Are newsletters dead? I say no. But ...

Yesterday I received the a note from a friend and long time SIPA member. He had just read the cover story about the June conference in this week's issue of Hotline. He said:

In reading the lead piece in Hotline quoting you, I'm not sure I would have chosen "optimism shining through" as the headline, but so be it. I'm just wondering -- is the subtext of what pretty much each of you said that subscription products as we know and love them are a dead issue? And if so, are you phasing them out of your product mix (other than custom/ad-supported/magazine-like)? I recently visited another publisher I hadn't seen in a number of years. When I sat down in her office, her first words were, "So newsletters are dead. What's new with you?" She wasn't joking, and she only has 1.

The dilemma is that those core newsletter subscribers, who are dwindling rapidly in number, are by far still the best buyers. Back in the DM days you/we always insisted on lists with proven purchasing power behind them. That's not really an option any more, especially if you're dealing with online marketing primarily. You can generate more leads, but it's a lot more expensive to turn those leads into buyers -- let alone buyers across multiple products.

So from a practical standpoint it seems like everyone is saying that at least for B2B (and Ed, I have separate questions about pubs such as the Harvard NLs; that's for another day), it isn't worth the effort/expense of trying to keep NLs alive -- too expensive in terms of opportunity cost, and futile to boot.

Am I reading you right?

Here's what I said to him:

We are looking closely at newsletters. I think there is still a place for them, and other print publications, but it’s more limited than it used to be. I do think there is a fundamental shift in the way most people want to consume information. Just-in-time information is in greater demand, and a periodical, in any form, doesn’t fit that need nicely.

Searchable databases, blog posts and tweets, and RSS headline feeds seem better suited. At the same time, I continue to believe that expert commentary is valued (although with the low barriers to entry, the premium value has diminished). For years we had the wonderful luxury of having communities committed through the expenditure of a substantial subscription fee. The paradigm has shifted substantially and many people are accustomed to getting the community for free. The challenge is to foster the same level of commitment.

The optimism at the conference was real to me. People seemed to think there is a viable path to success, and the feeling seemed to be that we can get there. I was pleasantly surprised. At the same time, I suspect there will be some who aren’t ready to make the effort required, or can’t figure it out, and they’re going to have a hard time over the next few years. But, the information needs won’t go away and someone will step in to fill the void, in the way the customers now expect, and SIPA will have a new prospective member, if we’re able to reach out to them effectively. That’s our challenge for the coming year – figuring out how to be relevant to the next wave of specialized information publishers