Wash ,'War Stories'
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The caveat to my suggestion, bonny, is I totally only do it when I genuinely have gotten something from a blog post, and am contributing to the convo or really think the writer said something awesome.
Oh, of course.
One if my greatest struggles and the pr director for a non-profit years ago was being forced to publish 'content-free' press releases, etc.
That sort of thing causes me physical pain, so yeah. Maybe that's why I'm so poor at self-promotion!
Yeah, I'm sorry you had a bad experience with SCORE. My experience with them was really great, and I know they have the kind of expertise you could really benefit from here.
I guess basically with your newsletter, you need to work out what you want to achieve with them, and then you can tackle how best to get those results. My newsletter basically is my product. It's pretty much the only benefit my donors get from me, since they pay for work to be done with someone else. So we put a lot of time and effort into it, because we know it's an important part of our corporation.
And furthermore, we know that our donations go up the month we send out a newsletter (ours are quarterly) infallibly. So it's directly tied to our revenues. The SO is a good writer, so between all those factors, we have a really excellent read rate.
But even at that, there are a few things to keep in mind. One is that the read rate you're getting back from Mail Chimp/Constant Contact type people is not entirely accurate. I know one of my accounts looks like it never opens or reads the letter, because I have my privacy/security settings locked down. I don't load remote content, I don't sent back any tracking data, so even though I've read it, it looks like I haven't.
As far as subscriptions go, I know it's easy to follow those and feel like all your success or failure rides on that, but try not to take it personally. Like Amy says, there are a lot of reasons why people read or don't read email, many of which have nothing to do with you or the content you provide.
I have a good friend who I helped send into the non-profit field, that I care very much about, and I just saw a letter from him saying he was coming off the field. I had to panic and page back through months of his past letters before I worked out that everything was okay, that he was just coming back for a few months and would be headed back after that. Which is what I'd thought initially. My failure to read his vital updates had nothing to do with how much I cared about him or wanted to know about what was going on. It had way more to do with the way I managed my email.
All of which is a lot of words to say, don't read too much into it.
I really appreciate this, Liese.
It is true that I have been putting way too much emphasis on the numbers. Which, in the over all scheme of things, are meaningless.
One good thing I did for myself was to turn off the email notifications letting me know when people unsubscribe. Now I just need to resist the urge to click the number and find out who bailed. It doesn't matter who leaves!
I'm going to retry SCORE with an open heart.
When I went to them and the SBA last, it was for a different business than I am in now, so my focus shift may get me a better result.
Also, I spoke with the director of the local office a couple of months ago and he told me that if I get a bad result again I should go directly to him and he'd find me a good fit. That reassurance felt so much better.
The original counselor was sort of a Rat Pack throw-back who had retired from the garment business in NYC. When I mentioned that I wanted to pursue government contracts for management consulting he snorted, 'Why the hell would you want to do THAT?'
Um. Because this is a company town and SCORE's biggest mandate is to get women/minority owned businesses into the government stream. That's why.
I could not get another counselor, and then just gave up.
This time, I have a much clearer, if less marketable goal. I'm hoping I can ask better questions and get a more supportive contact.
The one big difference this time is that I will not give up.
Yeah, I'm sure that finding the right person is a big factor. I was terrified going in and had this very nice elderly gentleman with a soothing reassuring voice who was able to look through my nascent business plan and tell me what I needed to know. I also had some questions they couldn't answer because they were specific to non-profit sector, but they pointed me at the right resources.
Woo! I got my first two editing nibbles today, one of which is, AFAIK, not involved with friends, fam, or 'Ffistas!
Which, um, is not to say I'm not utterly delighted and in need of those, but it's like a confirmed independent sighting of alien life: CLIENTS ARE OUT THERE.
ION, I am so tired.
Congrats on the nibbles. They really are out there...and they are looking for YOU...in a good way.
Bonny, did you get an e-mail from me?
No, Ginger. I don't think so. When did you send it?
I swear, Comcast is making me crazy. People don't get my messages and I don't get theirs.
Can you resend...apologies.
Resent.
Erin, fabulous!!
bonny, what about the message I sent you at 1 am Friday? If you responded, I haven't gotten anything.