is a great blog area. Give the readers information without expecting anything in return. For example your blog post could be about a new lotion that you found that you absolutely love and even though you don't sell it, you can direct them to someone who does. You get the idea. Also, you can use tips in a newsletter with a specific section for hints and tips. These quick sections are easy reads and can help get people reading more.

Coupons and Discounts and Specials:

Newsletter only. (Mostly). I think this type of content should stick to a newsletter, because it's the type of information people come to expect from email newsletters. I think it's ok to sprinkle in the occasional "Tell a friend, Free Massage this weekend" in your blog, but keep all sales pitches to a minimum, if at all.

Products

Think of it this way: If you sell it, put it in your newsletter... if you love it and people should try it but you don't sell it, put it in your blog.

For the most part, keep the personal aspects in the blog. Blog readers can be your friends and newsletter readers can be your customers. This is not to say you can't personalize your newsletter (Jeffrey's Newsletter for April). Of course, everyone is going to be different. I hope this helps,

Charles Brodeur
eCommerce Consultant
BigTurns Business Systems
Vancouver, BC V6E4R1
info@BigTurns.com