There are so many facets to the mag nation business, but one of my favourites is the mag nation newsletter. We send this out to our newsletter database, which currently only numbers around 5,000. In the scheme of things, this is tiny. Some of our competitive friends have lists around the million mark (no kidding). Still, we have built ours up organically – mainly via store sign ups on a grubby piece of paper. (Funny how more elaborate in-store tactics to build up the database fell flat, but the simple coffee-stained list on a clipboard worked best). We are also experimenting with new ways to build our readership. Last week we sent out our latest newsletter and offered the chance to win free Moleskines in return for some potential reader names. Online sign up is now also possible. And strongly encouraged!!!
I am not sure that our newsletter will ever reach massive numbers, and the reason is that they are not purely functional. Most retailer newsletters these days are all about offering products and discounts. They are all geared to woo you. Little creative effort goes into them, but they just whack in whatever is cheap at the moment, and then push. There is a reason that Junk Mail is called Junk!
Ours are very different (you can see our past issues here). We only highlight a small number of products, and most of these products are quite niche, with what will be a very low potential audience. Yet, this is who we are. And our newsletters are the very personification of our brand. They are to be read as well as be clicked.
So I am therefore not sure whether there is a place for our newsletter amongst the masses. We are told that our newsletters are hilarious and highly entertaining. We certainly piss our pants when we re-read them, but this is where things get highly subjective. Save $10 is a universal language, but humour, entertainment and irreverence is in the eye of the beholder. We definitely save you dosh as well, but with a style that may not appeal to everyone.
That said, the style of our newsletter does not represent the dilemma discussed in an earlier post. This particular issue is clear as mud for us. Our newsletter is a window to our soul. Whether it goes out to 100,000 people or just Mr McGoo and his cocker spaniel, we will continue it in the vein it has started. Call it selfish if you like, but we write our newsletters to appeal to ourselves. As long as we chuckle and find them enjoyable, there will be a Mr McGoo out there somewhere.
I’ve signed up for a lot of newsletters over the years, but I end up deleting most of them without even opening the e-mails because they just churn out the same kinds of things every week. I always read the mag nation ones because they are quirky and entertaining. Glad to hear you’ll be keeping it up!