Associations: Is it time to eliminate the newsletter?
As we all know, paper is getting less relevant. Many associations are scrambling to “go green” with their newsletters in an effort to reduce costs and make use of electronic means of delivery. Kudos for this! However, what most associations are doing is simply emailing out a PDF version of the newsletter they used to print. While this does save money and takes advantage of modern electronic tools, there is a problem with this approach: it assumes that members want to consume information the same way they always have. We need to abandon our old thinking of just “going...
Read MoreDon’t send me “e-news”
I see a lot of email newsletters. They vary in their degrees of design quality, content, and general appeal. However, over 90% of them (made-up statistic for CJ McClanahan) fall into the trap of being simply “e-news”. Some of the titles are even things like “March E-news”, “E-news from Company XYZ”, or “March Newsletter”. These are boring subject lines but the content of the newsletter makes it even worse. These newsletter are typically packed full of little advertising boxes that shout at the reader or ramble on and on about things going on at...
Read MoreStop making excuses and start blogging
Blogging is hard. I get that. It’s not easy to consistently create new content and make the time to tweak and publish it. However, blogging is one of the best ways to build deeper relationships with your constituents and reach deeper into their networks as well. Often when I talk about blogging with others, I hear all sorts of excuses: I’m not a good writer I don’t have time I don’t like to write I don’t know what to write about I wouldn’t be able to keep up with it No one would read what I wrote The list goes on and on. However, like most...
Read MoreHow does building websites change the world?
At SpinWeb, we create professional websites and online marketing initiatives. We’ve been doing it since 1996 and have gotten very good at it. We’ve gotten so good at it that it amazes me how fast and how well we deploy new websites on time, on budget, and with amazing design quality. Sometimes, however, I think we get so caught up in the mechanics of our systems and processes at the “runway” level that we can lose sight of why we are doing what we do. How does our work make a difference? How does it change the world? How does it change lives? I think it’s...
Read MoreIs your website an information hub or a brochure?
I’m sure we’ve all heard the term “brochure website” before. For a while, it was used as a legitimate way to label certain types of websites and was accepted as a normal way to do business. Organizations would simply take their brochures, turn them into static websites that regurgitated brochure content, and called it a day. We all thought this was ok. Then, we evolved beyond this and realized that websites were more than just a digital brochure. We started to add things like fresh content, Flash promos, and changing photos. This let our audience know that things were...
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