However, electronic publishing has made weekly, and even daily, publication common. For Internet newsletters, high frequencies may be better because competition for attention is much greater, and the odds of reader distraction are higher. Higher frequency also may be a function of the novelty of the medium, and the need to develop and spread knowledge about it.
Building a relationship
Having reviewed the common frequencies and some reasons for readers' unwillingness to respond, we now can explore the relationship between the two. As you would expect, the less willing the reader, the more often we need to make contact with her. To show how this works, we turn to the idea of exposures.
According to advertising theory, response to a particular ad depends on the number of exposures or impressions in a given time period. The assumption is that each commercial or display ad will get some response, but that the total number of responses will be greater than the sum of individual responses (in other words, greater than the number you would get by putting one ad into each of a number of different media). Each advertising exposure or impression has an additive effect, and the likelihood of an appropriate response increases with the number of exposures.
For newsletters, extra exposures do more than generate more impressions on the mind of the reader. Each issue can deal with a subject in a different way, giving us chances to try alternative approaches to it. An approach that misses one segment may connect with another. In short, more exposures mean more chances to influence readers.
But we also need to factor in time. The longer the interval between exposures, the more likely it is that the preceding message will be lost, forgotten, or superseded by someone else's message. An obvious example comes from marketing newsletters, which compete for the attention and response of potential buyers. Other suppliers may send newsletters, make sales calls, or advertise in the mass media, leading buyers to discount or overlook a message in our earlier newsletter.
Guidelines
In figuring out how often to publish, then, we see that higher frequency goes with greater unwillingness; lower frequency with more willingness. For example, if we assess our readers as quite unwilling, then we'd probably publish every month. On the other hand, if readers seem quite willing, then we might be able to publish quarterly and still meet our objectives.
Next
Go to Page 4
©Robert Abbott, 2007 All Rights Reserved
