I receive a few electronic newsletters/magazines for both professional development or personal pleasure. Alongside the material to read, I also receive emails informing me of the upcoming release or, in the case of one, the actual newsletter is an email. This got me thinking, which of these two do I actually prefer? The truth is, it depends.
In the case of the email newsletter, it only comes about once per week and I really like to read it. So, I spend the requisite amount of time looking it over and even following links of interest to me. I don’t need any special software to read it, just an email client. While some might eschew HTML email, it has a special place in my heart. Not quite as facile as a true website, but many of the features. Think of it as a snapshot of your content.
On the other hand, I also read a professional journal that is published electronically (as well as on paper). Since this is something that I use for work each day, I like having the opportunity to go back and review the material and even trying out the code examples. I do not throw these away. I keep them all.
So, what it looks like is that I prefer different types of medium for different pieces of information. Let’s put this in a ministry context. My church publishes both a weekly bulletin and monthly magazine. While I would love to have an email with the events and goings on for that week, I would not read a magazine with the same information. The church would not also like to produce it. But, for the monthly magazine, it serves not only as good archive of the church’s ministry, but a way to keep cost down. If you want a copy, you can print it at home. Otherwise, just read it on any of several Internet capable devices.
What’s the bottom line? I think it’s worthwhile to try different methods of communication depending upon the information being conveyed. As an added bonus, prospective visitors can go to your website and read all about your ministry and won’t have to sign up for the emails. If they want more information, they can sign up and then get a call from someone.
